Who are your Favorite Broadway Riffers?

[TiMurray]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 3:21pm

I got to interview the iconic Alice Fearn and asked her where those UNREAL riffs came from!! She is everything. Who are your favorite riffers on Bway? (I'm gonna ask Ben Fankhauser to come on too!) 

https://youtu.be/Wph0ZiFsCi0

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 4:27pm

Christopher Jackson

[KingOfTheMine]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 4:29pm

Alysha Umphress!

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 5:21pm

Shoshana Bean is a real virtuoso. And her riffs never feel gratuitous to me.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 7:53pm

Iconic, excuse me?

Garland is iconic. Midler is iconic. Audra is iconic. Streep is iconic.

I've never heard of this woman before this thread, so I browsed her on YT. I can't determine if I slightly cringe because she sings so unhealthily at times or if the riffs she does feel totally out of place for the character and moment in the show.

Shoshana Bean: Most consistently appropriate riffing. She doesn't let it overshadow the character and it almost always feels right for not only the moment, but what her voice is capable of naturally doing.


Updated On: 9/8/20 at 07:53 PM

[TiMurray]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 8:19pm

OMG yes the QUEEN. 

[TiMurray]

Posted: 9/8/20 at 8:21pm

KingOfTheMine said: "Alysha Umphress!"

OH YES. Her Simple Joys of Maidenhood riffs are everything. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 5:10am

shoshana bean is the correct answer

[superiska123]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 6:28am

Shoshana Bean really is the very best when it comes to riffing. Her vocal control is insane, and her riffs are extremely precise without ever sounding grating or excessive.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 7:25am

TiMurray said: "I got to interview the iconic Alice Fearn and asked her where those UNREAL riffs came from!! She is everything. Who are your favorite riffers on Bway? (I'm gonna ask Ben Fankhauser to come on too!)

https://youtu.be/Wph0ZiFsCi0"

WTF is Alice Fearn?!

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 10:36am

In terms of iconic riffs, wasn’t much of Idina’s music in Rent and Wicked formally rewritten around her riffs because they became so much a part of how the show sounded initially?

But beyond that, Shoshana Bean is a tough act to follow, especially on the Godspell “blue album.”

[TiMurray]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 3:28pm

darquegk said: "In terms of iconic riffs, wasn’t much of Idina’s music in Rent and Wicked formally rewritten around her riffs because they became so much a part of how the show sounded initially?

But beyond that, Shoshana Bean is a tough act to follow, especially on the Godspell “blue album.”"

Oh yes. when it comes to riffs it really is Bean, Bean and nothing but Bean! 

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 9/9/20 at 6:09pm

TiMurray said: "I got to interview the iconic Alice Fearn and asked her where those UNREAL riffs came from!! She is everything. Who are your favorite riffers on Bway? (I'm gonna ask Ben Fankhauser to come on too!)

https://youtu.be/Wph0ZiFsCi0"

Google the definition of iconic please...

[SingOutLouise3]

Posted: 9/19/20 at 10:03pm

Shoshana Bean, Cynthia Erivo, Mykal Kilgore, Alysha Umphress, Jessica Vosk, Alex Newell are just a few of my favorites... I cannot wait to see them all on stage again!

Updated On: 9/19/20 at 10:03 PM

[sparksatmidnight]

Posted: 9/20/20 at 6:52am

I find it myself each time more appreciative of composers and riffs more and more off-putting, especially because people who do them start doing it once or twice until their whole artistic expression is based on riffs. They seem to lose every hability to sing the notes as they were written.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/20/20 at 8:37am

I blame AMERICAN IDOL for giving this riffing nonsense a platform and giving birth to young singers believing this creative choice was the true definition of singing talent. It was hilarious the amount of YouTube artists that surfaced where every single lyric was riffed. Shoshana Bean and Jennifer Hudson are the only artists to master this where it isn’t a distraction. Jessica Vosk seems to have a career due to her crowd-pleasing riffing as her voice is a generic singing voice. Today’s audiences are post-AMERICAN IDOL, so they’re from the era where riffing equates to amazing singing. No, it camouflages weakness. When you get to a difficult spot vocally, you riff.

A sampling of what today’s generation assumes singing is:

 

[A.J.]

Posted: 9/22/20 at 12:21pm

How has Lillias White not been mentioned yet?!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/22/20 at 1:15pm

A.J. said: "How has Lillias White not been mentioned yet?!"

Lillias White vocally embellishes, she doesn’t riff.  Big difference.  

 

[A.J.]

Posted: 9/22/20 at 1:33pm

Morgan James is another great singer who employs riffs often. 

[A.J.]

Posted: 9/22/20 at 1:33pm

Edit - Double post

Updated On: 9/22/20 at 01:33 PM

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 9/23/20 at 11:30am

Alysha Umphress for me as well. I still can't believe she wasnt Tony nominated for On the Town. 

And for everyone who enjoys some good riffing, Vishal Vaidya does an annual "Rifftober-fest" throughout October on his insta.

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 9/23/20 at 9:41pm

Elaine Stritch

[Ke3]

Posted: 4/23/22 at 2:31pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "I blame AMERICAN IDOL for giving this riffing nonsense a platform and giving birth to young singers believing this creative choice was the true definition of singing talent. It was hilarious the amount of YouTube artists that surfaced where every single lyric was riffed. Shoshana Bean and Jennifer Hudson are the only artists to master this where it isn’t a distraction. Jessica Vosk seems to have a career due to her crowd-pleasing riffing as her voice is a generic singing voice. Today’s audiences are post-AMERICAN IDOL, so they’re from the era where riffing equates to amazing singing. No, it camouflages weakness. When you get to a difficult spot vocally, you riff.

A sampling of what today’s generation assumes singing is:"

This is perhaps the most white thing i’ve ever read. Riffing has nothing to do with camouflaging vocal weakness just because that’s how a few white girls who went to Michigan use it. Riffing (and runs) both come from Black musical styles and there’s no shortage of strong vocalists who use it.  As for your assertion that Lillias White doesn't riff she "vocally embellishes" I'm not sure what exactly you think a riff is if not that. Lillias absolutely riffs. Riffing is a huge part of the style of jazz she approaches most things from. 

 

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/23/22 at 3:00pm

Ke3 said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "I blame AMERICAN IDOL for giving this riffing nonsense a platform and giving birth to young singers believing this creative choice was the true definition of singing talent. It was hilarious the amount of YouTube artists that surfaced where every single lyric was riffed. Shoshana Bean and Jennifer Hudson are the only artists to master this where it isn’t a distraction. Jessica Vosk seems to have a career due to her crowd-pleasing riffing as her voice is a generic singing voice. Today’s audiences are post-AMERICAN IDOL, so they’re from the era where riffing equates to amazing singing. No, it camouflages weakness. When you get to a difficult spot vocally, you riff."

This is perhaps the most white thing i’ve ever read. Riffing has nothing to do with camouflaging vocal weakness just because that’s how a few white girls who went to Michigan use it. Riffing (and runs) both come from Black musical styles and there’s no shortage of strong vocalists who use it"


Seems to me that both things can be true. As you say, the practice stems from Black culture, and like with most Black music, it's been appropriated by white people to become a pillar in mainstream pop music (which of course bleeds into musical theatre). And I think where BrodyFosse's point comes in, is that in the appropriation process, it has become a crutch for many (non-Black) performers who have come to use it as a stylistic and technical crutch. 

Maybe BrodyFosse should've made that distinction, but I think the trends they're pointing out are very real, in the broader context in which the practice has become "popularized" (/appropriated). In fact it makes perfect sense when you think about it through that lens: of course the people who are just doing it because it's "in vogue" won't use the tool as effectively as the performers whose musical background is more rooted in the tradition from which the practice comes.