Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Lencia Kebede On Embodying Elphaba, Black Representation On Broadway, Celebrating Her Growth + More

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Lencia Kebede On Embodying Elphaba, Black Representation On Broadway, Celebrating Her Growth + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning.
0:04
Speaker 2: Everybody is DJ en Vy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne, the gud
0:08
Speaker 2: We are the breakfast Club.
0:10
Speaker 1: We got a special guest in the building.
0:11
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed, Lyncia Cabetti. Did I say it right?
0:14
Speaker 4: Pretty close?
0:15
Speaker 3: Well, what is it?
0:15
Speaker 4: Cobetta Cobeta?
0:17
Speaker 1: But got it?
0:18
Speaker 3: Welcome, thank you, Welcome, welcome, welcome.
0:20
Speaker 2: Now, if you don't know who she is, she's an
0:22
Speaker 2: actress and the first black actress.
0:23
Speaker 5: Oh wait, wait, wait, look let me say something cause
0:25
Speaker 5: she because she off here before we just started. She said,
0:28
Speaker 5: how did y'all find me? I said, You're the first
0:30
Speaker 5: black actress to play alpha Be full time? How can
0:33
Speaker 5: we find she said? How dare I exact, sir, black
0:37
Speaker 5: actress to play alpha Be full time on the Broadway Wicked?
0:41
Speaker 3: How's congratulations first and foremost?
0:43
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. I mean, it's a dream come true.
0:46
Speaker 4: It's like surreal sometimes and sometimes I'm like, oh, yeah,
0:49
Speaker 4: this is exactly where I always thought I would be
0:51
Speaker 4: doing something like impactful for our community and our industry.
0:56
Speaker 4: But most days are just like I'm just dumbfounded. I
1:00
Speaker 4: can't believe I'm singing these songs what.
1:02
Speaker 1: Did it mean for you personally and what did it
1:04
Speaker 1: mean for Brown personally?
1:06
Speaker 4: It was an opportunity to tell the story of my community,
1:11
Speaker 4: our struggles, our strengths, our power, for our for our industry,
1:17
Speaker 4: for the entertainment industry. I think it just opened the
1:20
Speaker 4: eyes of who can do what and who was capable
1:23
Speaker 4: of what, and just like brought a more creative outlook
1:29
Speaker 4: to art.
1:30
Speaker 2: Now you ain't Hamilton before, but I want to start
1:32
Speaker 2: from the beginning my birth. Okay, how did you get
1:36
Speaker 2: into the arts?
1:37
Speaker 4: Like?
1:37
Speaker 3: What was it so special to you? Said this is
1:39
Speaker 3: what I want to do.
1:40
Speaker 4: You know, It's funny. I started at church and I
1:43
Speaker 4: hated singing. My parents saw something special in me and
1:48
Speaker 4: kind of like thrust me into music and correct. Both
1:52
Speaker 4: my parents are from Ethiopia immigrants, so I'm first generation
1:56
Speaker 4: and I loved playing outside. I loved playing sports. I
1:59
Speaker 4: was super into my academics too. I was just like
2:01
Speaker 4: a really hype kid. I feel like I was just
2:03
Speaker 4: I couldn't be stopped. Lots of energy, especially for this role.
2:08
Speaker 4: But like being inside rahearsing and like I just was
2:13
Speaker 4: like I want to be outside and I want to
2:14
Speaker 4: be playing. But I started to see like how music
2:18
Speaker 4: affected people specifically in church and how that moved people spiritually.
2:25
Speaker 4: And I was like, wait, I think I'm good at
2:27
Speaker 4: this something. I don't know what it is. I don't
2:30
Speaker 4: know how to hone in on it, but I know
2:32
Speaker 4: that it just feels special. So I wanted to keep trying.
2:35
Speaker 4: And then I started doing like community theater and middle
2:38
Speaker 4: school and high school, and in college, I decided I
2:40
Speaker 4: wasn't going to study it. I had other interests. I
2:42
Speaker 4: studied diplomacy and world affairs and undergrad and politics, all
2:46
Speaker 4: different angles to make like positive change to the world
2:50
Speaker 4: around me.
2:51
Speaker 1: I mean how many times?
2:53
Speaker 2: And then you got to Broadway, So explain how you
2:56
Speaker 2: got to Broadway and those feelings.
3:00
Speaker 4: Midway through my five year run in Hamilton, the audition
3:05
Speaker 4: for Alphabat came up and I already actually had another
3:09
Speaker 4: job offer that I was very excited to embark on,
3:11
Speaker 4: and my team was like, I mean, it depends on
3:14
Speaker 4: what you want to do, and I was like, WHOA,
3:16
Speaker 4: no black woman has ever played this role. I'm not
3:18
Speaker 4: going to pass up this opportunity. So auditions it was
3:21
Speaker 4: like six rounds across maybe like four months of me
3:24
Speaker 4: flying to New York from La on Zoom, just lots
3:30
Speaker 4: of different It's a long process. If that's such a
3:33
Speaker 4: technical skill, would that that is required for this character.
3:36
Speaker 4: So after all those rounds and the up and downs
3:39
Speaker 4: of the emotions, I got it. I don't, I gotta,
3:41
Speaker 4: I don't, am I good? I don't know. It's just
3:42
Speaker 4: like so much inner turmoil. I finally got the call
3:46
Speaker 4: from my agent and I started cracking up. I'd like
3:49
Speaker 4: I couldn't even like emote. I was just like, this
3:53
Speaker 4: cannot be happening right now.
3:55
Speaker 6: I think thought it was a joke or you or
3:57
Speaker 6: you didn't know what you felt.
3:58
Speaker 4: I think I didn't know what I felt. I was
4:02
Speaker 4: like in shock. Yeah, at that point, I think I
4:04
Speaker 4: had convinced myself that it was highly possible. I was.
4:09
Speaker 4: I was in the final like four people maybe, but
4:12
Speaker 4: I was like Universe, God, Mother, Earth, I receive whatever
4:17
Speaker 4: is mine, however, I want this set, and I feel
4:20
Speaker 4: like I would be great for this moment, but like,
4:23
Speaker 4: I accept the outcome. So I think I was. I
4:25
Speaker 4: was playing both outcomes internally so well that no matter
4:30
Speaker 4: what that call would have whatever the outcome of that
4:33
Speaker 4: call would have been, I would have been ready so
4:35
Speaker 4: I think my body was like, oh, okay, this is happening.
4:39
Speaker 4: I had to like go on a walk and like
4:41
Speaker 4: ground myself to remember what was real. I couldn't believe this.
4:45
Speaker 7: Mean, how many times do people try to gas like
4:47
Speaker 7: you like, is America ready for a black alpable?
4:49
Speaker 4: Right?
4:49
Speaker 1: Like the damn green face isn't fantasy enough.
4:51
Speaker 4: It's so silly, and it's people say things like she's green,
4:55
Speaker 4: like it doesn't matter what her race is, and I'm like,
4:57
Speaker 4: she's green exactly. She looks different than everybody else. That
5:00
Speaker 4: is the point. So I do think the world was ready.
5:02
Speaker 4: I do think the world was ready, and I feel
5:06
Speaker 4: so grateful that it was me.
5:07
Speaker 1: You know, it's only interesting.
5:08
Speaker 7: Like I took my nine year old and my six
5:10
Speaker 7: year old to see Working on Broadway and they saw
5:12
Speaker 7: the movie, so it's the Dim Alpha.
5:15
Speaker 3: But is black?
5:18
Speaker 1: Isn't that?
5:19
Speaker 7: Like if I say, if I say that to them,
5:20
Speaker 7: you're like, you know, she's black, right, Like of course.
5:23
Speaker 1: That's all they know.
5:24
Speaker 4: Is as crazy that this generation gets to live in
5:30
Speaker 4: this in this climate and see it as normal, Like
5:33
Speaker 4: that's what they get to grow up experiencing. And that's
5:35
Speaker 4: my favorite part of this is this whole generation that
5:38
Speaker 4: is just this is their norm.
5:40
Speaker 1: Why do you think it took decades for a black
5:41
Speaker 1: woman to get this role full time?
5:43
Speaker 4: Like?
5:43
Speaker 1: What does that say about Broadway? If anything, I.
5:47
Speaker 4: Think art is a reflection of the society it represents.
5:53
Speaker 4: So I don't think Broadway was particularly doing anything outside
5:57
Speaker 4: of what our country represented. And as times have changed,
6:02
Speaker 4: so has art. Art has shifted. So I feel like
6:08
Speaker 4: it's exactly the timing is exactly right. And again, like
6:12
Speaker 4: I can't speak to why I took this long, but
6:14
Speaker 4: all I know is I'm happy I'm here.
6:15
Speaker 3: Do you get a lot of love or do you
6:16
Speaker 3: get a lot of hate?
6:17
Speaker 4: I get a lot of love. I mean, haters are haters.
6:19
Speaker 4: There's always haters, there's always critics.
6:21
Speaker 2: The reason I asked is like I took my kids too,
6:24
Speaker 2: And of course the majority of people in there are others.
6:28
Speaker 3: Well, I should say all white.
6:31
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, but I was wondering lovers.
6:37
Speaker 1: You're the other.
6:39
Speaker 4: Actually I'm green, okay?
6:44
Speaker 3: And what type of hate do you get? Is it letters?
6:46
Speaker 1: Is it? You know?
6:46
Speaker 2: Because I thought that the play was phenomenal, Like I said,
6:48
Speaker 2: when I seen you in Hall, I took my three
6:50
Speaker 2: year old, and then I took my twenty three.
6:52
Speaker 4: Year old, Wow, and they both enjoyed it.
6:53
Speaker 3: They both joyed great.
6:55
Speaker 4: Across the generations people relate. I mean, it's the hate.
6:59
Speaker 4: I don't know. I wouldn't even call it hate more
7:01
Speaker 4: than just like strong opinions, because less so about race,
7:06
Speaker 4: more just because this is a long running show twenty
7:09
Speaker 4: two years. Everyone who has seen who comes to see
7:12
Speaker 4: Wicked has seen Wicked more or less. The amount of
7:15
Speaker 4: people who are new to this piece of work is
7:18
Speaker 4: very little, so everybody knows every word, every intonation, like
7:22
Speaker 4: every way every single line goes or every vocal part goes.
7:26
Speaker 4: So it's less like why they're a black Alphaba. I
7:28
Speaker 4: don't really get that. There's more celebratory energy about the
7:31
Speaker 4: racial thing. But people just like what they like, and
7:35
Speaker 4: you know what, that's fine. I cannot be for everyone,
7:38
Speaker 4: and I think that's what this show is teaching me,
7:40
Speaker 4: especially this character who has to fight with the world
7:43
Speaker 4: around her not trusting her and misunderstanding her. But she
7:46
Speaker 4: always says true to who she is, and that I
7:48
Speaker 4: think is my biggest takeaway from playing this role.
7:50
Speaker 5: What was the most challenging part about playing Alphaba?
7:53
Speaker 4: If there are any I would say a mental and
7:56
Speaker 4: emotional fatigue. The show is very emotionally taxing. I am
8:04
Speaker 4: constantly faced with like the biggest, most complicated inner feelings
8:10
Speaker 4: that specifically a black woman can experience, feeling othered, feeling misunderstood,
8:15
Speaker 4: not being trusted, disillusionment, believing in someone, trusting in someone,
8:20
Speaker 4: and then realizing that it's not what it seems. So
8:22
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot of times when I leave
8:25
Speaker 4: the show and I have to just like I don't
8:26
Speaker 4: even turn on the lights in my apartment for hours.
8:28
Speaker 4: I have to be like dead in my head because
8:31
Speaker 4: it's just like the emotional rollercoaster of what the character
8:34
Speaker 4: requires also requires me to plug in and charge when
8:38
Speaker 4: I'm not there.
8:39
Speaker 7: Let's stay there for a minute. Yeah, because alphabet is
8:41
Speaker 7: one of the most demanding roles in.
8:43
Speaker 4: If not the most, you have the most.
8:45
Speaker 7: So what's your apprecial ritual to get into that headspace
8:48
Speaker 7: and voice space every night?
8:49
Speaker 4: I think I definitely take stock in how I'm feeling.
8:53
Speaker 4: If I'm feeling like more tired, maybe I listen to
8:55
Speaker 4: like hype music, or like take a walk, or like
8:58
Speaker 4: take a hot yoga class, something to get me my
9:00
Speaker 4: energy going. But if I'm feeling particularly stimulated that day,
9:03
Speaker 4: sometimes listening to like jazz and something calmer, I usually
9:07
Speaker 4: do like a thirty minute warm up, half of it physical,
9:09
Speaker 4: half of it vocal. And then while I'm getting the greening,
9:12
Speaker 4: which takes thirty minutes to do my makeup every day.
9:15
Speaker 4: When they're doing that for me, that's when I play music,
9:19
Speaker 4: and music I feel like is what drops me into
9:21
Speaker 4: whatever emotional space I need to get into the character.
9:24
Speaker 5: Make up only take thirteen thirty minute thirty minutes, Yeah, yeah,
9:28
Speaker 5: I expect it more right.
9:30
Speaker 4: People usually think it takes like hours. It was gonna
9:32
Speaker 4: probably just do your face, neck and hands right right
9:34
Speaker 4: and like a little bit down my back, but like
9:36
Speaker 4: it's only a little bit down my arm.
9:38
Speaker 2: So do you have a life on Broadway? Can you
9:41
Speaker 2: have a life on Broadway with the amount of shows.
9:43
Speaker 3: That you see? Let me tell you.
9:45
Speaker 4: Eight a week. We have one day off yesterday, I
9:48
Speaker 4: would say there, you can have a life on Broadway
9:50
Speaker 4: When you're Alphaba, though, which is a different.
9:53
Speaker 1: Beast life that's very difficult.
9:56
Speaker 4: I think. I try. I'm a communal being. I need
9:58
Speaker 4: the energy of other so I try to balance it.
10:03
Speaker 4: But most states. I do spend chilling on my own because,
10:07
Speaker 4: like I said, the mental toll is really I really
10:10
Speaker 4: have to like relax in order to bring my whole
10:12
Speaker 4: heart and soul emotionally to the characters. So everybody has
10:16
Speaker 4: a life, but I have less of a life right now.
10:18
Speaker 4: But you know what the sacrifice is worth it? Let
10:19
Speaker 4: me tell you it is worth it.
10:21
Speaker 7: What's harder hitting that defying gravity? Note eight times a
10:24
Speaker 7: week are carrying the weight of representation every time.
10:28
Speaker 4: The curry cool? Ain't that the question? Definitely the representation.
10:34
Speaker 4: It's just it means so much to so many people.
10:37
Speaker 4: And like I think another back to what you were
10:39
Speaker 4: saying about the hardest parts of the role, Like I
10:42
Speaker 4: put a lot of pressure on myself to make every
10:44
Speaker 4: interaction I have through this period of my life has
10:47
Speaker 4: something meaningful to audiences black, brown, white, It don't matter.
10:50
Speaker 4: Like I just I think that that opportunity can sometimes
10:57
Speaker 4: feel like pressure to me, just because I care so
10:59
Speaker 4: much and I've really want especially the kids. I want
11:02
Speaker 4: kids to go away feeling empowered. So defying gravity is
11:06
Speaker 4: like it's like a science is like this is how
11:08
Speaker 4: you're sing. It is vocal technique, but with the cultural, racial,
11:16
Speaker 4: emotional aspects of it. Like those those things take real
11:19
Speaker 4: care and I really put a lot of effort into
11:22
Speaker 4: how I present myself and what I share with my community.
11:25
Speaker 1: So you feel actual pressure to represent.
11:29
Speaker 4: I do feel pressure in that. I feel like it's
11:32
Speaker 4: more self induced, just because, like I said, I care
11:37
Speaker 4: so much about positively impacting the world around me, and
11:40
Speaker 4: that's I feel like that's been one of my dreams
11:41
Speaker 4: since I was a kid, Like I never knew what
11:42
Speaker 4: I would do growing up, but like that's kind of
11:44
Speaker 4: why I went into politics for a little while too
11:46
Speaker 4: and still have a passion for it, is that I
11:48
Speaker 4: care so much about just like positively inspiring people. So yeah,
11:52
Speaker 4: I do feel pressure, only because that's what I choose
11:55
Speaker 4: to care about. I don't think anybody puts it on
11:57
Speaker 4: me besides myself, which is why this role teaches me
12:01
Speaker 4: to stay you know, connected and true to who I am,
12:03
Speaker 4: regardless of what's happening around me.
12:05
Speaker 1: Because I feel like, if you just bring your full
12:07
Speaker 1: self to the role, that's enough.
12:10
Speaker 4: I completely agree, and that's exactly what the character does.
12:13
Speaker 4: She brings herself to all these crazy life situations, and
12:17
Speaker 4: that's how she survives and thrives.
12:20
Speaker 2: Do you did you reach out to actresses before you
12:23
Speaker 2: to just to ask them how the role was and
12:26
Speaker 2: the role and are they open to it, especially you
12:28
Speaker 2: being black? Well, were they open to it or wasn't
12:30
Speaker 2: one of those states?
12:30
Speaker 4: Like yeah, No, they were incredibly open. They call it
12:36
Speaker 4: kind of like a sisterhood. Like the people who have
12:38
Speaker 4: played Alphaba, they all sort of say, like, nobody can
12:42
Speaker 4: know what it's like until you've done it, So like
12:44
Speaker 4: any vocal teacher, any like voice doctor, therapists, like I
12:48
Speaker 4: can't explain to anybody in words what it feels like
12:51
Speaker 4: unless you you know, you've experienced it. So hearing their
12:54
Speaker 4: experiences was like incredibly inspiring and just like really positive
12:58
Speaker 4: guidance for me dealing with the strenuous nature of it.
13:02
Speaker 4: Like the one main thing I took away from all
13:04
Speaker 4: those conversations was like the girls, a lot of the
13:07
Speaker 4: girls were saying, like, anything you experience, every other alphabet
13:11
Speaker 4: has experienced, so like you're not alone in those intense
13:15
Speaker 4: feelings when it gets difficult. So that just made me
13:18
Speaker 4: feel less crazy.
13:19
Speaker 2: And what's the craziest thing that's happened on stage? Did
13:21
Speaker 2: you see like a favorite celebrity in the stage directive
13:23
Speaker 2: one to the bathroom, What was the craziest thing that
13:25
Speaker 2: happened to you as.
13:25
Speaker 1: You good question.
13:28
Speaker 4: I can't really see the audience sometimes sometimes when I
13:31
Speaker 4: know something like Serena Williams when the audience recently and
13:33
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, Queen. Sometimes I stumble words and
13:40
Speaker 4: like say crazy things and I just have to like
13:42
Speaker 4: find a way to get around it.
13:45
Speaker 6: But during the performance, yes it happens.
13:49
Speaker 4: I don't think so unless there's like a long silence.
13:55
Speaker 4: I think people are so dropped into the show that
13:57
Speaker 4: they're like, they're not worried.
14:00
Speaker 6: Have you met Cynthia Arriva.
14:01
Speaker 4: I haven't met her yet. She did send me flowers
14:03
Speaker 4: on my debut, my first show, which was sweet. But
14:06
Speaker 4: I think we should probably be doing some stuff soon.
14:10
Speaker 7: How do you navigate being celebrated but still feeling like
14:13
Speaker 7: you're breaking through systems that weren't designed for you.
14:21
Speaker 4: I celebrate myself because what I'm doing is a literal revolution,
14:29
Speaker 4: and I believe art is a part of social change
14:35
Speaker 4: and political growth. I believe art shapes culture and culture
14:40
Speaker 4: shapes art. It's sort of symbiotic in that way. So
14:44
Speaker 4: I feel like the fact that I have the opportunity
14:47
Speaker 4: to break through these barriers also like strengthens my relationship
14:50
Speaker 4: with myself. I'm like, yeah, you did that.
14:54
Speaker 1: Who was your elphab growing up? Like, who made you
14:55
Speaker 1: believe you can defy gravity?
14:57
Speaker 4: That's a great question, I would say, seeing Cynthia for sure.
15:07
Speaker 4: I mean Cynthia has done so many amazing projects, yeah,
15:10
Speaker 4: which like haven't just inspired me endlessly. Audre McDonald also
15:16
Speaker 4: how she has crossed over to different industries, to within
15:20
Speaker 4: the entertainment industry. So seeing black women be sort of
15:23
Speaker 4: like multi hyphenated artists, it's inspired me so much and
15:27
Speaker 4: made me feel like like if they can do it,
15:29
Speaker 4: you know I can't do.
15:31
Speaker 6: Do you remember your first audition for a Wicked Yes?
15:36
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it was terrified, shaking. I remember the first
15:40
Speaker 4: time I sang define gravity in front of the creative team.
15:41
Speaker 4: I feel like my hands were like literally like I
15:43
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I was so nervous. It was probably
15:47
Speaker 4: one of the hardest things I overcame in my career
15:51
Speaker 4: so far, like that day, because it meant so much
15:54
Speaker 4: to me. I knew what it would mean if I
15:55
Speaker 4: would continue on in the process being the first black
15:57
Speaker 4: woman in the possible first black woman in the role,
16:00
Speaker 4: and just the difficulty of the material. I was stressed.
16:04
Speaker 4: But then when I did it, I was like, no,
16:05
Speaker 4: I can do anything. Like once I did it the
16:07
Speaker 4: first time, I was like, I'm good, I got it.
16:10
Speaker 1: Are you a sick thing or do anything together at
16:12
Speaker 1: the Tony Awards because you said.
16:14
Speaker 4: I pray, honey, that's what I'm I am asking the
16:16
Speaker 4: universe and doing all the networking I can try to get.
16:19
Speaker 4: She is hosting, I pray. I pray. So if anyone
16:23
Speaker 4: can hear me, bring me to the Tonys. I would
16:26
Speaker 4: like to be in attendance. I think it would be
16:28
Speaker 4: really great for our community.
16:29
Speaker 1: You haven't been nominated yet.
16:31
Speaker 4: I can't be nominated for Wicked because it's not a
16:33
Speaker 4: new show in this season. I know that, Yeah, that's
16:37
Speaker 4: a thing.
16:38
Speaker 1: That's crazy. But if you're an actress, are actor that
16:40
Speaker 1: takes the role to another level, yeah you've done well.
16:43
Speaker 4: Thank you one to I agree. I do think that
16:45
Speaker 4: long running show should have the opportunity to award you know,
16:48
Speaker 4: particular performances in that way. But for my knowledge of
16:51
Speaker 4: how it works, it's about the new works of that season.
16:55
Speaker 4: There's like a maybe you know, September of the last
16:58
Speaker 4: year until March of the current year or something some
17:00
Speaker 4: timeline that the show has to open. From what I understand.
17:04
Speaker 6: Back to what and he was asking you like, do
17:06
Speaker 6: you have a life outside?
17:07
Speaker 4: Ye?
17:07
Speaker 6: So look right, So you don't you have friends? Of course?
17:12
Speaker 1: Okaye?
17:13
Speaker 4: Please? I need a community.
17:15
Speaker 6: Okay, right, okay?
17:16
Speaker 5: So you you're a liber you got a birthday coming up? Yes,
17:20
Speaker 5: what are you going to?
17:22
Speaker 4: Like?
17:22
Speaker 6: What do you do for your birthday? Are you working?
17:24
Speaker 4: I don't know. I guess if my birthday falls on
17:27
Speaker 4: a Monday, it would be rare and that I would
17:29
Speaker 4: be off, but most likely I'm working.
17:31
Speaker 5: You're off on Mondays, off on Mondays and that's the
17:34
Speaker 5: only d that's the only day.
17:36
Speaker 1: And so you work tonight? Correct?
17:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got shows tonight?
17:42
Speaker 4: What days?
17:42
Speaker 3: You have two shows today?
17:43
Speaker 4: One? No? Today is one Wednesday and Saturday or two
17:47
Speaker 4: usually two shows.
17:49
Speaker 6: In a day.
17:50
Speaker 5: You can't even have a shot if you I can't
17:53
Speaker 5: even pop up on you with a bottle, like girl.
17:55
Speaker 4: I wish I could even have a shot. This entire
17:57
Speaker 4: year gives a glass of wine a month.
18:01
Speaker 5: Okay, So how do you celebrate being alphabet? How do
18:05
Speaker 5: you celebrate that, like really, because it always doesn't have
18:08
Speaker 5: to involve.
18:09
Speaker 4: In a party.
18:10
Speaker 6: Yeah, how do you celebrate?
18:13
Speaker 4: I mean it really is sometimes very simple things like
18:15
Speaker 4: taking a walk by the water, like it seems I
18:18
Speaker 4: know it's peace and just like I've never lived in
18:21
Speaker 4: New York City. I'm from California.
18:22
Speaker 1: I will take the.
18:28
Speaker 4: Water, I'll take the natural whatever or the trees. But
18:32
Speaker 4: like it always, it always hits me hard when I
18:35
Speaker 4: think about, like why I'm in New York. It's for
18:37
Speaker 4: this job. It's for this special groundbreaking role that I'm in.
18:41
Speaker 4: So like when I when I finished the eighth show
18:43
Speaker 4: week and I literally just walk out the theater, like
18:46
Speaker 4: I just this piece comes over me because I'm like,
18:48
Speaker 4: look what I have accomplished, and look where I am
18:50
Speaker 4: in this city that I've always wanted to live in.
18:52
Speaker 4: So I feel like celebration comes in very simple, I guess,
18:56
Speaker 4: non conventional ways, but not really just personal ways. But like, look,
19:00
Speaker 4: I take my days off next week, I'm going to
19:01
Speaker 4: Vegas and visit my friends, and I will be having
19:03
Speaker 4: a grand time.
19:04
Speaker 1: Sometimes gratitude to celebrate, I.
19:06
Speaker 4: Agree, That's what I mean, Like just walking out the
19:09
Speaker 4: out of the theater, and being like just taking a
19:11
Speaker 4: moment to feel what I'm doing. I feel like I've
19:15
Speaker 4: won the lottery.
19:17
Speaker 3: Is it true that you know it's hard to get
19:19
Speaker 3: take us to wicked at times?
19:20
Speaker 4: Right? Yeah?
19:21
Speaker 2: Is it true that for one of your shows you
19:23
Speaker 2: had sixty family members in presence for one of your shows?
19:25
Speaker 4: That is correct? And you know what, most of them
19:27
Speaker 4: were family members and they all wore like are traditional
19:30
Speaker 4: Ethiopian clothes. And I was like the groserwand has never
19:32
Speaker 4: seen so many Africans And it made me so happy
19:35
Speaker 4: just to see like my culture represented in that in
19:38
Speaker 4: that space and.
19:39
Speaker 2: Talk about your culture. I've seen a picture on your
19:41
Speaker 2: Instagram family together and you were saying, this is my tribe,
19:43
Speaker 2: and yeah, how a close knit family?
19:46
Speaker 3: How was that? Growing up?
19:47
Speaker 4: Is everything? I mean, I think that's probably one of
19:49
Speaker 4: the reasons I even had the confidence to pursue this
19:52
Speaker 4: career path. Like my parents are immigrants, you know, most
19:56
Speaker 4: of my aunts and uncles and parents are you know,
19:58
Speaker 4: corporate politics. You know, did they understand? They did not understand,
20:04
Speaker 4: but they did trust me, which is I think a
20:07
Speaker 4: strong distinction because they knew my work ethic, they knew
20:10
Speaker 4: that I had a very logical approach to it, but
20:13
Speaker 4: having their support was invaluable. I mean I could not
20:15
Speaker 4: be who I am today without every single one of them.
20:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did have a few more questions. I know
20:20
Speaker 1: you should do.
20:21
Speaker 4: I love being here.
20:22
Speaker 3: I got time.
20:22
Speaker 4: I got time for you, Trum, I got time for you.
20:25
Speaker 7: I remember seeing you cry after performing defying Gravity one time, Like.
20:29
Speaker 4: That's probably true, Yes happens often.
20:31
Speaker 1: What were you feel so you cry all the time?
20:34
Speaker 4: Not all the time, but I would say every now
20:36
Speaker 4: and then.
20:37
Speaker 1: What were you feeling in that particular moment.
20:40
Speaker 4: That moment in the show is Alphaba realizing her power,
20:47
Speaker 4: not knowing it, but just realizing it, if that makes sense.
20:51
Speaker 4: So when I get up there and I'm you know,
20:53
Speaker 4: flying and singing that song, it's like it's the ultimate.
20:59
Speaker 4: It's it's like arriving at self actualization. It's like I'm
21:03
Speaker 4: at the starting line of like anything I could possibly be.
21:06
Speaker 4: So sometimes when I hit the last note and lights
21:08
Speaker 4: go off, I'm like I like this because I'm like,
21:12
Speaker 4: like I'm doing it. I'm doing the thing that like
21:14
Speaker 4: my ancestors could not even imagine, Like even me as
21:18
Speaker 4: a kid, I couldn't. I couldn't even dream. I didn't
21:20
Speaker 4: even dream of being elb Like that wasn't even an option.
21:23
Speaker 4: It wasn't even like I understood the racial divide as
21:26
Speaker 4: a kid. It was just not even something I even
21:27
Speaker 4: had the purview to imagine. So now in that moment,
21:31
Speaker 4: stepping into my power and let and having that being
21:34
Speaker 4: the beginning of my my journey, it's like it's it's
21:38
Speaker 4: overwhelming in the best way.
21:40
Speaker 6: Wow, your birthday is on Wednesdays.
21:44
Speaker 4: And it's two shows. I'll be in the theater. It's fine, right,
21:50
Speaker 4: it'll be green reinfressing.
21:54
Speaker 7: So what is the role taught you about yourself? Not
21:57
Speaker 7: not as a performer, well, not just as a performer, but.
21:59
Speaker 4: As That's such a good question because I always like
22:04
Speaker 4: to I give a lot to my characters, but like
22:06
Speaker 4: I like to examine what my characters are giving me too.
22:10
Speaker 4: I think we sort of touched upon it. But she's
22:15
Speaker 4: she's teaching me to be unapologetic in who I am,
22:22
Speaker 4: and like you were saying, like trust that showing up
22:26
Speaker 4: being in this role is what is impactful. I don't
22:29
Speaker 4: have to do anything else besides just literally be the
22:32
Speaker 4: representation on the stage. So she's really she's really challenging
22:37
Speaker 4: me to get my values in order in that you know,
22:42
Speaker 4: my relationship with myself is the priority and is my superpower.
22:47
Speaker 3: Now you did it. You did backup singing for Beyonce
22:49
Speaker 3: one time.
22:50
Speaker 4: I did talk about that and who crazy? It was
22:53
Speaker 4: only a couple of weeks. It was for her Coachella
22:57
Speaker 4: rehearsals and what shoot twenty eighteen? Yeah, I think, And
23:04
Speaker 4: just to see the master, I mean, that's it. Like
23:08
Speaker 4: she is everything you can imagine, and she's so grounded.
23:12
Speaker 4: And to watch how she interacts with every department of
23:15
Speaker 4: every aspect of her of her art is beautiful, down
23:19
Speaker 4: to every every step, every costume, every lighting, music choice,
23:23
Speaker 4: like it's it was so inspiring to be to be
23:27
Speaker 4: in her presence.
23:28
Speaker 5: And don't ever say it was only for I ain't
23:30
Speaker 5: saying for a four hour if you were twenty five
23:34
Speaker 5: years old, you were so young, I am able to
23:36
Speaker 5: experience that.
23:37
Speaker 6: That's dope.
23:37
Speaker 4: It's so crazy. Yeah, bless her for that experience. Really
23:40
Speaker 4: life changing.
23:41
Speaker 7: What's more intense doing that a Broadway?
23:47
Speaker 4: I heard this eight shows a week, Like it's the frequency,
23:52
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, If it was a couple
23:53
Speaker 4: of week, it'd be different. You know what I'm saying,
23:56
Speaker 4: Like one show a day, a couple times a week,
23:59
Speaker 4: manageable every day, it's a lot.
24:03
Speaker 1: How do you want your time as Alpha?
24:04
Speaker 7: But to be remembered, You wanted to be remembered as
24:06
Speaker 7: a turning point, a movement, are beginning?
24:09
Speaker 6: Oof?
24:10
Speaker 4: I love that turning point, movement or beginning? Can I
24:16
Speaker 4: think it could be all of them? I really do.
24:18
Speaker 4: I think it's it's a turning point because it's a
24:20
Speaker 4: you know, historic, it's the first time a movement, a
24:24
Speaker 4: movement that has been moving already. So it's sort of
24:26
Speaker 4: like I'm jumping on the train. Maybe I'm sitting in
24:27
Speaker 4: the passenger seat, but I feel like that train is
24:30
Speaker 4: already moving. And Yeah, I wanted to be a moment
24:33
Speaker 4: where well, people look at me and wonder what their
24:37
Speaker 4: own capabilities are, because that's what this experience was. I
24:40
Speaker 4: didn't although I wanted to be the role, I didn't.
24:43
Speaker 4: I wasn't sure that I was even equipped to manage
24:47
Speaker 4: the intensity of how technical it is. But I took
24:50
Speaker 4: a chance on myself. I took a chance on my
24:51
Speaker 4: power and my my abilities, and that's what I want
24:55
Speaker 4: this moment to be remembered as.
24:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, man, it's like everyone deserves a chance to fly,
24:59
Speaker 7: me have a whole different meaning with you.
25:01
Speaker 4: Oh my god, that's my favorite line. I mean, what
25:04
Speaker 4: couldn't kept encapsulate the theme of the show more than everyone
25:08
Speaker 4: deserves a chance to fly? So my leg Yeah, of course.
25:13
Speaker 5: So the first week, your first week on broblem, after
25:17
Speaker 5: you realize okay, this is really eight shows, what was
25:20
Speaker 5: that feeling on that Sunday?
25:23
Speaker 4: You know this is probably gonna be surprising to you maybe,
25:26
Speaker 4: but I was like, no, I got this. I was like,
25:31
Speaker 4: I was so concerned with my ability to sustain this,
25:37
Speaker 4: and I was wrong for doubting that I really was.
25:40
Speaker 4: I finished the week and I was like, look, it's
25:42
Speaker 4: a lot of work. I'm tired. My body's tired, my
25:44
Speaker 4: voice is tired, my mind is tired. But like I'm equipped.
25:47
Speaker 4: I feel like I feel like I've had a lot
25:50
Speaker 4: of work experiences that I've built me to be able
25:53
Speaker 4: to sustain this, and like my body is strong so
25:55
Speaker 4: long as I take care of her, she serves me.
25:57
Speaker 4: So I finished that weekend, I was like so impressed
26:01
Speaker 4: with my own ability to be honest, I was shocked.
26:03
Speaker 6: I was a shocked person got the job.
26:05
Speaker 4: Thank you are amazing.
26:07
Speaker 2: You keep killing it. Like I said, my family loved it.
26:09
Speaker 2: We had a great time. So Kendy was expensive. I
26:12
Speaker 2: ain't go from my kids wanted every piece of can.
26:15
Speaker 4: They know that the kids will eat the snacks.
26:18
Speaker 3: But they had a great time.
26:20
Speaker 1: Loved this so much.
26:20
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
26:21
Speaker 1: Man, my pleasure.
26:23
Speaker 3: You gotta go check it out.
26:24
Speaker 6: I am I'm the only one who has not seen it.
26:26
Speaker 4: Come on out.
26:26
Speaker 6: I'm coming girl. I know about you, so I'm like,
26:29
Speaker 6: I gotta come and support you.
26:30
Speaker 4: Appreciate it and you all amazing. Thank you all.
26:33
Speaker 3: Right, Lyncia, Lyncia, Lyncia.
26:35
Speaker 4: You got it.
26:36
Speaker 1: Last name Cobetta co Betta.
26:39
Speaker 6: He's still going to mess it.
26:39
Speaker 3: Upright, ladies and gentlemen, It's the Breakfast Club.
26:42
Speaker 1: Come morning.
26:43
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Thank you so much.
26:45
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.