Wonderfully

Wicked

As Dominick Amendum ’01 raises UNCG’s musical theatre program to new heights, he’s also defying gravity as the production music supervisor of the blockbuster film adaptation of “Wicked.”

By Mercer Bufter ’11 MA. Photography by Sean Norona ’13.
Videography by Grant Gilliard.

Wonderfully

W i c k e d

As Dominick Amendum ’01 raises UNCG’s musical theatre program
to new heights, he’s also defying gravity as the production
music supervisor of the blockbuster film adaptation of “Wicked.”

By Mercer Bufter ’11 MA. Photography by Sean Norona ’13. Videography by Grant Gilliard.

He wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
He wasn’t even in Greensboro.

“Every day was a ‘pinch me’ moment,” says Smart-Tillman Artist-in-Residence Dominick Amendum ’01, production music supervisor for “Wicked,” the two-film adaptation of the Broadway musical that first opened in 2003. Anticipation is high for the films, the first of which premieres this November. Amendum is working with serious stars, including Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

“First I’m doing a rehearsal with Jeff Goldblum (who plays the Wizard) in his trailer, and then I’m walking on set in the Emerald City. Every day was like, ‘Is this real?’” he laughs.

Another surreal moment? “Michelle Yeoh was literally getting off the plane from winning an Academy Award for ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and then walking into music rehearsals.”

But he had even more reason to feel like he was dreaming. “Wicked” has been one of the biggest stage musicals of the 21st century, and Amendum has been part of the story for nearly two decades. He first joined it in 2006, quickly became its conductor, and toured nationally with the show. He has conducted the show thousands of times both on Broadway and in cities across the United States.

Based on the book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked” riffs on the world of “The Wizard of Oz” before Dorothy’s arrival.

The show took off quickly, winning a Tony for Idina Menzel, the first actress to play the “wicked” witch Elphaba, in 2004. Its popularity grew: on Broadway, in touring productions, and in smaller productions nationally and internationally.

In December 2013, “Wicked” became the first Broadway musical to gross over $3 million in one week, according to Playbill. In 2023, Variety reported the show was the fourth-longest running in Broadway history, had been nominated for 20 Tony awards, had earned over $5 billion in global ticket sales, and had been seen by an estimated 65 million people (all venues).

The secret to its success might be the relatable story at its core. “The love story of ‘Wicked’ is the love story between two friends, Elphaba and Glinda,” Amendum says. “That’s what makes it so universal. I think that’s something many people can understand.”

Instead of ruby slippers, its iconic costuming includes a black witch’s hat and broom. “Wicked” trades “good” and “evil” for a morally nuanced story that puts two complicated friends – Elphaba, the “Wicked” Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good – at its center.

The movies’ director, John M. Chu, wanted Oz and the Emerald City to feel as real as possible. Universal Pictures’ featurette “Building the World of Wicked” noted even a train the characters ride is real – and weighs 16 tons!

“There’s something very human
about theatre because In
a live performance, you never know
what’s going to happen.”

“When you see kids running through a tulip field in the film, none of that is computer-generated. They literally planted 9 million tulips,” Amendum says. “It was truly spectacular.”

“Wicked” was filmed in Leavesden Studios in Watford, England; at Sky Studios, a new studio opened by Comcast Universal; and on custom-made sets constructed in the English countryside. The witches of Oz weren’t the first “magic act” in Leavesden, either. The Harry Potter movies were also partially filmed there.

As production music supervisor for the films, Amendum has wide-ranging responsibilities for the musical elements of “Wicked.” “On the artistic side of it, it’s no longer me creating something – it’s me encouraging and coaching people to get a performance out of them,” he says.

The team worked on vocals and music in a specially-built recording studio in Borehamwood (UK) for nearly a year. But most of the vocals by Grande, Erivo, and the cast were recorded live. It was important to director John M. Chu “to capture the emotion and singular moments that existed on set,” Amendum explains. The spirit of live theatre was strong in the Emerald City.

How did he get here? He had his own Yellow Brick Road: UNCG’s College Avenue.

Posters for Broadway productions of “Wicked,” “Heathers,” and “First Date.”

PASSION FOR PIANO

Amendum says he has loved many parts of the theatre throughout his life, from his first role on stage (acting the role of “Little Jake” in “Annie Get Your Gun”) to his interest in arranging, musical direction, and conducting.

It all grew out of his love for the piano. Amendum guesses he was two or three years old when he first sat down at the keyboard. Initially taught by his mother and sister, he later studied classical piano with advanced teachers. He was also influenced by the music around him.

“I grew up listening to Billy Joel, and that’s still probably my go-to if I sit down to fiddle around on the piano,” Amendum says. This mix of pop sensibility and serious musicianship turned out to be the perfect fit for “Wicked.”

The show uses both rock instrumentation and a classical orchestra. “It was literally like someone drew a line down the middle of the pit and put a rock band to your right and a symphonic section to your left. And as a conductor, you’re trying to marry the two.”

At UNCG, he was mentored by Dr. Joseph DiPiazza, professor emeritus of piano, and Benton Hess, a noted conductor of opera and UNCG’s Marion Stedman Covington Distinguished Professor from 1994 to 2000. “Dom hit the ground running, and he didn’t stop running for four years. He had expertise in so many different genres of music, not just piano,” says DiPiazza.

Upon graduation, Amendum was prepared for a bright career. As if swept away by a tornado, he left for New York, never thinking that he’d one day return.

PASSION FOR PIANO

Amendum says he has loved many parts of the theatre throughout his life, from his first role on stage (acting the role of “Little Jake” in “Annie Get Your Gun”) to his interest in arranging, musical direction, and conducting.

It all grew out of his love for the piano. Amendum guesses he was two or three years old when he first sat down at the keyboard. Initially taught by his mother and sister, he later studied classical piano with advanced teachers. He was also influenced by the music around him.

“I grew up listening to Billy Joel, and that’s still probably my go-to if I sit down to fiddle around on the piano,” Amendum says. This mix of pop sensibility and serious musicianship turned out to be the perfect fit for “Wicked.”

The show uses both rock instrumentation and a classical orchestra. “It was literally like someone drew a line down the middle of the pit and put a rock band to your right and a symphonic section to your left. And as a conductor, you’re trying to marry the two.”

At UNCG, he was mentored by Dr. Joseph DiPiazza, professor emeritus of piano, and Benton Hess, a noted conductor of opera and UNCG’s Marion Stedman Covington Distinguished Professor from 1994 to 2000. “Dom hit the ground running, and he didn’t stop running for four years. He had expertise in so many different genres of music, not just piano,” says DiPiazza.

Upon graduation, Amendum was prepared for a bright career. As if swept away by a tornado, he left for New York, never thinking that he’d one day return.

CAREER COLLABORATION

“Stephen Schwartz has been my hero ever since I understood what musical theatre was and what musicals were,” says Amendum. And with good reason.

Amendum and Stephen Schwartz.

Schwartz is a Broadway legend who won his first Grammy in 1972 for the original cast album of “Godspell” and also won in 2005 for best musical show album for “Wicked.” He won Oscars for original songs in the animated musicals “Pocahontas” (1995) and “The Prince of Egypt” (1998).

But Amendum’s respect for Schwartz is based on something more than his iconic status. “At the end of the day, Stephen supports the people around him to do their best work,” he says.

As Amendum’s career was getting started, his high school chorus teacher was able to arrange a meeting for him with Schwartz. That’s something the Broadway legend has done consistently for young artists, Amendum says.

“I went to his apartment on the west side of Manhattan and had tea with him,” Amendum recalls. “I got to tell him how much I loved his work.” Amendum didn’t know he would eventually work with Schwartz on two major shows.

Years later, after working on national tours of other musicals, Amendum got an opportunity that he says, “was like getting drafted into the NFL.” Another of his mentors from UNCG, Professor Emerita of Voice Carla LeFevre, recalls that turning point. She was visiting Amendum in New York.

“We were having coffee,” she remembers. Amendum left to take a phone call. “He comes back and it looks like the blood has gone out of his face. He says, ‘I just got offered the national tour of ‘Wicked.’”

He began as associate conductor and rapidly rose, taking on multiple roles with “Wicked” between 2006 and 2017. These included conducting, music directing, and even managing touring productions off Broadway that took the show across the U.S.

After his time with the national stage tour of “Wicked,” but before his involvement with the films, Amendum worked on another project with Schwartz: the stage adaptation of the 1998 DreamWorks animated musical “The Prince of Egypt,” which tells the story of Moses as he discovers his Jewish heritage and seeks to free his people from Egypt.

“We started developing the stage version in the summer of 2015,” he remembers. “DreamWorks Universal had gotten many requests to do the stage version of ‘The Prince of Egypt,’ but it didn’t exist.”

Amendum had a huge role in the adaptation. “It’s a show I poured my heart and soul into, and Stephen gave me incredible freedom as an arranger to develop his iconic score for the stage.”

That investment of time and energy takes years. “It was a five-year journey from the start to the West End, which is pretty typical,” explains Amendum. The show opened in London in February 2020.

Amendum says the show has two things he values in music: emotion and drama. “Music absolutely changes your mood. As a musical arranger, you’re taking people on a ride like a roller coaster engineer does. Emotionally, ‘Prince of Egypt’ is a powerful piece of theatre with really high highs and really low lows.”

Music from “The Prince of Egypt.”

He adds, “High stakes, larger-than-life sagas are what people like to see.” They’re also what both Amendum and Schwartz like to write. How did their collaboration feel?

“I remember one day we were working on something,” Amendum recalls. “He was singing and I was playing. We finished one song, and he turned to me and said, ‘This is why I like collaborating with you – you just get it.’ I will never forget that moment. We had just made music together, and we each felt where the other was going. I find it very easy to filter his music through my humanity and my heart and my fingers.”

UNCG’s “Godspell”
UNCG’s “The SpongeBob Musical”
UNCG’s “Into the Woods”

FROM OZ TO “WICKED”

Stories of Oz have made their mark for over a century. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was published by L. Frank Baum in 1900, and the Judy Garland film classic came out in 1939. 1974’s “The Wiz” told the tale with an all-Black cast. Today, “Wicked” strikes a chord.

“For a large population of theatre-makers, ‘Wicked’ was an entry point to their career and their love for theatre,” says UNCG senior Ella Frederickson. “It’s timeless, when you think about it. We’re talking about friendship and the hardships of feeling ‘othered’ because of your skin color.”

Musical theatre student Miranda Macasero is from Greensboro. Her classmate, close friend, and roommate Sanchi Pandey came from out-of-state to attend UNCG’s program. They discovered “Wicked” together.

“And after discovering it, I was like, ‘Oh, I am 1000% an Elphaba!’” jokes Macasero.

Pandey? “Definitely more of a Glinda! That is easily a dream role for me.”

For Avilon Tate ’24, Oz has been key to his career in the theatre since his first role in a Greensboro production of “The Wizard of Oz” when he was a child. Today he calls “Wicked” his “personal favorite show of all time” and remembers seeing it onstage. “We sat right in the mezzanine. My acting teacher was right beside me, and my mom was there beside me, too.”

This year, he’s been on Broadway himself as a cast member in “The Wiz,” which began its run in April. “Going to Broadway, it all felt like a whirlwind. But once we were settled into our theatre and we were up and running, it was joyous,” says Tate, who is just one example of the many UNCG musical theatre majors who are now building professional careers in both regional and national productions.

The Musical Theatre program launched in 2018, and its prestige has grown quickly. For the 2024-25 academic year, it accepted about 1% of its more than 900 applicants.

“We’re still about 50% in-state,” says Amendum, “but the vast majority of our applicants are from out-of-state. Our program is widely considered one of the top in the nation. People from all over the country are saying, ‘This is my dream school.’”

PROFESSOR DOM

The students know the steps and they know the music. They’re rehearsing with their teacher, who’s keeping an eye on choreography and blocking, musical phrasing, student voice and pitch, and the overall feeling of the performances. They call him Dom.

“Stop! How far are we from ‘position one’?” he asks the performers. “Pretty far!” they yell.

“We’ll use these four bars as ‘traveling music’ to get back to position one,” Dom says. “We’re gonna speed through it one more time.”

“Dom treated us
like we were already
on Broadway.
That prepared me for my
professional career.”

When Amendum began teaching at UNCG in 2015 on a part-time basis, he wasn’t sure how it would go. “I could have come down here from New York for a couple of years and then said, ‘Oh, this isn’t for me,’” Amendum explains. That didn’t happen.

As DiPiazza says, “He’s gone full-circle now. He started out in the Brown Building as a student, had a career on Broadway, and came back as faculty in the University where it all started.”

And to see him work with his freshmen in the 120-seat black-box performance space, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Sprinkle Theatre was on Broadway.

“In my work as a music director and music supervisor, I don’t enter the room differently whether it’s a bunch of undergraduates getting their BFA degrees or whether it’s Cynthia Erivo,” he says. Erivo is the Grammy- and Tony Award-winning star playing Elphaba. “The work is not different. That’s something I feel really passionate about.”

Amendum’s class is rehearsing cabaret projects. It’s a demanding and intimate kind of performance that matches the feeling of the program: prestigious and defined by seeing its students as three-dimensional individuals with meaningful stories.

“Dom puts so much focus on each of his students. He wants us to be ourselves because what makes us interesting as artists is that we’re all different as people,” says Macasero.
Finding what Dom calls “access to excellence” is no accident. It’s how the program is designed, he says.

“In most programs, you’re not going have a class with the coordinator of the program until you’re a junior or senior.”

His students have multiple courses with him. He also can give them tips about the industry. “He helps us make our book of audition songs, and we do mock auditions,” says Pandey. “He has spent so long behind the audition table on Broadway and on films, he was able to really tell us what the industry is looking for.”

As hard as they are working, the students are also having fun. There is still room for their ideas, their reactions, their spirits. Amendum creates that feeling on purpose.
“The best projects I’ve been involved in are the projects where everyone has room to bring their own creativity and collaboration into the space. From the lighting and scenic designer to the arranger and music supervisor and orchestrator,” he says.

The group begins rehearsing a number from “Avenue Q,” rewritten to be a funny take on student life at UNCG. It should have the energy of a Sesame Street tune. “We all need to be playing with that tone,” Dom tells the cast. “It’s not serious – don’t sing it like it’s Sondheim.”

The students go back to position one to run through it again. Rehearsal continues.

Working with first-year BFA students in Sprinkle Theatre.

RETURN TO OZ

“When I left New York City, my days with ‘Wicked’ were done. Or so I thought,” Amendum recalls. He last worked on the stage show in 2017. When he got the opportunity to work on the films, he was surprised and delighted.

But even if he knew the songs and the music, working on such a monumental film project was new to him. Instead of raising the curtains in Act I and closing them at the end, in a movie, scenes are shot out of sequence. “You need to depend on others in the production,” Amendum says.

“Our brilliant director, Jon M. Chu, walked on set every day with an incredibly artistic plan about how he was going to tell this story. So much happens after they say ‘Cut!’ You see it months later and you’re like, ‘Wow, I never imagined it was going to look like that!’”

At the same time, there are some common elements that unite film and theatre, he says.

“At the end of the day, you’re telling a story, you’re looking for the humanity of certain characters, you’re looking for actors who are connected to the material.” He saw this in the stars of the film, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, he adds.

Grande is a Grammy-winning singer, an actress, and an entrepreneur. She has had nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts and has sold millions of records worldwide. She made her Broadway debut in 2008, when she was just 15 years old.

She’s more than a pop star, he says. “I think some people are going to be surprised by the kind of singer she is. She’s amazingly gifted.”

Erivo is a Tony- and Grammy Award-winning actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in 2015, starring in “The Color Purple,” Amendum was amazed by the passion he witnessed on the “Wicked” film set.

“Cynthia Erivo was in harnesses doing full stunt work while singing ‘Defying Gravity,’ her character’s signature song. I said to one of the behind-the-scenes people, ‘Please get this on camera so that people understand it’s not a film trick.’ She’s actually doing it!”

The same was true of Grande. “She was there to do the work. She grew up on ‘Wicked’ and was really concerned with honoring Glinda and honoring all the women who have played that role before her,” says Amendum. “There was never any ‘celebrity’ with her.”

The best thing about their performances? “Both Cynthia and Ariana are incredibly deep emotional wells. They’re both really connected to their own humanity and their own emotional journeys.”

That sounds a lot like Dom.

RETURN TO OZ

“When I left New York City, my days with ‘Wicked’ were done. Or so I thought,” Amendum recalls. He last worked on the stage show in 2017. When he got the opportunity to work on the films, he was surprised and delighted.

But even if he knew the songs and the music, working on such a monumental film project was new to him. Instead of raising the curtains in Act I and closing them at the end, in a movie, scenes are shot out of sequence. “You need to depend on others in the production,” Amendum says.

“Our brilliant director, Jon M. Chu, walked on set every day with an incredibly artistic plan about how he was going to tell this story. So much happens after they say ‘Cut!’ You see it months later and you’re like, ‘Wow, I never imagined it was going to look like that!’”

At the same time, there are some common elements that unite film and theatre, he says.

“At the end of the day, you’re telling a story, you’re looking for the humanity of certain characters, you’re looking for actors who are connected to the material.” He saw this in the stars of the film, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, he adds.

Grande is a Grammy-winning singer, an actress, and an entrepreneur. She has had nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts and has sold millions of records worldwide. She made her Broadway debut in 2008, when she was just 15 years old.

She’s more than a pop star, he says. “I think some people are going to be surprised by the kind of singer she is. She’s amazingly gifted.”

Erivo is a Tony- and Grammy Award-winning actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in 2015, starring in “The Color Purple,” Amendum was amazed by the passion he witnessed on the “Wicked” film set.

“Cynthia Erivo was in harnesses doing full stunt work while singing ‘Defying Gravity,’ her character’s signature song. I said to one of the behind-the-scenes people, ‘Please get this on camera so that people understand it’s not a film trick.’ She’s actually doing it!”

The same was true of Grande. “She was there to do the work. She grew up on ‘Wicked’ and was really concerned with honoring Glinda and honoring all the women who have played that role before her,” says Amendum. “There was never any ‘celebrity’ with her.”

The best thing about their performances? “Both Cynthia and Ariana are incredibly deep emotional wells. They’re both really connected to their own humanity and their own emotional journeys.”

That sounds a lot like Dom.