When you think about how short lived some riffs are because of production notes… consider she rearranged the entire score BMDs and it stayed from her beginning to end. No other production, tour, country, no one else. A queen. A legend.
I will never understand why people hate her for not riffing too much. The song is already big and powerful by itself with no extra riffs, and the riffs that Julia does sing (the slide on the first BMD, the low note on the second BMD, neither of which have been done by any other Elphaba as far as I'm aware) only add to its power. Julia Murney had an AMAZING singing voice, it's a real fucking shame she got sick through most of her runs and couldn't maintain it but that never stopped her from slaying all her performances. The conservative riffing actually helped her out in the long run imo by preserving her from blowing out her voice completely. And let's not forget her GODLIKE acting and speaking voice. She is every part Elphaba, down to the mannerisms and movement. I watched the slime tutorial of her entire last Broadway performance a few months ago and literally could not take my eyes off her, she captivated me so much the whole time she was on stage.
She knows how to use her voice to tell the story, to convey emotions to us. She doesn't use the music for herself, she gives herself to the music. And the vibrato is wonderful.
She came during a time riffing almost equally to how it’s written was common. She was fresh and changed it up. When people nowadays are not familiar with her, they think it’s basic.
