Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande with director Jon M. Chu, right, on the set of the film “Wicked.” Universal Pictures via AP

“Wicked” is already the hottest – and probably biggest movie of the year – and two Mainers are among those who helped make it happen.

Meg Doherty was a singer in the film’s ensemble of 24 vocalists who recorded in New York City, while Alice Brooks, of Portland, was the cinematographer responsible for the camera work and the film’s overall look.

BEHIND THE CAMERA

Alice Brooks, who lives in Portland when not working in Los Angeles, was the cinematographer for ‘Wicked,’ which has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes, including Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Photo by Winky Lewis

Brooks, who has lived in Maine for about 18 years, first met “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu at the University of Southern California’s film school and worked with him on the 2021 film musical “In the Heights.”

She’s been praised by film critics for her photography on “Wicked” and for creating a new and captivating Oz on screen, one that fits the mood of the film and its massive dance numbers. She told Marie Claire magazine that she and the others filmmakers involved “wanted Oz to look like no other Oz anyone’s seen before, and actually our movie not to look like anything anyone’s seen before.”

The original 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” was filmed in Technicolor, and Brooks said she and the other filmmakers tried to create their own version of Technicolor, for 2024, a combination of “Old Hollywood romantic” and contemporary looks. That involved a lot of different kinds of lighting and color testing, she said.

“I read all the L. Frank Baum original books, and every single paragraph has this incredibly rich, poetic, romantic color description, and color means something in Oz,” Brooks told the magazine.

A cinematographer, sometimes known as a director of photography, is responsible for the camera work of a film, including what cameras, lenses and filters are used, how the camera moves and how shots are composed. Brooks lived in London for 14 months, with her daughter June, while filming “Wicked” and “Wicked Part Two,” due to be released in November of 2025. She was not available Tuesday to talk about her experience.

Alice Brooks and director Jon M. Chu on the set of ‘In The Heights’ in 2021. Photo by Macall Polay

The film garnered multiple Golden Globe nominations this week, including Best Motion Picture – Comedy, Best Actress in a Comedy, Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.

“Wicked” came out in time to also be eligible for the 2025 Oscars. When nominations are announced Jan. 17, Brooks’ name could be among those vying for best cinematographer. The Oscars will be presented March 2, 2025. Brooks was also director of photography on the 2021 musical drama “Tick, tick… Boom!”

FROM BONNY EAGLE TO BROADWAY

Doherty, 40, grew up in Steep Falls and now lives in New York City, where she performs in “Wicked the Musical” on Broadway. She embraces the hustle, bouncing between eight shows a week and even joining a Zoom interview with a reporter from the dressing room.

While you won’t see Doherty on screen in the new film, she says you can hear her voice like a “hot knife through butter” in the movie’s opening lyrics, singing “good news.”

Meg Doherty, born and raised around the Maine theater industry, is now performing on Broadway in ‘Wicked’ on Broadway. You can also hear her voice in the new ‘Wicked’ movie. Photo courtesy of Meg Doherty

Before the ensemble expanded to 24, she was invited by Stephen Oremus, the film’s musical director, to join a smaller, six-person demo group in August 2022. One of their recordings debuted among the 2024 Super Bowl commercials in the first “Wicked” preview trailer.

The nearly two years of recording took place in hours-long chunks at a studio only a short commute from the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, so she could still perform onstage. She only took off two days of work for the “big” recording days, which lasted about six hours each. The ensemble re-recorded small bits of each song until they got it right.

“It is this tedious bit of work, which is very different from getting up and doing it on stage every night,” Doherty said.

The six singers who recorded the original soundtrack demos pose in the studio with the film’s musical director Stephen Oremus and ‘Wicked’ composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. From left to right, Allsun O’Malley, Jesse JP Johnson, Meg Doherty, Oremus, Schwartz, Desi Oakley, Michael McCorry Rose and Larkin Bogan. Photo courtesy of Meg Doherty

On Broadway, Doherty plays ShenShen Minkos, part of Glinda’s cliquey friend group, and understudies headmistress Madame Morrible. The two-hour and 45-minute show runs eight times per week.

She joined the company right before the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020. She was also a part of the group to reopen Broadway.

Doherty came from a family of arts educators. Although Scannell is her legal last name, she uses her mother’s maiden name, Doherty, in her performing career.

Her mother works in the theater department at Bonny Eagle High School, and both parents teach at Standish’s Crescendo School of Performing Arts. Doherty attended Bonny Eagle and Portland Arts and Technology high schools, where she was involved in the theater and choir programs.

 

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“When you are artistic, especially on the performing side, it’s exploding out of you when you’re young,” she said.

Chris Humphrey, who was Doherty’s former jazz choir instructor, remembers Doherty as a talented performer who helped carry the Bonny Eagle choir to the all-state competition. He currently teaches jazz piano and music theory at University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College.

“It’s funny, because I have a very, very tiny role in her development as a musician,” Humphrey said. “I feel proud, in a sense, when I hear her sing and I can hear her voice and I can see her doing it. But at the same time, I’m also in awe of her.”

 

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Doherty began performing professionally for Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick when she was 9. After that, she worked in regional theater and auditioned for local opportunities, like commercials. In high school, her career took a back seat so she could spend time with her family and friends.

Her parents started working at a destination hotel called Point Sebago Resort in 2001. For years, Doherty ran an entertainment program, writing shows there with her brother Jack. Even when she left for college at the Boston Conservatory, she’d return home to run the program.

“I had this beautiful excuse to run away to Maine every summer and to get to go be on Sebago Lake and enjoying the beautiful weather,” she said, during the “best time of year” in Maine.

Nine-year-old Meg Doherty gets her hair done before her performance as Annie Warbucks in ‘Annie’ with the Maine State Music Theater. Photo courtesy of Deb Scannell

Deb Scannell said her daughter has absorbed music and acting from the beginning. She said her daughter is a disciplined, hard worker.

“She’s always been the kind of person that has her own direction,” Scannell said. “She never accepted ‘no.’ ”

But for people interested in working in a traditionally tough industry, Doherty said Broadway isn’t the “end-all-be-all.”

“If you are an artist and you are meant to be an artist, then you can create art wherever,” she said. “Everywhere deserves to have art.”