Wicked The Musical

• Wicked Orchestrations - See interview with Bill Brohn at Decca Broadway site
• Wicked Vocal Arrangements and Music Direction: See article on Stephen Oremus
• Credits: Wicked music team and orchestra
• More about Wicked's music

Wicked's Special Sounds

By Carol de Giere

Knowing that Stephen Schwartz wanted the "we're not in Kansas anymore" sound, Wicked's music director Stephen Oremus recommended film composer Andy Barrett to do the synthesizer programming. Oremus and Barrett had worked together previously on Lippa's The Wild Party.

Barrett developed the sound samples and took charge of the equipment. Musically, Barrett was responsible for reinforcing the orchestral instruments, such as adding synthesizer strings to amplify the output from a modest-sized orchestra, as well as for providing orchestral and electronic sounds that would have been otherwise unavailable.

William Brohn, the orchestrator, wanted church organ music for one segment. Schwartz wanted an owl sound for Dr. Dillamond's song. Barrett himself suggested a hammered dulcimer would be perfect for some high notes in "Defying Gravity." Through electronic wizardry and a combination of sound samples, the synthesizers could extend to any number of instruments in an acoustic orchestra and even provide creature sounds.

Three Kurzweil K2600's are used in the orchestra pit, into which sounds created in Barrett's studio were added. To complete the arrangement, Barrett included a Yamaha Disklavier, which is an acoustic piano equipped with electro-optical sensors enabling it to control one of the K2600's via midi. [view a Kurzweil K2600 - or see specs - new browser window]

The creation of these desired sounds required the same kind of creativity and artistry as any other aspect of the process. I asked if he knew which specific sounds went into the samples. He assured me it was an amalgam of sounds.
"You know there are just a million sounds available," Barrett said in my phone interview. "And you just grab whatever your instincts tell you is going to work and you work with that as raw material. It's like if I were a painter and I told you well I used red and blue on that and I mixed it kind of like this, it wouldn't make that much sense for you. It's just really creating from raw material. I mean where are you going to get a church organ? You couldn't get one in the theatre if you wanted it."

Like others I interviewed, Barrett was pleased to work with someone whose artistic choices were well articulated. "It was really a great experience working with Stephen Schwartz because he knew what he wanted and he was able to communicate that to me to a pretty good degree and he gave me the latitude to really satisfy those requests. And I was just very happy with the artistic collaboration . . . and the entire team."

Barrett's site http://www.andrewbarrett.com/

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The Music Team

Music Director Stephen Oremus

See a full page with feature on Stephen Oremus and the making of Wicked's arrangements.

• Orchestrations: William David Brohn Music
• Arrangements: Alex Lacamoire & Stephen Oremus
• Dance Music Arrangements: James Lynn Abbott
• Music Copyist: Peter Miller
• Synthesizer Programming: Andy Barrett
• Music Coordinator: Michael Keller
• Orchestra Conductor: Stephen Oremus
• Associate Conductor: Alex Lacamoire
• Concertmaster: Christian Hebel

Orchestra

• Violin: Victor Schultz
• Viola: Kevin Roy
• Cello: Dan Miller
• Harp: Laura Sherman
• Lead Trumpet: Jon Owens
• Trumpet: Tom Hoyt
• Trombones: Dale Kirkland, Douglas Purviance
• Flute: Helen Campo
• Oboe: Tuck Lee
• Clarinet/Soprano Sax: John Moses
• Bassoon/Baritone Sax/Clarinets: John Campo
• French Horns: Theo Primis, Kelly Dent
• Drums: Gary Seligson
• Bass: Konrad Adderley
• Piano/Synthesizer: Alex Lacamoire
• Keyboards: Paul Loesel, David Evans
• Guitars: Ric Molina, Greg Skaff
• Percussion: Andrew Jones

James Lynn Abbott's work on the CD: According to Stephen Schwartz, dance arranger Jim Abbott created the music for the instrumental dance sections of "Dancing Through Life" based on Schwartz's themes. He also wrote the introduction to track 13, just before "Wonderful" begins. Schwartz was pleased to be able to include it on the album

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