Poooooor Saycon

[bigwill121]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:03pm

In all honesty, what do you die hard wicked fans have against saycon. Is it her full interpretation of elphaba or is it just her voice. I have seen Idina, Eden and Saycon perform the role and personally I don't feel that Saycon is much worse then any of them.

[stage_door76]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:08pm

I thought the general consensus was that most people enjoyed her take?

I do.

[Yero]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:08pm

Um.. what gives you the idea we don't like Saycon? She is actually very well liked. Just because one or two people have said they don't like her, doesn't mean everyone doesn't like her.

[Fiyero2]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:08pm

From what I've heard, most people on this board have absoultly nothing against her.

I said some not so nice things about her when she went on for sho, the day before sho left, and i was put in my place. ha ha

But now I love her, I've met very few people on the board that have a problem with Saycon.....

[bigwill121]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:12pm

I guess I was referring to the recent posts about how people hoped she wouldnt be cast as Elphaba after Eden left.

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:13pm

I was under the impression that many people loved her. I personally hated her Elphaba. Something about it was just wrong -- she was too cocky and arrogant in the beginning, and I really didn't buy any friendship with G(a)linda or love with Fiyero. But regardless, I've only heard good things.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:19pm

She has my favorite "Defying Gravity." She has so much power in her voice and she doesn't rely on any "voice pyrotechnics" like Sho or any of the other Elphabas. She just delivers.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:20pm

I haven't seen her act the role, but she has a gorgeous voice. The only reason I would hope they cast someone else as Elphaba is simply to get someone NEW, instead of recycling.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 9:56pm

I remember a lot of people didn't have good thing to say about her in Aida, but never about Wicked.

[SirLiir]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:36pm

I was impressed by her when I saw her. She would make an excellent replacement for Eden. Lord knows she has earned it.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:57pm

I think a poster above got it right...more people (myself included) disliked her in Aida than in Wicked. I think the consensus is she's pretty good in Wicked (I've not seen her in Wicked, and cannot comment).

Posted: 7/17/06 at 11:02pm

Just out of curiosity, why did people (supposedly) dislike her in Aida? I really can't think of anyone who has a better voice for the title role in that show, other than Heather.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/17/06 at 11:45pm

I found her to be terribly dull in the role, and her acting choices were...odd. She kept waving her hands around a lot. During her songs she was shaking around and waving her hands. I know she had a lot of fans too, so don't take my opinion as gospel. But, for me, it didn't work.

As for other women who had the voice for that role- Deborah Cox, Simone, and Maya Days all had wonderfull suited voices, though each was VERY different. Simone was the best vocalist of the three, but the absolute worst actress. Days was my favorite, because her acting was leaps and bounds better than anyone else's, Headley included, and she was very passionate in the way she performed and sang. She may not have had the "best" voice in the traditional sense, but she was always "into" the music, if that makes any sense.

While Headley was excellent, and probably the best, she was not irreplaceable (though I could have done without Toni Braxton and Michelle T. Williams).

Posted: 7/18/06 at 12:12am

Thanks for the opinion on Saycon. I do see what you mean about Days seeming very "into" the music, but I do think her voice is quite wrong for the role. Someone with a very strong belt who can just exude strength and independence with her voice seems a bit more right for the role as opposed to Days, whose vocals strike me as very damsel-in-distress. With a role like Aida, I think vocals should almost take precedence over other acting choices. There are hundreds of people who could act the role very well; let's face it, Aida isn't necessarily a thin character, but she's not stunningly complex. However, I completely acknowledge that my opinion is biased due to Heather originating the role, and I do think Days brought a certain feminine quality to the role that Heather seemed to lack.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 12:33am

nothing against her as a person, but she won't get my vote as eden's replacement. i just didn't care for her in the role, though others loved her it seems. she just didn't do it for me...

[SuttonFan]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 12:56am

I agree Little Wing. She just didn't do it for me. I don't know what it was, but she didn't convince me that she was progressing through life, falling in love and sharing dreams with G(a)linda. She was OK, but not my favorite.

[TheBoyfromChi]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 1:08am

I didn't see her in Wicked, but I saw her as Mimi in the Rent tour a few years back. She was fabulous.

[Parks]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 1:22am

I understand she has improved a lot (which I should hope so since I saw her a year ago this week). She's had a long time to get used to the role. I'm sure she's fine now--and I think she deserves to either get the role or leave the show--she's been an understudy for a long time. They need to keep the show fresh. I know when I saw the Broadway show for the last time last summer, the show was REALLY lacking energy--making it a very painful performance to watch.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 2:59am

I'd love to hear her "Easy As Life" from Aida.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 4:06am

As far as the thoughts on Saycon playing Elphaba after Eden left, the replacement was cast yesterday but I can't remember her name for the life of me. She just graduated from Boston Conservatory and will be making her Broadway debut.

[Practically Perfect]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 6:16am

I saw Saycon in the show in March and she gave an incredible performance - I was so pleased I got to see her instead of Eden (who I saw in June and was rather disappointed in). Saycon has so much power and emotion in her voice ("I'm Not That Girl" really moved me, something that Shoshana and Idina never did).

Mary P x

[Parks]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 10:18am

Saycon's voice is amazing--she needed to work on singing out more when she wasn't belting (when I saw her). She was AMAZING when she belted, but when she wasn't belting, she put me to sleep.

And where was the next Elphaba announced?

[Yero]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 10:36am

A new Elphaba?
I really, really hope you're right.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 11:33am

I doubt the replacement was cast yesterday.

I had coffee with Saycon last week while I was in NYC, and I asked her when they would cast the replacement Elphaba. She said the producers don't do anything official until, at the earliest, six weeks prior to the end of the principle contract. Since Eden's contract is up October 8th (as is Saycon's,) the new full time Elphaba won't be cast for quite awhile.

Perhaps you are thinking of one of the three Elphaba's in the Japanese shortened production?, who is supposedly a young girl straight out of BoCo...

Updated On: 7/18/06 at 11:33 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 11:43am

In all honesty, what do you die hard wicked fans have against saycon. Is it her full interpretation of elphaba or is it just her voice.

*sigh*

her full interpretation of elphaba?

Ahh, you kids are too much. Just too much, I say!

Updated On: 7/18/06 at 11:43 AM