Julia graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts. I believe her degree was in voice, but I'm not 100% sure of that (she took a lot of acting classes as well). She studied opera extensively while there and participated in the opera workshops, playing Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly and Aida among others (she also had her own r&b band on the side while she was there). She credits the voice training she received during that time with giving her the foundation and stamina that has sustained her throughout her career. Even singing Effie and doing many gospel concerts over the years, she always sings with the proper placement allowing her to belt endlessly without causing damage to her instrument.
Julia had one of the best track records playing Effie on Broadway. She did, in fact, do 8 shows a week for several months without missing and were it not for a vocal crisis several months into her run, her attendance would have been near perfect. The reason for her crisis -- and she's told this story on stage, so I don't feel like I'm violating any confidences -- was that she received a phone call shortly before going on one night from her family informing her that her father had suffered a serious heart attack and had been rushed to the hospital. While she could have (and probably should have) had an understudy go on for her, since it was too late to get a flight out to be with him that evening, she decided to go ahead and do the show. Well, she was so emotionaly distraught not knowing whether her father was alive or dead, she poured all of that emotion into her performance, forgetting everything about pacing herself through the role that she blew out her voice. By the time she got to "And I Am Telling You" her voice was in tatters, but she forged ahead, sobbing her way through to the Act I curtain. Michael Bennett happened to be in the back watching that night and ran back stage immediately when the curtain fell. He ran up to her and said excitedly, "Julia, that was the greatest acting performance I've ever seen in my life!" to which she raspily responded, in tears, "Michael, my father may be dead and I lost my voice." He hugged her and took her back to her dressing room. She flew out the next morning.
Her father did survive that night incidentally, though he did pass away from another heart attack a few years later. She left the show, had to go on complete vocal rest for over a month and with the help of vocal therapist, regained her voice and rejoined the show, doing Effie for the rest of the year, without incident.
Aside from that crisis, Julia rarley missed performances and was (probably due to her training) one of the few who was able to handle the role for long stretches. Whenever Dreamgirls is revived -- which likely won't be until a couple of years after the film comes out -- it might make sense to have a separate actress cover the matinees (as they do for Eva in Evita). There aren't many people out there who can sing the role of Effie White and of those who can, few have been trained to sing 8 shows a week, so rather than constantly relying on understudies to keep the show running (after Holliday left the show Bennett made sure there were always 3-4 ready to go on at any time), perhaps a matinee alternate would relieve enough of the strain on the main person.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
