Julia is unmatched imo. Many women have played Elphie, but Julia is the only one that _embodies_ the role. No flashy ornamention, just a brutally honest performance.
Legend. The Elphaba who seamlessly blended Margaret Hamilton, Maguire’s novel and the musical in one. I had the honor of seeing her on tour in Detroit. She unfortunately took leave shortly after and missed the rest of the stop due to vocal strain. The head voice she used on Broadway was a result of this. But when she went full tilt, there was nothing like it.
I got to see her twice in Cleveland shortly after the Detroit stop! She was EVERYTHING! I did a Wicked bootcamp and one of the instructors who was in the company said she had been battling sickness, but man oh man was she phenomenal when I saw her! Do you think she consciously made the choice to use more head voice on Broadway? I noticed her tell them "How I" always sounded less belty more heady mix twang...which I still love btw lol.
@@nathanielleeson7263 Yes. The cleveland stop was a good one after she'd had several weeks off. It was also the beginning of her using only the original battle cry instead of her own. The head voice was definitely a choice as you never heard her full out belt again on those big notes. I missed it because Julia full throttle is a force! But it never really mattered with her as her acting was always beyond incredible.
One of my favorite elphies ever. The reason I like her so much is because she reminds me of a younger Margaret Hamilton. I can easily see her playing the wicked witch in ALW’s Wizard of Oz.
Still the one and only Elphie to have fundamentally changed several prominent measures of score, defining her legacy from first to last performance #LegendsOnlyClub
