John Powell
Co-Composer
Gavin Greenaway
Conductor
Jill Streater
Music Preparation
Caroline Dale
Performer
Mary Scully
Performer
Batu Sener
Additional Music
John Michael Caldwell
Music Scoring Mixer
Alec Lubin
Assistant Score Mixer
Henri Wilkinson
Orchestrator
Jason Soudah
Assistant Score Engineer
Jonathan Beard
Orchestrator
Kevin Globerman
Additional Music Recordist
Markus Siegel
Additional Music
Nick Wollage
Sound Mixer
Arriving a little over 21 years after the show’s 2003 Broadway premiere, as the musical continued its record-setting run as one of the two highest-grossing stage musicals of all time (behind The Lion King, as of December 2024), the first act of the film adaptation of Wicked — titled simply Wicked — plays out over 160 minutes. The accompanying 78-minute original score was composed by John Powell (The Bourne Identity, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon) with Wicked composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Ambitious but conventional — in a John Williams-like sense — its lush, sweeping orchestral arrangements reflect the magical whimsy, occasional humor, serious emotions, and danger of a story that finds Glinda and Elphaba — better known to generations as the Good Witch of the North and Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz — as roommates at college who get caught up in the setting’s tumultuous politics. “Arrival at Shiz University” sets the stage with warm woodwinds, an airy choir, rousing strings, and triumphant horns before “Our Heroes Meet,” a cue that keeps the mood light, as do subsequent character introductions. Things get significantly tense for the first time with “Elphaba’s Power,” a track that’s especially Romantic in the music-history sense, then become suspenseful and dramatic on “History Lesson,” ominous with the pulsing “Replacement Teacher,” and sentimental on the touching “Forest Feelings,” with its sustained strings, concert bells, reeds, and piano. For those unfamiliar with the plot, although disturbing things happen, particularly to its anthropomorphized animal characters earlier in the story, Wicked doesn’t get truly scary until late in this first act, audible here on the eight-minute “Transformations,” operatic “Monkey Mayhem,” and closer “All Around Defying Gravity.” The score was released separately from Wicked: The Soundtrack and its 11 songs (including hit cliffhanger “Defying Gravity”) and garnered an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Original Score. Powell and Schwartz returned for the concluding Wicked: For Good.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
Score by Stephen Schwartz & John Powell
Production Music Supervised By Dominick Amendum
Vocal Production by Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo
Music Associate : Benjamin Holder
Song Arrangers : Stephen Oremus, Dominick Amendum, Greg Wells
Song Arranger & Orchestrator : Jeff Atmajian
Score & Additional Song Orchestrators : Jonathan Beard, Ed Trybek, Henri Wilkinson
Additional Score & Arrangement : Batu Sener, Markus Siegel
Additional Score Orchestrators : Sean Barrett, Jennifer Dirkes, Benjamin Hoff, Steven Rader, Jacob Shrum, Jamie Thierman
Songs Conductor : Stephen Oremus
Score Conductor : Gavin Greenaway
Score Choir Conductor : John Powell
Recording Engineer & Orchestral Song Mixer : Nick Wollage
Song Mixer : Greg Wells
Additional Song Mixer : Laurence Anslow
LA Choir Recording & Score Mixer : John Michael Caldwell
NY Choir Recording Engineer : Ian Kagey
Additional Recording Engineer : John Prestage
Additional Recordists : Kevin Globerman, Matt Jones, Eve Morris
Assistant Song Engineer : Jason Soudah
Assistant Engineers : Laura Beck, Marta Di Nozzi, Wil Jones, Georges Lloyd-Owen, Avo Mardikian
Score Mix Assistant : Alec Lubin
Song Orchestra Editing : Ashley Andrew-Jones
Score Editing : Laura Agudel Cuartas
Song Orchestration Mockups : Douglas Romayne, Kevin Kliesh
Lead Music Preparation : Jordan Cox
Music Preparation : Global Music Service, Aidan Davies, James Regan, Brad Ritchie
Librerians : Ann Bernard, Jill Streater
Vocal Contractors : Isobel Griffiths LTD.
Orchestra Leader : Jeremy Isaac
Additional Music Editors : Joe E. Rand, Jeanette Surga
Music Assistant : Bronwen Chan
Music Production Assistant : Millie Davies
Pre-Production Music Consultant : Ian Eisendrath
Music Trainees : Sarah Burrell, Wai Yi Wong
Assistant To Music Supervisor : Lucy Evans
Music Assistant to Mr. Schwartz : John Angier, Aarron Kenny
Assistant To Mr. Schwartz : Michael Cole
Music Recorded at Abbey Road Studio, Air Studio, Ozdustland Studio, Power Station, Sony Scoring Stage
Abbey Road Crew : Fiona Gillott, Kayla Hopkins, Ellie MacReady, Daniella Sicilia
Air Studio Crew : Rory Calvert, Katy Jackson, Charlotte Matthews, Glen Mexted, Debby Waldron
Power Station Crew : Mickael Hickey, Hayley Isaacson, Henry Reinach, Beth Scott
Sony Scoring Stage Crew : Greg Dennen, Julianne McCormack, Ryan Nelson, Keith Ukrisna
Songs Mixed at Barbara McLean Stage, Robert Wise Mixing Stage
Score Mixed At 5 Cat Studios
Sample Libraries Provided By Spitfire Audio & Andrew Barret
1 – Arrival At Shiz University (2’07)
2 – Our Heroes Meet (1’54)
3 – Nessarose (1’10)
4 – Meet The Faculty (3’34)
5 – Elphaba’s Power (3’35)
6 – How To Loathe Your Roommate (3’43)
7 – History Lesson (3’45)
8 – Levitate The Coin (2’17)
9 – All Around Something Bad (2’17)
10 – Prince Fiyero Of Winkie Country (3’15)
11 – The Book Place (2′)
12 – Elphaba At Ozdust (3’02)
13 – Sharing Secrets (2′)
14 – Look At You (1’18)
15 – Replacement Teacher (3’48)
16 – Cub Rescue (1’44)
17 – Forest Feelings (2’01)
18 – Ozian Invitation (2’29)
19 – Galinda Becomes Glinda (3’36)
20 – Train To Emerald City (2’17)
21 – Hall Of Grandiosity (2’40)
22 – A Wizard’s Plan (4’22)
23 – The Grimmerie (2’05)
24 – Transformations (8’10)
25 – Monkey Mayhem (3’39)
26 – All Around Defying Gravity (5’45)
