{"id":120040,"date":"2025-12-05T12:09:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=120040"},"modified":"2025-12-05T13:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:00:02","slug":"interview-supervising-music-editor-jack-dolman-talks-wicked-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/12\/05\/interview-supervising-music-editor-jack-dolman-talks-wicked-good\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Supervising Music Editor Jack Dolman Talks About Wicked: For Good"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_120042\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120042\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-120042\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-12-05T094546.946.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Dolman, Supervising Music Editor for the films Wicked and Wicked: For Good (Photo courtesy of the artist)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-12-05T094546.946.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-12-05T094546.946-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-12-05T094546.946-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-12-05T094546.946-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-120042\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jack Dolman, Supervising Music Editor for the films Wicked and Wicked: For Good (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jack Dolman has had a long and varied career working with music and film, beginning as a Technical Score Engineer at Hans Zimmer\u2019s renowned Remote Control Productions, to a freelance career as sound editor and Supervising Music Editor \u2013 most recently for the blockbuster films Wicked and Wicked: For Good.<\/p>\n<p>LV spoke to Jack about his career, and working with movie musicals like the blockbuster series.<\/p>\n<h2>Jack Dolman<\/h2>\n<p>Jack Dolman was born in Toronto and raised in Los Angeles. He\u2019s the son of comedian, actress, and musical theatre star Andrea Martin, and it\u2019s from her influence that he credits an early love of theatre.<\/p>\n<p>He studied jazz piano at a young age, and played in a high school jazz ensemble as well as several bands throughout high school, continuing while attending Vassar College. Somewhere along the way, a love of mathematics took over his bent for music, and he graduated from the University of Toronto with a Master\u2019s degree. Jack worked as a business consultant for several years before the siren\u2019s song of music lured him back.<\/p>\n<p>His career in music and film began in 2008 when he began working at Hans Zimmer\u2019s Remote Control Productions as the assistant to film composer Henry Jackman. His credits from his time at Remote Control include working as Technical Score Engineer on Monsters Vs Aliens, It\u2019s Complicated, Gulliver\u2019s Travels, and Kick-Ass, among others.<\/p>\n<p>In 2011, he switched his focus to music editing, and continued collaborating with Hans Zimmer and Henry Jackson, which led to working on scores for films like Rush, Captain Philips, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Chappie, and Captain America: Civil War over the next five years or so.<\/p>\n<p>That body of experience, in turn, led to working with filmmakers like Ron Howard, Matthew Vaughn, The Russo Brothers, Paul Greengrass, and others.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, he left Remote Control to work as a freelance music editor for a range of project that include indie features as well as major blockbusters, including working with composers John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Harry Gregson-Williams (Early Man), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Bones and All), Junkie XL (Point Break), Matthew Margeson (The King\u2019s Man), and Dominic Lewis (Money Monster). He continued his working relationship with composer Henry Jackson and in turn the Russo Brothers, working on films such as Cherry and The Gray Man.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last several years, he\u2019s tended to focus on movie musicals, inspired by his exposure to theatre through his mother Andrea Martin, who has won multiple Tony Awards for Broadway productions. Jack has worked on films such as Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, and Better Nate Than Ever.<\/p>\n<p>His most recent projects include acting as Supervising Music Editor on the film versions of Wicked, collaborating with director Jon M. Chu, composer Stephen Schwartz, and producer Marc Platt, and its sequel Wicked: For Good, released in theatres on November 21. He garnered his first Academy Award nomination for Best Sound for the original Wicked at the 2025 Oscars.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nv4hbjzefKQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Jack Dolman: The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>Did he have movie musicals in mind when he began working in film?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell you know, it was a long progression in starting from film music,\u201d he says. Working with so many different people in the movie industry led to more opportunities over time. \u201cMusic editing is a field that encompasses a lot of different kinds of films.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He mentions growing up with the influence of his mother. \u201cShe introduced me and my brother to musical theatre when I was very young. So, in my career as a music editor, when the opportunity presented itself to pivot into movie musicals, [I took it],\u201d he says. \u201cThe other thing about this opportunity is that working with [composer] Stephen Schwartz is another kind of dream to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That dream again goes back to his early years. Dolman mentions Andrea Martin\u2019s early credits in <a href=\"https:\/\/tiff.net\/films\/you-had-to-be-there\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Godspell<\/a>, and her Tony Award winning work in Pippin in 2003, both of which were also scored by Stephen Schwartz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me it was a lot of things coming together.\u201d It was a way of carrying on a family legacy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vt98AlBDI9Y?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Working on Wicked<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThe work of the music editor usually starts early on in a movie musical,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<p>Dolman was involved with both Wicked and Wicked: For Good from the time filming began in London, UK in December 2022. \u201cMy role in the film started quite early.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the Supervising Music Editor, putting the music for the film began in the early stages of development. The sequences were put together as filming progressed. He worked closely with director Jon M. Chu and editor Myron Kerstein. Once the project hits post-production stage, the individual music editors, who work on the details of each scene, are brought into the picture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe world expands quite a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Supervising the work of individual music editors means being conscious of the overall vision for the entire movie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you&#8217;re working on a musical that has preexisting material from the Broadway score, and in this case with Stephen Schwartz. you&#8217;re working with a lot of [different elements],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, the film would work with elements from the original Broadway score, incorporating the various character themes, and weaving them together with music written especially for the film to create a kind of roadmap for the film score as a whole. That\u2019s the first step towards the final product.<\/p>\n<p>He points out that the Broadway production used a pit orchestra of 22 musicians. \u201cWhen we do a film, we have the luxury in this case of an 80-piece orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It means scaling the original music upwards, with larger arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were able to take the roadmap I had created with Myron and Stephen, and expand on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>John Powell is the co-composer of Wicked and Wicked: For Good. \u201cOne of the great things about John Powell, is, if he wasn&#8217;t a film composer, he\u2019d be writing music for orchestras,\u201d Dolman says.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a lushly orchestrated soundtrack that hits many different moods and genres. \u201cThat was one of the things he wanted to do, and we all wanted to do, was to take the world of Wicked, and not only expand on it [&#8230;] but also acknowledge the original 1939 [film].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolman\u2019s role was to juggle all of those elements into a coherent full-length soundtrack. \u201cAnd make it feel new and fresh for audiences today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While making movies is necessarily a collaborative project, considering how to put things together also resulted in a lot of time working on his own. \u201cI spent a lot of time thinking about that. And a lot of that is alone,\u201d he explains. The results need to be seamless from the audience perspective.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;re using the music to weave in and out of songs, and the underscore, in a way that the audience doesn&#8217;t notice,\u201d he adds. \u201cYou&#8217;re dealing with so many elements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The role of background music in the film is to provide the emotional underpinning of the story, augmenting the expression of character, but also their actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;re hoping that music in general in a film establishes the emotional heartbeat of the story itself in a more omniscient way, and you&#8217;re also hoping that it allows you to see the intimate details of a character.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, that involves playing with two different perspectives at once, expressing character, but also the audience\u2019s point of view of the story. \u201cSo that the audience is being just pulled along,\u201d he explains. \u201cI think the best version of film music is when it is subtly pulling the audience along,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially in the case of Wicked: For Good, the relationship between these two women, Elphaba and Glinda, reaches a kind of heartbreaking climax.\u201d The film asks the audience to share in the moment even as it expresses the connection between the two characters, an element particularly crucial to Wicked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou really want to music to slowly draw a line that takes you through the movie to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>From Jazz Bands to Movie Music to Bach<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cEarly on, as a young person I always played piano, but I fell in love with improvisation,\u201d Jack says. That led to the road to jazz. \u201cThe harmonies and the endless infinite possibility of that form was so alluring to me. So I was definitely seduced by jazz as a young musician. I suppose it was also rebellious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what he first studied at university. \u201cI studied it for a long time, but then I got distracted by a love of mathematics of all things,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n<p>Working with Hans Zimmer brought his love of music, and his own music making, back to the fore. He still plays the piano.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow as a musician, I&#8217;m playing Bach more than anything,\u201d he says. \u201cI&#8217;m trying to learn the Goldberg Variations before death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Working in film, he sees it as an extension of the classical music tradition. \u201cFilm music really is the current most viable form of orchestral concert music in the scene that it is commercially viable, but it requires the same kind of prowess that concert music has always required.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looks at movie music as a kind of steward of the orchestral music tradition, particularly with films like Wicked and Wicked: For Good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could take these pieces and perform them at a great concert hall with an orchestra,\u201d he says. \u201cIt would be beautiful and magical as a stand alone piece of music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? 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