The fact that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo sang live in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has wowed fans (yes, Erivo belted while whizzing through the air during “Defying Gravity” and Grande didn’t rely on pre-records while swinging on a chandelier during “Popular”). 

But allowing the film’s two leads to go live — on which Chu and the actors insisted to capture the spirit of the Broadway musical — took a village. The sound teams had to work with the choreographers, production designers, costume department and stunt teams, among others, to make sure that the microphones didn’t pick up any noise that would hinder a clear recording of the vocals.