When It Comes to Wicked, Riffing is Selfish

Hello again, non-existent audience. I've been having an internal debate with myself lately about Wicked. Yes, Wicked. The Musical. With lyrics, and I quote, like, "Look at her! She's wicked! GET HER!" I chortle every time. It's so basic, yet so powerful.

Anyway, why do you care? Because I think Elphaba's that over-riff the score are selfish. I totally understand the argument that the performer needs to put on an entertaining show, but personally, when it comes to Wicked, I hate it. I'm not naming names, but I can think of at least five previous (and maybe one present) Elphabas that over-riff Mr. Schwartz's brilliant score.

For those of you who don't know what riffing is, here's a video on Youtube that pretty much explains everything:



Thank you, Shoshana Bean, for those riffs. Do you get it now? Also try searching for Eden Espinosa or any other Shoshana Bean videos on Youtube. Back to the topic at hand.

An actor's job, first and foremost, is to believably bring a character to life, no matter what the show is or what part they have. There are no small parts. Acting is acting, and whether or not your Ozian #4 or Galinda herself, you have to act the shit out of it or people get antsy. Well, experienced theatergoers that are categorized as "knowing what they're talking about" get antsy. When you throw singing into the mix, that ups the anty. There's nothing like watching a brilliant actor bring a beautiful song to life through not only their voice, but their emotions.

I bring this up because I was listening to and/or watching some illegal things on Youtube (mostly the aforementioned Wicked) and I happened to notice something: whenever an actress, mostly Elphaba, does a jaw-dropping riff, I get angry. Firstly, my thoughts go to: "WOW, that was incredible!" Then my thoughts are, "Wait, what was she singing about?" Riffing during "No Good Deed" is for the need of the actor only and I think that's selfish.

When I'm listening to and watching that scene, hopefully the actress has done a brilliant job of getting me to feel exactly what she's feeling: hate, anguish, defeat, regret, anger, sadness. I'm an actor as well, so I feel along with the actors I'm watching. When I hear a riff, I'm instantly taken away from that place that I was in and now all I'm thinking about is how many different notes this girl can squeeze into the word "again." The song "No Good Deed" is Elphaba's nervous breakdown! The second you go all Whitney Houston on us, I'm taken out of the show. I don't want to be taken out of the show! That's the reason I WENT to the show in the first place!

Please, for the love of Liza, STOP RIFFING.

-Cathryn

What You Should Have Learned:

1. Wicked is a musical.
2. Shoshana Bean has hair.
3. I hate riffing.