Broadway's 'Wicked' welcomes Lencia Kebede, its first pioneering full-time Black Elphaba

Lencia Kebede, a first-generation Ethiopian American from Los Angeles, spent five years touring with “Hamilton,” most recently in the role of Angelica Schuyler.

NEW YORK — Green tears were flowing when Lencia Kebede made history this week on Broadway, becoming the first Black actor to assume the role of Elphaba full time in the Broadway company of “Wicked.”

“It’s hard to even pinpoint a single emotion because I feel that it changes like every five minutes,” she told The Associated Press, still buzzing a day after her debut. “I woke up and I still sort of felt in the world of Oz.”

Kebede, a first-generation Ethiopian American from Los Angeles, spent five years touring with “Hamilton,” most recently in the role of Angelica Schuyler. Stepping into “Wicked” on Tuesday marked her Broadway debut.

Lencia Kebede appears as Elphaba in the Broadway musical "Wicked" in New York on March 1.Joan Marcus via AP“Defying Gravity”Kebede had already gone through an emotional wringer by the time the curtain finally came down. She sings the Act 1 showstopper “Defying Gravity,” shooting into the air and the power of the moment ripped through her.

“When the lights went off at the end of the song, I started sobbing. Not like just a gentle tear. Viscerally, I had to release,” she says.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/broadway-wicked-lencia-kebede-first-fulltime-elphaba-rcna195345

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