Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1543098
Spring 2026 – LOCAL695.COM 33 I asked Ben Holder what he remembered about the breakdown, and his summary perfectly matches what we built: • The beginning of "For Good" and the very end were largely driven by live keyboard. These are the sections where the tempo is most free, where the characters are searching for the words and the music follows their inner rhythm. • The middle section, including the "And just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness" middle eight and the final big chorus, runs to playback. We were still recording everything live, with the full six-mic setup, but the backbone of the music was Greg's track, locking the rhythm section in and allowing the song to expand in scale. • After that last chorus, when the song drops back down into the softer "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good" alternation, we went back to live keyboard. The dynamic drops, the emotion peaks, and the accompaniment needed to be able to breathe with the actors as they cried and sang through those final lines. That final section is burned into my memory from my position at the cart. I have said before that when a performance is really happening, I am aware of my faders as an instrument. On those takes, when Ari and Cynthia were standing there with tears streaming down their faces, harmonising through the last "For Good," it felt as if the whole crew were playing one piece of music together. Ben was shaping the keyboard in real time to support their fragility. Josh was making sure there was no technical cliff edge when we changed from playback to live accompaniments. Arthur and Robin were holding those booms half an inch apart, breathing with the actors. Taz, the Art Department, Props, and SFX had created a world of leaves and puddles and wind that felt real but stayed quiet enough to let the song live. Costume had made sure the transmitters were exactly where they needed to be, and VFX had already signed up to remove whatever mics we had to place in shot. And I was sitting there, riding those six microphones as if they were one voice, making sure I did not clip, did not miss a head turn, did not allow a single crackle of leaf or splash of water to intrude at the wrong moment. When people say "there was not a dry eye in the house," it is normally hyperbole. On those days, on that balcony, it was simply true. I looked around after one of those takes and saw Grips, Sparks, Camera Assistants, everyone, just quietly wiping their faces. That is why we do it live. That is why we build playback rigs that behave like an orchestra pit, and why we spend two days negotiating the exact placement of every leaf. Because when a performance like that happens, you only get one chance. My job as a Production Sound Mixer is to be able to turn to Jon, to Cynthia, to Ari and say, with absolute honesty: "I got it. It is all there. What you just did will live on that screen exactly as you gave it to us." On Wicked: For Good, and especially on "For Good," I can say that. And I can also say we did it as one department—Sound & Music, the orchestra pit under the stage, playing in service of the story. Robin Johnson on the boom