#saycon sengbloh

[flowerringfangirlss09]

Have these images of Elphaba and Fiyero kissing during ALAYM

I put these in complete random order not preference.

[professorspork]

Punctum Project, Installment 7

(what the heck is the Punctum Project? read me!)

March 29, 2006 - Broadway Saycon Sengbloh (s/b), Megan Hilty, Derrick Williams

What:

"Some things I cannot change..."

How come:

When I first started watching this bootleg, I thought the punctum was going to be "The Wizard and I." The way Saycon performs that song is SPECIAL in a way I cannot articulate -- it is so sweet, and so bright, and so hopeful.

But.

The first Black Elphaba staring at the color of her hands at "some things I cannot change" is such a striking and powerful choice it pierced me right through the heart. It's the sort of thing where once you see it you wonder why EVERY Elphie doesn't do it, and then you're like. Oh. It was 2006 and also for very obvious reasons it wouldn't occur to most actresses playing her for it to be on their radar, especially not in this moment with so much else going on.

But it's a perfect decision and it will live in me forever.

Honorable Mention

(Yes this is cheating but it's my project and I'll do what I want)

These are both things Megan did in my first Hilty Boot, and are things she'd continue to do during her entire career in the show, but they're so crystal clear in this version I have to shout them out.

1. Being Afraid Of The Broom

It's so silly and other Glindas do it, a little, but none of them COMMIT like Megan does: the broom floating startles the shit out of her.

2. Must Protec!!

It's very obvious this choice has been outlawed by fiat from on high because I haven't seen it at all in any Wicked 2.0/post-2006 boot, but. Just look at her. Trying to stop the guards from getting Elphaba. It makes my heart sing.

[b-plot-butch]

i enjoyed the wicked movie i really did, and cynthia erivo is a fucking powerhouse in it. but i feel like a lot of people are, like, overly enthusiastic in proclaiming that wicked has always been a super progressive story, racially speaking. like yeah, it’s true that the story has always heavily featured ostracism because of skin color. but if producers and creative higher-ups were always interested in utilizing this story to condemn or comment on racism then…why have SO FEW black women played elphaba full-time, either on broadway, west end, or tour?? saycon sengbloh was the first black woman to play elphaba on broadway, and she was a standby for a few years, meaning she only had a handful of performances. as far as i can find, alexia khadime is currently the only black woman to have played elphaba full-time in any production of wicked. that’s INSANE. idk, i just feel like we shouldn’t rush to give wicked as a whole an abundance of brownie points when it comes to race. just my two cents

[izzymybeloved]

One thing I love about the Wicked movies is how Elphaba is black-coded. Not just with the fact that Cynthia Erivo’s playing her, but the fact that she has micro braids and the way she’s written. An example of this is when we’re first introduced to adult Elphaba.

In the broadway show, when she says “No, I’m not seasick, yes, I’ve always been green…” she’s angry and rightfully so because people have been making fun of her for her skin tone for her whole life. But in the movie adaptation, she has to calmly explain this because many black girls/black women are taught that growing up they need to police their tone and not get mad so people can accept them. Which even with that, that never works.

Also this is not me saying that black women have never played Elphaba in the original musical before this because actresses like Saycon Sengbloh and Alexia Khadime have, but just like any of the white actresses who played Elphaba, they were given straight hair

Finally, I just want to say that this story hits harder when a black woman plays Elphaba since she’s mistreated for her skin tone and we have these lyrics from I’m Not That Girl

[carmelasoprano]

Carmen Cusack as Mary Todd Lincoln 3 Summers of Lincoln, La Jolla Playhouse (with Ivan Hernandez and Saycon Sengbloh)

[blackgirlnerds]

Get To Know Saycon Sengbloh: the First Black Elphaba

Even with green skin, Black women saw themselves in Elphaba. In the musical and now movie Wicked, Elphaba is a heroci character who is discriminated against because of her skin tone. When Cynthia Erivo took on this role as queer Black woman, the character became a mirror for anyone who has ever struggled with being different. This is a battle Black women are far too familiar with.  Erivo’s…

[fanbun]

So cool to see that 2006 had both a black Elphaba and a black Fiyero. Especially since many people consider musical Fiyero to be whitewashed from the book.

But also Saycon Sengbloh’s performance is underrated. I wish she was promoted from her standby role.

[blackinperiodfilms]

‘The Wonder Years’ Canceled at ABC After Two Seasons

Based on the 1988 series of the same name, the reimagined show followed a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, through the point of view of imaginative 12-year-old Dean. As he looks back on his childhood with the wisdom of his adult years, Dean’s hopeful and humorous recollections show how his family found their “wonder years” during the late 1960s.

[addictivecontradiction]

Respect, 2021

[onenakedfarmer]

Playing

HAIR The New Broadway Cast Recording

Allison Case, Allison Guinn, Andrew Kober, Ato Blankson-Wood, Brandon Pearson, Bryce Ryness, Caissie Levy, Darius Nichols, Gavin Creel, Jackie Burns, Kacie Sheik, Kaitlin Kiyan, Maya Sharpe, Megan Lawrence, Megan Reinking, Nicole Lewis, Paris Remillard, Sasha Allen, Saycon Sengbloh, Steel Burkhardt, Tommar Wilson, Will Swenson

[finleyforevermore]

⭐NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 DREAM CAST⭐

Bryce Charles, Emilie Kouatchou, or Kanisha Feliciano as Natalya "Natasha/Natalie" Rostova

Denée Benton as Natasha in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Michael Arden, Josh Young, or Shafiq Hicks as Pyotr "Pierre/Peter" Bezukhov

Josh Groban as Pierre in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Emilie du Leslay or Lucy St. Louis as Sofya "Sonya" Alexandrovna Rostova

Ingrid Michaelson as Sonya in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Nathan Salstone, Daniel Tracht, Henry Thrasher, or Gavin Creel as Prince Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin

Park Kang Hyun as Anatole in the picture. (2021 South Korean production)

Kimberly Marable as Countess Hélène Vasilyevna Bezukhova

Amber Gray as Hélène in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Willemijn Verkaik, Micaela Diamond, Saycon Sengbloh, Brandi Chavonne Massey, or Eden Espinosa as Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova

Lulu Fall as Marya in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Jason Tam as Fyodor "Fedya" Ivanovich Dolokhov

Choi Ho Jung as Dolokhov in the picture. (2021 South Korean production)

Emily Rohm as Princess Mary Bolkonskaya

Gelsey Bell as Mary in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

Nick Rashad Burroughs as Balaga

Vitor Moresco as Balaga in the picture. (2018 São Paulo production)

Ben Crawford as Prince Andrey Nikolayevich Bolkonsky and Prince Nikolay Andreevitch Bolkonsky

Nicholas Belton as Andrey in the top picture, Blake DeLong as Prince Bolkonsky in the bottom picture. (2016 Broadway production and 2013 Off-Broadway production respectively)

Andrew Samonsky as Prince Andrey Nikolayevich Bolkonsky (if Andrey and Bolkonsky isn't double casted)

Nicholas Belton as Andrey in the picture. (2016 Broadway production)

THEATRE CREDITS:

Bryce Charles - Wendy Darling in Lythgoe Panto's Peter Pan

Emilie Kouatchou - Christine Daaé in The Phantom of The Opera

Kanisha Feliciano - Ann in Flying Over Sunset, Maria in West Side Story, Christine Daaé in The Phantom of The Opera

Michael Arden - Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Josh Young - Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar

Shafiq Hicks - Tom Collins in Rent

Emilie du Leslay - Pearl in Starlight Express

Lucy St Louis - Christine Daaé in The Phantom of The Opera, Glinda in Wicked

Nathan Salstone - Chorus/Orpheus understudy in Hadestown

Daniel Tracht - Chorus/Orpheus understudy in Hadestown

Henry Thrasher - Pierre in Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (Carnegie Mellon University)

Gavin Creel - The Wolf / Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods

Kimberly Marable - Persephone in Hadestown

Willemijn Verkaik - Elphaba in Wicked

Micaela Diamond - Lucille Frank in Parade

Saycon Sengbloh - Elphaba in Wicked

Brandi Chavonne Massey - Elphaba in Wicked

Eden Espinosa - Elphaba in Wicked

Jason Tam - The SQUIP in Be More Chill (Broadway), Peter in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert

Emily Rohm - Jane Doe in Ride the Cyclone

Nick Rashad Burroughs - Lola in Kinky Boots

Ben Crawford - Erik in The Phantom of The Opera

Andrew Samonsky - Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

[professorspork]

Punctum Project: Installment 62

(what the heck is the Punctum Project? read me!)

September 23, 2006 - Broadway Saycon Sengbloh (s/b), Kate Reinders, Derrick Williams

What:

[it is Glinda who reaches out first during For Good]

How come:

The culmination of our Kate Reinders saga! this one wouldn't normally be a punctum, it's not about what happens, but about WHO IS DOING IT because the context makes all the difference

so the first time I saw Kate (with Ana Gasteyer in Chicago, 7/1/05) remains the only time I've EVER seen a Glinda and Elphaba pair LITERALLY not touch each other at all during For Good (until the mandated hug at the end that's obviously in the stage directions)

this is one of the things that turned me off about Kate's Glinda

in the July 2006 show that's the previous punctum, Eden just didn't let her get away with it and reached out eventually during one of her lines

but here

on this night

for a second I thought history was going to repeat, because Saycon wasn't reaching out, didn't do it when Eden did it, didn't do it after Eden did it

and time's running out and we're in that very last refrain

and then

Saycon!Elphie very obviously chokes back tears, near-sobbing

and

Kate

bridges

the gap.

I felt so proud of her! I felt so proud of her Glinda! she's learning and growing! she's capable of human connection!

it was and is a damn triumph.

[toiletpotato]

Vote for The Wiz, please! Here's Saycon Sengbloh singing Believe in Yourself.

Saycon was the replacement standby for Elphaba once Shoshana Bean became the principal Elphaba. Saycon never became the prinicpal Elphaba.

Vote for The Wiz! Thank you!

[d-criss-news]

sayconsengbloh: Thank you @ dap_health for inviting me to sing, celebrate, and raise funds! Special 🌿❤️ to @scottnevins for the invitation! Pleased to be a part of the evening! D.A.P. raised $1.4 million!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 Providing healthcare for so many people!

Dress 👗 #VinceCamuto Makeup #MichaelStrauss

#DAPHealth #Healthcare #RiseUp #fundraising #galavibes #SayHey #mobetterblues #SayconSengbloh #ScottNevins #RobJackson #SayconTalks #SweetTeaSay #SpringhasSprung #PalmSpringsCalifornia #PalmSprings #saycon

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Black Femme Character Dependency is 2 Years Old Today!!!

Above are some of my crushes I picked up this year and below are some that I've had a while but circled back to a lot this year. There's only room for 10, so.

Kron Moore, Ito Aghayere, Janelle James, Zainab Johnson, Idara Victor, Taja V. Simpson, Milauna Jackson, Saycon Sengbloh, Alfre Woodard

[fanbun]

Saycon Sengbloh! Eden Espinosa! Teal Wicks! Danna Paola! Jessica Vosk!