By Andrew Gans
17 Mar 2006
Q: How long are you contracted with the show?
Murney: For six months.
Q: Would you like to bring it to Broadway?
Murney: I don't know. There are other things pending. I feel like I'm not doing this for something else. I'm doing this for this. If something else comes up, that's great. I kind of long ago stopped pretending that "this will happen and then this will happen." One of the huge lessons of Wild Party was sometimes it doesn't happen the way you think it's going to happen. And, that show still changed my life and completely changed my career, and it made me realize that Broadway — although a fantastic dream and a wonderful thing — isn't everything. We got to do our show for the time that we did it, and we loved it so much. And, no, it didn't move to Broadway, and that was a true bummer, but we still got to do it. That's sort of why I didn't make a big deal with [Lennon]. Other people were like, "Oh it's your Broadway debut." It was and that was cool, but I felt like making that particular production more important, simply because it was on Broadway, somehow would lessen all the other shows I had done. I loved doing Ragtime in North Carolina. . . .
Q: What was the Lennon experience like?
Murney: It was great, and it was frustrating. As in everything, we hoped for more and we hoped for a better outcome. . . . It wasn't for everyone. Some people flipped out over it. . . . Wicked has captured a certain imagination, which we sort of, in a very, very different way, hoped Lennon would capture: a feeling of peace and introspection and politically stating how you feel and all the stuff that John [Lennon] stood for and trying to rile people up in a way. This show is all about girl power essentially. This story of these two girls, and everyone has felt like a green girl at some point and to find out that the beautiful one isn't entirely happy and sometimes the boy does choose the other one. It speaks to these girls in a way that I don’t think any other show does. In its day Annie had its fans. But that was just like, "Oh, I could be Annie." But this is like, "That's me." It's a more personal thing. It sounds silly, but it's true, it feels important, somehow, to be a part of that. To be like, "Maybe I can help these girls," because I've been the green girl. I'm the green girl at least once a week. [Laughs.] Feeling like you're not enough or you're too different. . . . There is that thing of wanting to belong. And they're so much more powerful together than they are opposing each other, which in today's climate, with the way a lot of young girls can be, I think that's a pretty good lesson.
Q: You also just completed your first solo recording. Tell me about that.
Murney: It's called "I'm Not Waiting," which is a song that Andrew Lippa wrote for me when I did my first solo show at Ars Nova. . . . It's a total hodge-podge. It's not a show-tune album, although there is a song from Wicked, there is a song that was cut from Wild Party and there's my song from Lennon, which isn't really a show tune, but it was in a show.
Murney: "I'm Not That Girl," which I think is the most beautiful song in the show. And it's the song that I thought really made sense out of context. I didn't want to be singing about flying or brooms! At one point someone said, "You should sing 'Defying Gravity' and you should call it 'The Green Album.'" . . . I feel like I'm borrowing this role from everyone who came before me. I'm borrowing this role from Idina and Stephanie and Ana [Gasteyer] and Kristy and Eden and Shoshana [Bean]. They put their stamp [on it], and we hopefully just feed off each other. It's not mine, it's ours. To take possession of it like that was not what I meant to do at all. . . We're trying to put a rush on [the CD]. It's all done, it's being manufactured, and that takes the time that it takes. . . . There's a Reba McEntire song, there's an Annie Lennox and U2 song put together and a Joni Mitchell.
Q: When do you think it will hit stores?
Murney: They thought for sure by the beginning of May, but I'm hoping sooner.
Q: Who would you say are some of your vocal influences or were your influences, people you admired growing up?
Murney: I loved Bette Midler. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the "Divine Miss M" album. There are certain voices that I could sing nothing like, but I always [admired] — Barbara Cook I always thought was exquisite. And there are certain albums — I was a freak for Dreamgirls. I didn't know Evita, I somehow skipped that. . . . I loved Liz Callaway and Beth Fowler and Catherine Cox in Baby. I saw Baby on Broadway originally because I grew up in New York. Today's vocalists — what's cool is I get flustered now by the fact that pretty much I'll go to see a show and I know the people. I sat at the opening night of Wicked watching Idina just go! I was like, "She comes to my house and we have pizza." That's amazing. And to know them — Eden Espinosa, for example, is just so kind and so gracious. To do the big Actors' Fund benefits, the most fun about them is getting to watch everybody else do their thing. . . . It inspires me to go and see my friends excel at the top level of what we've always aspired to.
[The national tour of Wicked is currently playing the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati through March 19. The tour will then open at Philadelphia's Academy of Music March 22. For more details, visit www.wickedthemusical.com.]
DIVA TIDBITS
Add November 4 to the ever-growing list of Bernadette Peters' concert dates. The two-time Tony-winning actress is scheduled to perform with the Omaha Symphony in Omaha, NE, on that fall evening. Other recent additions include June 7 with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA; Aug. 12 with the Boston Pops at Jetties Beach in Nantucket, MA; Sept. 30 at Pfeiffer Hall in Naperville, IL; and Oct. 28 and 29 at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD.
Terri Klausner, who was the original "matinee" Eva for the Broadway run of Evita, will join Steve Marzullo for a March 20 concert at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre. The one-night-only concert will feature songs from the musical theatre as well as tunes by Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, The Carpenters, Heart and John Lennon. Show time is 9:30 PM. The Duplex Cabaret Theatre is located at 61 Christopher Street. There is a $15 cover charge and a two-drink minimum; call (212) 255-5438 for reservations.
Emily Skinner, who was recently seen in the new musical Fanny Hill, will direct the upcoming Town Hall concert The Broadway Musicals of 1956. Created and hosted by Scott Siegel, the April 3 concert will boast the talents of director Skinner as well Christine Andreas, Brent Barrett, Marc Kudisch, Ashley Brown, John Treacy Egan, Devin Richard, Rachelle, Brandon Cutrell and Connie Pachl. Show time is 8 PM. The evening will feature songs from shows that debuted on Broadway in 1956. Concertgoers can expect to hear tunes from My Fair Lady, The Most Happy Fella, Li'l Abner and Mr. Wonderful. Town Hall is located in Manhattan at 123 West 43rd Street. Tickets, priced $40 and $45, are available by calling (212) 307-4100.
Tony-nominated actress Karen Akers, who starred in the original Broadway productions of Nine and Grand Hotel, will pay tribute to the songs of John Kander and the late Fed Ebb in her upcoming stint at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room. Akers has titled her show First You Dream: The Songs of Kander & Ebb, and cabaretgoers will be treated to Kander and Ebb's "Maybe This Time," "Married," "The Happy Time," "I Don't Remember You," "Yes," "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup," "There When I Need Him," "My Own Space," "Arthur in the Afternoon," "City Lights," "We Can Make It," "Not Enough Magic," "Familiar Things," "Colored Lights" and "First You Dream." Akers will play the famed Oak Room April 4-May 13. She will be accompanied by musical director Don Rebic on piano and Brian Glassman on bass. Richard Niles directs. Performances are Tuesdays-Thursdays at 9 PM with two shows Fridays and Saturdays at 9 and 11:30 PM. There is a $60 cover charge plus a food/drink minimum. For reservations call (212) 419-9931. The Algonquin Hotel is located in New York City at 59 West 44th Street. Visit www.thealgonquin.net for more information.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
| View article on single page | Previous Page 1 | 2 Next Page |
