Interview: Choreographer Chris Scott Talks ‘Wicked: One Wonderful Night’

Bringing years of expertise from major projects, including his recent work on the Wicked feature films and an 18-year collaborative partnership with director Jon Chu, choreographer and producer Chris Scott sat down to discuss the beautiful experience of creation of the live television special, Wicked: One Wonderful Night. Despite a daunting timeline that compressed months of literal index-card planning into just a few intense days of rehearsal, Scott details how the team worked to show their care for the world and the fans that have consistently showed up for it. He shares exclusive behind-the-scenes insights, from designing a completely original, emotionally charged routine for Cynthia Erivo’s The Wizard and I to bringing a young fan on stage to perform with Ariana Grande in Popular.

Ayla Ruby: I’m really excited to chat and I’d love to hear a little bit about your journey to the project. Obviously you did the movies, you have this working relationship with Jon Chu. What were the conversations regarding this special and why was this the right thing?

Chris Scott: Yeah, it really was … I mean, how do I start this thing? Yeah, I’m trying to take myself back to the time. I mean, it was like Ben Winston and Raj Kapoor reached out to my agent. They were interested in having me come aboard and I was like, “Great, I’m down.” Mark Platt hit me up. He’s like, “Hey, we got this special coming.” Available. I was like, “Yes.” John’s like, “Hey, they’re doing the special.” Everybody was like, “This special, I think is going to happen.” They’re not even at that point 100% sure when they started talking to me about it. And then when Ben and Raj reached out and I came to meet them at CBS at Television City and that’s when it was like, okay, this is happening. We’re interested in bringing you a board to choreograph, but also be a producer. We want you right beside us building this thing from ground up.

And I was like, oh my God, what a cool, beautiful thing to be a part of. And then they started really just taking me through their pitch. And Ben, I remember sitting there because the movie just meant so much to all of us. I worked on it and to the fans and stuff. And then so you get this production company coming in to create this new piece of entertainment based around the show. I was a litle like, okay, I hope these are the right people to do it because there’s always a little protective feeling of the show. But I’ll never forget Ben really talking about how much he wants to take care of this thing and how much he wants to take care of the people that were part of the film. And it just seemed like there was so much respect and understanding of how important this is and love built around the very beginning stages of this show.

And I was like, oh, this seems like it actually could be really special. Continuing that special energy that came from the film and it’s exactly what happened. It wasn’t a bunch of words. I just remember the deeper we got every day we’re there and I’m always thinking, okay, do they understand how meaningful this property is and how important it is? And every day it just felt like, yes, a hundred percent everybody is putting ultimate care in the creation, the content, the human beings that are working so hard to create this show. And it was really a beautiful experience. It was fast, but it was really one of a kind live moment experience that I’ll never forget.

Ayla Ruby: I love that. And I love that that was also mentioned in the special, how much Wicked means to people and that was built in. So that was wonderful just to see. I want to talk, you mentioned it that it was all very fast and I’d love to talk about that from a choreographer perspective, because from what I understand, there was months of prep and then it was a few days. Can you talk about that?

Chris Scott: Yeah, no, one of my favorite days was actually early on. I came in, I sat down with Raj, Ben was in a meeting and we had just gone through a bunch of ideas, all the ideas that Ben, Raj, and myself, we had been throwing around in the pot. We just broke it down and we had these index cards and we started laying them out to see what would this show look like. And then Ben joined us and he’s like, “Oh, cool.” And then we started moving them around and then there were some ideas that were like, okay, these ones might not make it in. We’re still trying to figure out Dancing Through Life because we weren’t sure if Jonathan Bailey’s schedule was going to allow to actually come to the States. So we’re just trying to figure out, it was this beautiful puzzle staring at us with all this opportunity and then with months ahead.

So it was like, okay, great, this is really fun. We’re going to have a lot of time to figure this out. But then it just time starts to go and everybody starts to weigh in and they’re like, “Oh, what if we did this? ” And in fact, maybe … And it’s amazing what stayed the same from that original meeting, but things start to shift and the idea of Cynthia flying in Defying Gravity was like, maybe it was like, I think can we even pull it off in the time? Does she want to fly and sing live? But I knew Cynthia, I was like, I think she’ll be down.

So it was this really laid out thing, but then time chipping away. And then we get to where we’re actually going to start rehearsing. You’re like, “Oh my God, I feel like I don’t know if we’re going to make it through.” And then one by one, the actors just start coming in and we just start creating on them and building it and everything just starts to come to fruition. You look at it and you’re like, literally by the last second, it’s that live theater experience where you’re like, I think we’re going to be okay. I mean, the last one is this feeling was like, it’s okay. It’s not what we … Just because of the timeline that we had, it’s looking pretty good, but you’re like, is everybody going to be okay? And they lock in and then boom, you have a live show experience and it’s thrilling.

Ayla Ruby: Well, I want to ask about that, but I also want to ask, you mentioned Dancing through Life. That’s a big change. You’ve got your three Fiero understudies. You’ve got Ethan Slater doing acro and doing the split and you’ve got Marissa dancing. Can you talk about that and talk about conceptualizing that all?

Chris Scott: Yeah, it really felt, because it’s really hard. You’re not replacing Jonathan Bailey and dancing to you. It’s not going to happen. That guy, he just gave a performance on the film that’s just so revered and loved. And then you started to go like, wait, because we want to do Dancing Through Life. And then you’re like, really, we go through all these ideas and stuff, but really it was like, okay, I think everybody was on the same page of it’s just got to be someone from the cast. And then you’re like, who could do it? And you’re like, Bowen Yang, that guy can do anything.

Ayla Ruby: And the fourth wall breaks were super cool

Chris Scott: And he’s that pro. And what he does on his work in sketch comedy for years, it created this feeling of like, oh, this is the way to do it and he’s going to bring this magic to it. So it’s like that fear of competing with Jonathan Bailey’s performance from the film doesn’t exist anyway because you’re like, oh no, this is the way to do it. And then you’re like, oh, and then Ethan, we never really get to see him dance and perform the way that he can because he’s incredible. So it was like, oh great, an opportunity. It all started to just tell itself the story. And then it was like, oh yeah, we want Marissa. She’s coming. We want to get her. This is her number two now. I’m like, she wants to be Fiero. Everybody wants to be Fiero. It kind of was that inspiring moment of he did such a good job in the film.

He makes everybody want to be a Fiero. And so here we are. Now we can do it.

Ayla Ruby: I think that’s wonderful and that’s so true. Okay. So from what I understand as far as getting into the nitty-gritty of, I guess the dancing, I understand you had a core of seven dancers before you started your four days of rehearsal. Is that true?

Chris Scott: It was six or seven. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think it was six dancers and then I had the team of associates,

Which everybody’s schedules also were really crazy. So it became this puzzle of scheduling. But from the film, Comfort Fedoke and Emilio Dosal, they were available and they joined in to help build this too. And then we brought in assistant Simran Player and Amanda May and it was like we needed this kind of all out team to just go crazy with the timeline. But it started with just building movement, the new movement because we had the stuff in the film, but to make this special, we really wanted to feel new movement. And one of the first ones I started with was Wizard and I, because it was the biggest departure and we knew that it was going to be a brand new number with all original choreography. And I wanted to make sure Cynthia connected to it because I wanted to send her video as soon as possible because I was telling a story of those lyrics that I wanted to make sure that role, what she’s done with Elphaba is just really important and really precious.

So as I have my take on it, it was a big collaboration even in the film with just what everything means at the nuance and the deepest level. So yeah, I sent it to her. I created a skeleton version of it with just all the gestural movement and the choreography and less about the journey. And yeah, she loved it. She wrote back and was like, “Let’s go. ” And so then I just full out built that number for her and it was really fun because I get to stand in for Cynthia. And standing in for Cynthia is very fun because you get to play her voice and pretend like you’re singing one of my favorite things. Yeah, me and Comfort, we battle for that spot often.

Ayla Ruby: Oh, that’s fun.

Chris Scott: Yeah, it’s a good time.

Ayla Ruby: So you obviously mentioned the collaboration with Cynthia, but I feel like there’s so much collaboration in the movies, but also in the live show because you’ve got staging, you’ve got just, especially in your production capacity, there’s a lot. Can you talk about how that all works, how you get that language together that you can do dance and production and how maybe you talk with the lighting people. How does that all work?

Chris Scott: Yeah, I mean it’s very intense. I think on the film, it’s the same type of collaboration. It’s hundreds of people, thousands some days with the carpenters and the background performers. And you have all these elements. Everybody is a massive collaboration, but here in the live theater space, it’s that level of collaboration but with a very short timeline. So you have to really pick and choose your battles, which to be honest, as a crew, this group of people, it didn’t ever feel like any battles. It just felt like how do we get the best version of what we want with the time that we have? And so everybody would just be super creative watching Katja [Cahill] and the costumes, I mean, we would just be texting all day long. I’m being rehearsal. She’d send me this like, “What about this? What about that? I’ll get 20 of these just in case and the thing.” And you just prepare Joe Chelly would send me props, same thing.

And then I’d be looking at some list of all these potential props from the movie that we may be able to get and you’re just going through it all. I didn’t know how detailed Popular was going to feel. It’s funny, the first time I remember walking into rehearsal, I was like, oh, they set up this whole dorm room and it took me back. So it just felt like playing under the most extreme circumstances that you could have.

Ayla Ruby: That’s wonderful. So we’ve talked about a bunch of stuff. Is there anything that was really professionally gratifying to pull off, to accomplish that we haven’t talked about that you want people to know about?

Chris Scott: Yeah, I mean, it was all very gratifying. I think that’s some of the magic of live theater. Everything felt very … I mean, Popular, for example, I had rehearsed that with Ari as a theoretical situation because we don’t know what a child’s going to do. We just knew that we were going to have a fan up there. I mean, the concept was there and we all loved it, but it’s a bit of a cross your fingers moment. And we had been going back and forth. And every once in a while, I’d try to do something to bump Ari out and whatever, but she’s such a pro. And then you’re like, I mean, if anybody in the world can do it, it’s this woman. And then I remember they bring our child up and they’re performing-

Ayla Ruby: He was adorable.

Chris Scott: He was one of a kind. And then so you’re just sitting there watching this whole thing and we’re all just holding each other and then it’s over and we’re all just looking like, “That works. That was crazy.” And it was just moment after moment like that. So it was all very gratifying. The moment when Cynthia took flight in the Dolby Theater was very gratifying because that was an idea that we’re all like to pull it off to do it right, it’s really challenging. You could run a line straight across, but it didn’t feel that’s not the experience you want to feel with where Defying Gravity is now.

We got to take her on a journey if we’re going to do it. It’s complicated in there. It’s to rig it up and to do it live, number of things could go wrong without a lot of practice. But I just remember the feeling I had when we were filming getting to watch Cynthia flying above us all singing that final war cry note and defying gravity. And I just remember feeling like what a gift that I got as a human being just able to sit there and listen to that. And so it was like, I think that’s what we give this audience. And then when she did it, I just never forget looking at when the camera cuts away and you see people’s faces and it’s just like they look like I looked while we’re making the film and that was very, very gratifying. And I think too with The Wizard and I, I knew that song meant a lot to me and I know it means a lot to a lot of people, but it was really a beautiful thing to build on the dancers and to see how they emotionally connected to it.

Because I’d have dancers in tears having moments just being like they feel seen, they feel represented in this song and through this choreography and they felt like … And then you bring in Cynthia to the mix and they felt so connected to her. There was this moment where they just look at each other and they kind of give a little bow and it just felt so real. And Simran, our assistant choreographer is in it and she’s right up in the front and you could see them look at each other. And there’s a tear in her eyes and she’s always, every time you do it, it never fail. And I think that’s also another thing that’s always gratifying is just knowing that it affects people on a human level and can enrich people’s lives.

Ayla Ruby: That’s part of just the overall magic at Wicked. As you guys were doing this, did you expect the response? There’s the stage show response, did you realize you were making this magic as it was happening?

Chris Scott : I mean, I think when you’re making the film, it’s hard to tell because it’s so many days. There’s days where I was like, “Oh, I think this is amazing.” And then there would be days where you’re like, “This is so weird. We got this green witch running around.” I mean, it’s a tricky story to tell. And I’ve been working with Jon Chu for about 18 years now and you just know with Jon it’s magic and that’s what he brings. And so there’s a trust in it too because you’re just like, “I think it’s going to be amazing. I believe in it. It’s going to be amazing.” But like I said, it’s a weird thing to see every day. You got people walking around pretending to be flying monkeys, it’s a wild journey, but then it worked and the relationship with the audience began and I think that was terrifying to me.

And so to get to do this special felt like an opportunity to give the people that showed up and supported Wicked the film this kind of gift of what would they want to see? Whereas the movie was like, well, what’s the story? We have to fulfill that. That’s ultimate.

These people showed up for us, this means something to them, let’s give them a gift. And that’s why things like, What Is This Feeling were really fun to do? Because as people danced on TikTok and did all the choreography from the film, it was like, oh cool, this book dance was like, well, let’s give them the extended version because why not? This is the only place we can do that. They never got to see Michelle Yeoh in her element yet because part two hadn’t come out yet. So let’s give them a little teaser of what Michelle Yeoh looks like building the tornado. We always wanted tap dancing in these movies. Jon Chu loves tap dancing. I love tap dancing. That’s what I started off doing, but we have The Wizard doing a little bit of it in Wonderful, but we knew we never got to fulfill that moment of tap dance because it just didn’t make its way into the film.

It didn’t make sense. It didn’t help us, but here was our chance.

Ayla Ruby: I’m glad you mentioned that because I was going to ask about it because that particular song, there’s so much going on in it. And then right in the middle, there’s this gorgeous tap dancing. I have a daughter who’s a tapper and watching the live show was really cool for her. Can you talk more about just incorporating that?

Chris Scott: Yeah, absolutely. I had another incredible dancer who was in the skeleton crew. His name’s Byron Tittle. He’s a phenomenal tap dancer. So you also start to look around at all the talents you have and you just go, I thought about doing tap dancing, but it wasn’t like it’s make or break it with the casting of it.

Chris Scott: So we had Byron Tittle in the room. So you’re like, oh, let’s start playing. And we completely built that song from scratch minus the lyrics, obviously, but the whole Sentimental Man, it was like, how do we recreate this in a way that’s fun and entertaining and a live space in.

Ayla Ruby: It was dynamic. It was so cool.

Chris Scott: Yeah. And I sat Steven Oremus, me and him would be on the phone. He was in New York, so we’d be on the phone going back and forth with ideas and thoughts and the things. And he brought in a guy named Will Wells and we sat in a recording studio at three in the morning because I was in rehearsals till eight, so I’d go to his recording studio afterwards to just build music with him and tell him, and we’d be in there vibing out and it was such a beautiful process. But again, it all just came back to let’s make something for the fans. And I just felt like this would be fun. I’d want to see this. I’m a fan.

Ayla Ruby: That’s awesome. And I know we’re just about at time, but is there anything we haven’t talked about that you want people to know or that you’re working on next or just anything?

Chris Scott: I mean, I think it’s just been really nice to go back and revisit the making of this special. It really does. I was going back through trying to remember some of the memories because it’s been a while now. And again, just even that opening number, the opening credit sequence, the live credit sequence was such-

Ayla Ruby: That was choreographed, right? Because that felt like a dance as you were going through the backstage.

Chris Scott: Yeah, it was 100% choreographed and it was all designed for camera and it just was everybody coming together. It was that epic moment of live entertainment and theater where it’s like the props, the signage, everything had to be perfect because it’s opening the show and starting with the drone shot over Los Angeles and seeing the magic of Wicked encompassing the city taking us right into the Dolby. It was like, I remember Ben Winston talking about that early on of seeing the pink and the green come over the city. And I’m just thinking, how do we do this in the time everything needs to be tight and smooth, the drone shot going into the Dolby? It’s complicated. And it was like everybody just came together to make this thing as special as possible because we knew how much it meant to people.

Even having the moments where on our tech run, our tech rehearsal, camera blocking, Jon Chu was in the audience and Ari brought Jon up to be our little child in Popular. You know what I mean? It was magical moments like that. I mean, I got to be on stage with the steadicam operator for The Wizard and I, because all that camera work was designed in rehearsal, it was something I’d choreographed with the movement. So to be on that stage live with our camera operator, moving around in the space to make sure the timing was as good as we could get it live, it was just so special and so thrilling. Yeah, this down memory lane has become a beautiful thing. So thank you for taking the time.

Ayla Ruby: No problem. Thank you so much for chatting and this has been wonderful. Thank you.

Chris Scott: Thank you.