Saycon on as Elphaba 3/9- Page 4

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:20am

Eh, I'm going to sleep. Saycon'll still have gone on tonight in the morning.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:37am

I saw her - row G center orchestra, 2 pm Matinee

Two words: F***ing amazing!

She has the black sass and the voice to back it up.

Any questions - just ask!

She tore sh*t up!

Only thing, she stumbled on a view lines and had some hat trouble - it didn't fall off, but...

[TGIF]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:44am

I have one! Details?

[QtKt]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 1:13am

I was in row C for the 2pm show...
Saycon did a fantastic job, I really enjoyed her performance, I was iffy on her vocals for the first few songs, but she blew me away during the second act.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 1:13am

I just posted a long review of my day today!

Including, of course, Saycon!

[andyf]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 3:21am

Whoa that's weird, I got left orch row C for the night show in the cancellation line, too, but my story is a LOT better.

You won't hear it now, but Wicked just made up for my ****ty lottery story.

As for Saycon...it was Saycon singing Wicked. She sounded EXACTLY like you'd think she'd sound. ...It was Saycon. I was really excited when she came out; I don't know how they did it but she was GREEN, although by the end of Act One, the green on her hands (not even just her fingertips, I'm talking her entire palms) was wearing off...pretty much completely.

So, she missed her big entrance in "Dancing Through Life"...THAT was awesome, because NO ONE knew what to do. I think it was Ben Cameron who got everyone to keep going; he just kind of went "Woo!" like a "Yay party!" noise and everyone kind of followed along, completely terrified, since you really can't cover that one up so much. They cut the music and everyone turns and gasps...and there was NOTHING...it's hard to pretend that was SUPPOSED to happen, but a few seconds later Saycon sprinted onstage and everything was cool.

And if anyone had ANY questions on the whole flying apparatus thing, they could have been answered at the night show. Saycon came in late on her "It's not her. She has nothing to with it...," etc. lines. Why? Because she was having a LOT of trouble getting the fake dress around her waist to close. She she went up in the air and the pseudo-skirt was wide open...on both sides. So it was like:

[FABRIC].space.[SAYCON'S LEGS, completely exposed].space.[FABRIC]

I enjoyed it. Luckily the lasers were REALLY blinding so you couldn't REALLY see it once she got all the up there, but if you squinted through the lasers, you could see it.

She sounded surprisingly better once she was belting all out. She sounded a lot better during "So if you care to find me," etc., than she did for probably all of the first act.

As for her acting, she was DEFINITELY a black Elphaba. She did not skimp on the sass.

All in all, it was Saycon in Wicked. She acted like Saycon, she sang like Saycon. It was Saycon.

Oh, and she DID keep adjusting her hat. That was weird.

I was impressed for her second performance.

OK and for everyone who's wondering: Her first "Bring me down" was the normal notes, without the little riff up on "me" like the OBCR (her "down" sounded really nice), the second one was EXACTLY the same (like EXACTLY the same) as the first, and the last riff was exactly what Shoshana does, except Saycon took out the second-to-last note (the higher note right before the dead last one). You know you wanted to know.

Updated On: 3/10/05 at 03:21 AM

[Jwei123]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 6:33am

ooohhh, black sass! My fav. Saycon is incredible...

and thanks for the flying apparatus visual,



is it sad that i know EXACTLY what you are talking about with the ending? haha

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 9:17am

Hmm.. I might be the only one disappointed by the words "It's Saycon in Wicked. She sounds like Saycon". I mean, isn't the point of acting, to, um, act?

Looking forward to hearing your lottery story, andy.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 9:20am

I'm with TheGa. I'm happy for her anyway simply because I love her.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 9:26am

I liked her in RENT just fine, and would love to see her in Wicked someday (I do need to go back and see Shoshana again, but that January 9 performance was just so good, and that's the last thing in my head about Wicked...)

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 9:29am

Just one quick note to the poster who asked if understudies/standbys are supposed to act like the person they are covering. Usually, I tend to find, that those who try too hard to do that are usually the least successful. I saw Laura Bell Bundy go on for Glinda the first time I saw Wicked, in Feb. of '04 and it was apparent that she was trying way too hard to be just like Kristin. Since then, I have seen both Kristin and JLT and honestly think they were so much better in the role. JLT didn't try to be Kristin, she made the character her own, and that's why she was certainly more effective than LBB.

[QtKt]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 11:25am

Yep, Andy, your story was a lot better!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:43pm

By Saycon was Saycon in Wicked - it means that she was Elphaba with the Saycon flair - as opposed to the normal White-Jew-turned-green-and-now-ready-to-kick-butt flair....

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:47pm

LOL BsO

Though it should be noted that Eden isn't Jewish, and her Elphaba is very similar to Shoshana's.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:49pm

But she wasn't a lead, was she?

Well, neither is Saycon - you get my point.

I posted a full review in another thread that explains the black sass....lol

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:51pm

True, true.

Saycon's on again tonight, so I suspect there'll be more reviews.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 12:56pm

Really?

Oh. man. Time to go back in!

LOL.

She is gonna be so great.

I am proud to have seen her first show!

[andyf]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 1:04pm

I also said that to describe the vocals.

She sounds exactly like you would think she'd sound, although she did impress me a little during "Defying Gravity." Even though there weren't any F's, her belt sounded good at the end of that song.

Also there was a lot of vibrato on the first "FIYERO!!!" in "No Good Deed" which was weird to hear. It sounded fine, it was just weird to hear someone NOT straight tone it.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 1:08pm

wait.. she didnt go for the F in deFY gravity at the end.. did she go down like the regular defying gravity verse?

[andyf]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 1:26pm

Oh, also...she breathes her nose as much as possible. It might not have been the best thing for tempo , but it was REALLY smart. There was no gasp ANYWHERE. She only really breathed her mouth when it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to go through her nose...but it was a very pleasantly quiet performance.

[JetBlueDave]

Posted: 3/15/05 at 4:12pm

Hey guys, I am new to this board, but I just want to say that I saw Saycon as Elphaba on her second performance the evening one. I have also seen every Elphaba so far. Idina, Eden, Kristy, Shoshana and Saycon. Saycon was absolutely fabulous in almost every way. I had house seats for the evening performance that my friend Kris got for me for the evening show. You could tell she was nervous in the beginning, but her character started to shine through towards the end. Contrary to popular belief above in this message board, she DID hit the F in Defying Gravity in the evening performance. My friend sent me an audio of it if anyone wants proof. Feel free to e-mail me. But her vocals were outstanding. And she did start to get less nervous as the performance went on. Again, feel free to e-mail me if you want to hear the outstanding F sung at the end of the first act!

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/15/05 at 4:20pm

bl Updated On: 3/15/05 at 04:20 PM

Posted: 3/15/05 at 4:24pm

jet, I sent you an e-mail and pm.

Posted: 3/15/05 at 4:25pm

Thank you so much jet!!

Posted: 3/15/05 at 4:29pm

OMG, Saycon is unbelievable. Seriously, what a voice. It totally just opens up at the end of Defying Gravity. Man, that was thrilling.