Ariana Grande 'worked hard' with a vocal coach for Wicked
Pop star Ariana Grande has confessed she "worked really hard" with a vocal coach for her role in 'Wicked' because she wanted to perfect the "operatic" style of her character's singing voice because it's very different to how she usually performs.
Ariana Grande "worked really hard" with a vocal coach for her role in 'Wicked' because she wanted to perfect an "operatic" singing style.
The 31-year-old pop star plays Glinda in the new movie-musical based on the hit stage show 'Wicked' and she has revealed her character's singing is totally different to the way she usually performs so she started training two months before her first audition.
In an interview with actor Paul Mescal for Variety, Ariana explained: "I worked really hard with a vocal coach and an acting coach to get ready, because Glinda’s vocal track is very different than what I usually sing ...
"It’s very operatic and very classical sort of coloratura, which is different from doing a falsetto and whistle tones. It’s a totally different placement in the voice. I wanted to sound authentic in singing opera, and I started two months before my first audition."
The singer went on to reveal the audition process for 'Wicked' took place while she was working on TV singing show 'The Voice' and she even asked the crew to turn down the air conditioning on set in a bid to preserve her voice for the try-out.
She said: "I was filming 'The Voice' so I was going from my vocal coach to my acting coach to doing the live shows. I was so nervous about my voice being in good shape because my audition was the next day.
"And I was on set doing 'The Voice' and I asked them to cut the air conditioning. They keep it really cold to keep the live audience awake.
"I had to sing opera the next day. I had to sing 'No One Mourns the Wicked' -and people started to notice [the air conditioning]. I was like: 'It’s my fault' ...
"I was like: 'I’m so sorry!' That was my first audition, and then I had a callback where I had to do some scenes and more songs."
It comes after the musical's composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz revealed he wanted to change 'Wicked' track 'Popular' for the movie but Ariana refused.
He told the Los Angeles Times newspaper: "In the spirit of being open to new things for the movie, my music team and I thought, let’s refresh the rhythm. Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit.
"Ariana said: ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda'."
However, Schwartz did manage to convince the singer to change the song slightly to show off her vocal range.
He explained: "I had this idea for a new vocal ending. Ariana was a little hesitant about it, but I told her that if I had thought of it for the original show, this is how it would have been.
"Once she was reassured that this new bit of music was coming out of character, she was on board."
Ariana originally auditioned to play Elphaba in ‘Wicked’.
'Wicked' director Jon M. Chu recently let slip that Ariana initially tried out for Cynthia Erivo’s green witch character Elphaba, and sang all of the her songs during the audition process.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chu said: “We were getting mixed messages. I was like, ‘Of course she's coming in for Glinda.’ "And then my casting director was like, ‘No, I think she thinks she's coming in for Elphaba.’ I'm like: ‘That was not the plan.’
"And they're like, ‘Well, she prepped it.’ She was being nice to me, and I was being nice to her. We just let her do it.
"But in my mind I was like, ‘Why is she singing Elphaba right now?’ Maybe because she's sung those in the past, but to me, she was always a Glinda.
"We didn't know each other well enough to be like, ‘Alright, let's clear up the telephone game here. We are here for Glinda. Right?’"
