Julia Murney
Encyclopedia
Julia Kathleen Murney is an American
actress, singer and theatre performer, primarily featured in theatre
and television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway. This was because her fame came mostly from her performances on the Broadway charity circuit, and not traditional Broadway productions.
In her album I'm Not Waiting liner notes, Andrew Lippa says that he first met her in June 1996. He said
Murney's Off-Broadway
theatrical credits include originating the role of 'Queenie' in Andrew Lippa
's The Wild Party
(2000) at the Manhattan Theatre Club
, opposite Brian d'Arcy James
, Idina Menzel
, and Taye Diggs
, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
. She was also seen in The Vagina Monologues
, Crimes of the Heart
(2001), A Class Act
(2000), Time and Again (2001), and First Lady Suite
. She appeared in a musical version of the film Saved!
at the Playwrights Horizons
Theatre, which had previews starting from May 9, and an opening on June 3, 2008. In August 2008, Murney portrayed the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita at Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento
.
Murney made her debut on Broadway
in 2005, in the short-lived musical Lennon
. She was also seen in the Actors' Fund benefit concerts of Funny Girl, Chess
, Hair
, and the World AIDS Day Benefit Concert Pippin
. She has also been featured on television in Sex and the City
, Ed
, NYPD Blue
, and various episodes of Law & Order
.
Murney succeeded Stephanie J. Block
as Elphaba
in the 1st national touring company of the musical Wicked
on March 6, 2006. In that role, she won an Acclaim Award from the Cincinnati Enquirer for leading performer in a musical. She departed the tour on September 3, 2006, after six months, and was replaced by Shoshana Bean
. She then transferred to the Broadway production, reprising the role of Elphaba for a nine month engagement, beginning January 9, 2007, replacing Ana Gasteyer
. She played her final performance on October 7, 2007 and was replaced by Stephanie J. Block
.
Her debut solo album, I'm Not Waiting, was released in May 2006 on the Sh-K-Boom Records
label. The album's title song was written especially for her by Andrew Lippa
, with whom she has a strong artistic relationship. Murney also sings a jazz acoustic version of the song "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked
. Also on the album is "Perfect", which was written with Tom Kitt
.
She can also be heard on the original cast albums of The Wild Party and A Class Act, and the Actors' Fund recordings of Hair and Chess.
She played Mrs. Walker in The Who's Tommy
in Oklahoma City
from February 5–21, 2009.. In September 2009, she appeared in the Signature Theatre's production of First You Dream - The Songs of Kander and Ebb in Arlington, VA, with Norm Lewis
, Matthew Scott, Heidi Blickenstaff
, Eleasha Gamble, and James Clow.
The daughter of actor Christopher Murney
and Anne Murney, Julia was named after the song "Julia" from The Beatles
White Album.
She has a younger sister, Caitlin (born 1977), who is a film producer and lives in LA and younger brother, Patrick (born 1987), who graduated from Syracuse University with a drama degree in 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress, singer and theatre performer, primarily featured in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway. This was because her fame came mostly from her performances on the Broadway charity circuit, and not traditional Broadway productions.
In her album I'm Not Waiting liner notes, Andrew Lippa says that he first met her in June 1996. He said
I was the music director for a Stephen SchwartzStephen SchwartzStephen Schwartz may refer to:*Stephen Schwartz , American musical theater and film lyricist and composer*Stephen Suleyman Schwartz , journalist, political author, and historian...
compendiumCompendiumA compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...
called Snapshots, auditions were going well, if uninspiring, until a certain Julia Murney (with whom I was, at the time, unacquainted) strutted into the room. She sang a song, a forever favorite ever since, called Imagine My Surprise. Heartbreaking. Seeing as I was about to do the reading of The Wild Party in August, I wrote on my notes "Is she Queenie?!?!?" followed by several stars and excited doodles. Then, the director asked for another song, preferably something by Stephen Schwartz.
la Murney: I know Meadowlark
la director: That'd be great
I didn't bring the music
la pianist: (panic)
la Lippa: (heroically) I know it, what key? (oh, the swagger, the cock-suredness. I did want to impress her, after all)
Murney's Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
theatrical credits include originating the role of 'Queenie' in Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.-Biography:...
's The Wild Party
The Wild Party (Lippa musical)
The Wild Party is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Andrew Lippa. It is based on Joseph Moncure March's 1928 narrative poem of the same name...
(2000) at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, opposite Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician.-Personal life:James was born in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Mary , a seller of children's books, and a lawyer father, Thomas F. James. Brian's maternal grandfather was Harry F. Kelly, former Governor of the state of Michigan...
, Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel
Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is widely known for originating the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked.-Early life:...
, and Taye Diggs
Taye Diggs
Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs is an American theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Broadway musical Rent, the motion picture How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the television series Private Practice...
, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
. She was also seen in The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
, Crimes of the Heart
Crimes of the Heart
Crimes of the Heart is a play by Beth Henley.-Synopsis:At the core of the tragic comedy are the three Magrath sisters, Meg, Babe, and Lenny, who reunite at Old Granddaddy's home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi after Babe shoots her abusive husband. The trio was raised in a dysfunctional family with a...
(2001), A Class Act
A Class Act
A Class Act is a musical with a book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price and music and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The musical is based on the life of composer-lyricist Ed Kleban, who died at the age of 48 in 1987...
(2000), Time and Again (2001), and First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy...
. She appeared in a musical version of the film Saved!
Saved!
Saved! is a 2004 teen comedy-drama film involving elements of religious satire. It was directed by Brian Dannelly and written by Dannelly and Michael Urban. It stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker...
at the Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
Theatre, which had previews starting from May 9, and an opening on June 3, 2008. In August 2008, Murney portrayed the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita at Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
.
Murney made her debut on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 2005, in the short-lived musical Lennon
Lennon (musical)
Lennon is a musical with music and lyrics by John Lennon and book by Don Scardino, who also directed its premiere. The musical is about the life of John Lennon and was notable for Scardino's choice to be almost exclusively-based on Lennon's own words and to focus on Lennon's solo career, with no...
. She was also seen in the Actors' Fund benefit concerts of Funny Girl, Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
, Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
, and the World AIDS Day Benefit Concert Pippin
Pippin (musical)
Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...
. She has also been featured on television in Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
, Ed
Ed (TV series)
Ed is an NBC television program co-produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated, NBC Productions, and Viacom Productions that aired from 2000 to 2004....
, NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
, and various episodes of Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
.
Murney succeeded Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has additionally been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award. She released her debut solo album through PS Classics in June 2009...
as Elphaba
Elphaba
Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, Wicked. In the original L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is unnamed and little...
in the 1st national touring company of the musical Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
on March 6, 2006. In that role, she won an Acclaim Award from the Cincinnati Enquirer for leading performer in a musical. She departed the tour on September 3, 2006, after six months, and was replaced by Shoshana Bean
Shoshana Bean
Shoshana Elise Bean is an American stage actress and singer known for her roles in Broadway musicals. She is best known for playing Elphaba on Broadway in the musical Wicked.-Early life and education:...
. She then transferred to the Broadway production, reprising the role of Elphaba for a nine month engagement, beginning January 9, 2007, replacing Ana Gasteyer
Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
. She played her final performance on October 7, 2007 and was replaced by Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has additionally been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award. She released her debut solo album through PS Classics in June 2009...
.
Her debut solo album, I'm Not Waiting, was released in May 2006 on the Sh-K-Boom Records
Sh-K-Boom Records
Sh-K-Boom Records is a record label, a producer of recorded and live entertainment, and an interactive community at www.sh-k-boom.com — all devoted to the mission of bridging the gap between pop music and theater...
label. The album's title song was written especially for her by Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.-Biography:...
, with whom she has a strong artistic relationship. Murney also sings a jazz acoustic version of the song "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
. Also on the album is "Perfect", which was written with Tom Kitt
Tom Kitt (musician)
Tom Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey...
.
She can also be heard on the original cast albums of The Wild Party and A Class Act, and the Actors' Fund recordings of Hair and Chess.
She played Mrs. Walker in The Who's Tommy
The Who's Tommy
The Who's Tommy is a rock musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff based on The Who's 1969 double album rock opera Tommy, also by Pete Townshend, with additional material by John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Sonny Boy Williamson.-Productions:...
in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
from February 5–21, 2009.. In September 2009, she appeared in the Signature Theatre's production of First You Dream - The Songs of Kander and Ebb in Arlington, VA, with Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway as well as in regional theatre.-Life:Lewis was born in Tallahassee, Florida and grew up in Eatonville, Florida...
, Matthew Scott, Heidi Blickenstaff
Heidi Blickenstaff
Heidi Blickenstaff is an actress based in New York City best known for playing a version of herself in the musical [title of show] during its Off-Broadway and Broadway runs.-[title of show]:...
, Eleasha Gamble, and James Clow.
The daughter of actor Christopher Murney
Christopher Murney
Christopher Murney is an American actor and vocal artist. He is the father of singer and actress Julia Murney.Murney attended several universities before picking up several undergraduate degrees , and one graduate level degree .Murney has worked on...
and Anne Murney, Julia was named after the song "Julia" from The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
White Album.
She has a younger sister, Caitlin (born 1977), who is a film producer and lives in LA and younger brother, Patrick (born 1987), who graduated from Syracuse University with a drama degree in 2009.