By Andrew Gans
17 Mar 2006

Julia Murney in Wicked; Murney and Sebastian Arcelus in Wicked.
photo by Joan Marcus

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

JULIA MURNEY

Julia Murney fans across the country are in for a double treat this season. Not only is the celebrated actress, who boasts a powerhouse, vibrato-filled belt that is as expressive as it is exciting and rangy, currently starring as the misunderstood, green-faced Elphaba in the national tour of Wicked, but she will also release her long-awaited solo debut recording on Sh-K-Boom Records in the spring. The CD, titled "I'm Not Waiting," features a mix of pop and theatre tunes, including the Stephen Schwartz Wicked ballad "I'm Not That Girl." Murney, whose breakout role was Queenie in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, also made her Broadway debut earlier this season, providing one of the highlights of the short-lived musical Lennon with her tender rendition of "Beautiful Boy." Murney, in fact, has the habit of standing out, whether she's performing on Broadway, Off-Broadway or in numerous benefit evenings. I recently had the chance to chat with the charming performer, who is currently impressing Cincinnati audiences with her take on everyone's favorite green gal. That interview follows.

Question: You've been somehow attached to Wicked for a long time. . .
Julia Murney: Well, sort of. I don't know if I would call it "attached," but I've known Stephen Schwartz for a very long time. I had sung "Defying Gravity" — I think I might have been the first person to sing it in New York.

Q: Where did you debut the song?
Murney: It was at the Duplex [in July 2002] — there was an evening of Stephen's music that someone put together, and Stephen very kindly [told them], "You can have a song from my new show [Wicked]" —which was just about to do more workshops — "but Julia Murney has to sing it," which was very sweet. And, I think — I might be wrong here — but I think [the key] might have actually been higher! Because I remember saying, "Stephen, this is not cute." [Laughs.] And [the role of Elphaba] came around this time, and that was cool. . . . I'm really glad to be doing it [on tour]. The cast is so wonderful right down the line. They're great, and they've been so kind and so helpful. I was nervous because I know Stephanie [J. Block, who created the role of Elphaba for the tour]. I know how fantastic Stephanie is, and I knew she had been their momma for a year. And, it's hard to be like, "I'm your new momma!" [Laughs.] But they've been nothing but wonderful, and there are four new people [in the cast now].

Q: What was the rehearsal process like?
Murney: Fast! [Laughs.] I am, I guess, the fastest they've ever put in an Elphaba. We did ten days in New York. Then we went to Pittsburgh last week, and we did one rehearsal with just us and then two full put-ins, and that was it.

Q: What was your experience like the first time before an audience?
Murney: It was a little bit of madness. Again, knowing how kind everyone had been, I knew they had my back . . . It was very overwhelming because I've never toured before and I thought, "You just open on a tour and that's that." [But] I got flowers from all these people, my sister and two of my best friends surprised me, flew to Cincinnati. I was sort of overwhelmed — it was like a regular opening night. It was really cool.

Q: What are your thoughts about touring at this point?
Murney: Well, I've only been gone from home for a week-and-a-half, so it's hard to say. [Laughs.] It's strange. It's like this own little bubble of a world. I haven't figured out [yet] how to be a human because [the work has] been all-encompassing. And you rehearse a lot. That was the other thing about this cast that was so remarkable. They did something like 11 shows last week between our put-ins and their normal shows. And, the awesome thing about them is they weren't marking — they were giving us their full show, so we knew what we were going to get. I can't say enough about them — they were so remarkable, and we were so grateful for it.

Q: Did it take you awhile to decide whether you wanted to tour? What factored into that decision?
Murney: It did. Well, I really enjoy my couch. [Laughs.] I'm a bit of a homebody, and I do voiceovers at home, so there was a whole world, more or less, that I was going to walk away from for a period of time. I went back and forth and spoke about it with a few of my friends. And, finally a friend said to me, "Why haven't you made a decision? . . ." And I felt badly because I know just about anybody else would be like, "I'll pack my bags right now." And, I, of course, am the idiot who's like, "I don't know. . ." [Laughs.]

Q: But touring is a big change. . .
Murney: It is. But when my friends said that to me, I said, "I don't think my friends are idiots, so I'm trying to take the time to really listen to them." . . . I was sitting very comfortably in my little box doing benefits and my voiceovers, basically, and every once in a while a show, and that's fine. But, I thought, "Get yourself out of the box and challenge yourself a bit." This has certainly been from the word go — between learning the role in such a short amount of time and suddenly being on tour —a very fast learning curve. And, now I feel like the last big hurdle is figuring out how to do this so many times a week when you're not home. Every time you move to a new city, you have to create your new comfort zone. I haven't even figured out how to get the green off of me yet, really satisfactorily. [Laughs.]

Q: Have you asked any of the other Elphabas for advice?
Murney: Oh, yes. I sat with Eden [Espinosa] before I left, and I've e-mailed with Idina [Menzel] and Stephanie [Block] and even the understudies here on the road. And then I got the sweetest call from Kristy Cates, who's playing her in Chicago. She left me a whole message saying, "I just want to wish you luck and anything that you might need. . ." It was so nice. It's like a green-girl sisterhood. [Laughs.]

Q: What advice have they given you?
Murney: I think the big thing is just figuring out how to pace yourself within the show and knowing where your alternate notes lie. . . . The hardest thing about this show isn't necessarily the singing. It's the talking, it's the screaming — screaming "Fiyero!" That's the thing you forget about unless you're actively thinking about trying to place all the speaking in a spot that you can maintain. And, it's hard because when you get emotional, the thoughts of "place that correctly" go straight out the window. That's been the big thing — different people explaining how they pace themselves. Idina was really into Bikram yoga, which is very, very hot. She did it every day. I tried it, and it kind of made me want to throw up. [Laughs.] It's so hot! And Stephanie would get honey from local beekeepers when she would come to a new city, figuring that they would have inoculated themselves against local allergies.

Q: So many actresses want to play this part. What do you think makes it such a great role?
Murney: Well, you're like a rock star. The coolest thing thus far are the kids, the little ones. There was a little boy yesterday. It's one thing when the teenagers come because they appreciate it in a different way, and I think usually they're theatre fans. . . But there was a little boy, who was probably seven, [who said], "I liked the part when you talked about Dorothy." That was just cute. And, when you're in good voice and you're feeling your stride, it's a kick to sing. Stephen's written some kickin' songs.

Q: What's the first-act finale ["Defying Gravity"] like to perform?
Murney: The first-act finale, for me, is all about the levitator, the cherry picker, and figuring out the tricks that make it work. You have to get yourself into a whole situation in a fast amount of time. I draw strength from the fact that I look down [and] I can see Kendra [Kassebaum], I can see Kyle [McDaniel] and the guard lying on the ground. I can see them and I'm okay. It's not scary. Everyone kept saying, "Do you have a problem with heights?" [I thought], "I don't think so. I guess I'll find out." It really does go quite high.

Q: Are you strapped in?
Murney: No, but you have a sort of clamp. You do have mobility but not in your feet. Your feet can't really move. And that was one of the greatest first pieces of advice that Eden gave me way back. She [said], "Practice 'Defying Gravity' with your feet together." Because you can't hunker down to get your notes — that's not possible. That was a really fantastic Eden piece of advice. . . . My favorite song to sing is "No Good Deed." "The Wizard and I" is hard because that's the one right out of the gate. That's the one where you're [thinking], "Do you have it today or not? Let's see." And I do love singing "For Good" because it's with Kendra and because it's a simpler song to sing vocally and it's more about the lyric. And I love singing "As Long As You're Mine" because I'm with Sebastian [Arcelus]. I spend so much time by myself, but then you're like, "Here's a person. I get to sing with a person!"  Continued...

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