But really, the year has been great so far, and I’m trying to keep up my positivity in this cold and blustery season. First things first: HOORAY for my team, the Baltimore Ravens, on their AMAZING Superbowl win! As my mom says, “It was their destiny!” In a very inspirational post-bowl email, she also encouraged me to turn all the energy I’d been sending to the team all season inward and use it to make MY destiny a reality! How astute, mama!

I’ve been really pushing myself with EPAs and chorus calls, and little opportunities are popping up here and there, which is exciting. I know the investments I’m putting in now are helping me to book work later, and that alone is a good motivator to get to work every day!
This week I had the great pleasure of playing Annabell in a on-your-feet staged reading of Fix Me, Jesus, a new play by Helen Sneed, at the Abingdon Theater Company. It was a real delight to share such an exciting and funny play with our audience and the process was also a thrill; I was brought in at the last minute to fill in for the lead actress and had only 12 hours of rehearsal to get myself prepared!

One of my resolutions this year was to give myself more performance opportunities, even if I’m not always cast in a show. A perfect solution is the wonderful Cast Party at Birdland hosted by Jim Caruso, which I sang at a few weeks ago (and which I’ve promised myself to attend monthly!). I did “Unnatural Attraction” from Central Avenue Breakdown and the incredible Kevin Ray was even so kind as to join me on the piano. I love keeping Central Avenue around in my life, and I’ll take any opportunity to sing that music. We’ll actually be doing a private reading of new material for the production this week, and I can’t wait to see all my friends and get those words and characters back in the world.

So, that’s all the scoop for now, but I’m hoping there will be much more to say in the weeks to come!!

GO RAVENS!

Rebecca

I LOVE this season. From Thanksgiving on, I love the beauty and cheer in NYC, I get to celebrate my birthday, and my days are always merry and bright. And busy too!

I had the pleasure of performing at the as-yet-unopened Cutting Room a few weeks ago in a fundraiser for a new play by Melisa Annis, and I had fun singing some songs from the new musical I workshopped this summer with Heidi and Stew and Yasmine Lever. The whole night was a blast, and the music was very well received.

It’s been a slow fall in the audition world but things are picking up and I’m working to reinvigorate myself; I am ready to be wildly successful and now I just need to make it happen! I even went to a (gulp) dance call last week and didn’t embarrass myself. Baby steps.

This past weekend was one of my favorite all year: I had the incredible pleasure of performing with the Broadway by the Year Chorus alongside Debbie Gravitte, Norm Lewis, and Marc Shaiman in Debbie Gravitte’s All-Star Holiday Show! The event was a huge success and it was such a delight to sing with these broadway greats and my friends from Town Hall. We really got in the holiday spirit! Check out pics below!

I also had the immense pleasure of spending my birthday volunteering with Daniel’s Music Foundation, a music program I’ve been volunteering with since October. The program offers free music classes to any New Yorker with a disability. Working with DMF has really made a huge impact on my life and I so look forward to my Saturdays volunteering with the classes. This Sunday was the end of semester concert and I felt like such a proud parent watching my classes perform their pieces! I can’t wait for the next semester to begin again.

I hope this holiday season brings you and yours every joy. Oh! And because its only appropriate one month out of the year, check out my December Song. Wrote it last year, but this year it’s really resonating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SGK8fdHDR0

May we all have love all year round!

Cheers,
Rebecca

]]> http://rebeccalachance.com/2012/12/10/the-hap-happiest-season-of-all/feed/ 0 http://rebeccalachance.com/2012/10/15/fall-is-here/ http://rebeccalachance.com/2012/10/15/fall-is-here/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:34:04 +0000 Rebecca http://rebeccalachance.com/?p=686 Continue reading →]]> And so is the fall audition season!

Though I haven’t been too busy yet, I am getting back in the swing of regular EPAs, chorus calls, and as many appointments as I can get my hands on!

Aside from auditioning, I’ve been in touch with some of the recent projects I’ve been workshopping; last week I recorded a song from a new show featuring music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (of Passing Strange fame) that I did a reading for in August, and this weekend we have a first read through of a new draft of Central Avenue Breakdown. What a joy it is to be in the room making things at the very start.

I did my first day of background work today on the set of the upcoming Fox show, “The Following,”. Later this week I’ll be on set for “The Good Wife,” though I’m not sure background work is the life for me. I miss the hectic, running-around, full-out adrenaline rush of the theater! But it is incredibly interesting to watch the goings-on on a TV set– it’s a definite learning process for me.

And check out this DIY Beautify Contest I was featured in for iVillage.com. Kelly Bensimon guest judges, and I actually won the makeup competition! It was a lot of fun to shoot and I hope you guys enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDwKWmL4qzs

Cheers,

Rebecca

I’ve been participating in a very early, developmental reading/workshop of a new musical this past week which has been lovely and so rewarding; as if I did not already appreciate how awesome it is to work on a developing piece after two rounds with Central Avenue Breakdown, this reminds me again that new work is exactly what I want to be doing!

Helped out my friend, casting director Daryl Eisenberg, with monitoring an open call she had last weekend–how rewarding it is to see the audition world from the other side every once in awhile! I only hope I helped to make the process as smooth as possible for all of the auditioners..I got to watch a few groups of the dancers, and they AMAZED me.

Last weekend I also laid down a lil piece in a song by Marcos Sola as part of his Urban Lyrik project… basically, he’s merging opera and hip-hop, and the result is some pretty awesome tracks! Check out his website and listen to some sample tracks at www.urbanlyrik.com. More on that to come I’m sure!

Lucky Sons is getting back in action for some upcoming gigs…Emily and I will be playing a mini, acoustic (well, even more acoustic than Lucky Sons usually is…) set of our tunes at a fundraiser for Fat Fat Fatty, a new play by my friend Alex Kveton, at Lolita Bar this Wednesday, August 8th at 7pm.$10 cover gets you free food, drink specials, and fabulous performers like us!

And mark your calendars for Wednesday, August 22 when Lucky Sons will be performing as part of a Battle of the Bands at Kenny’s Castaways from 6-10. We wanna get out there and win this thing so we need all of you to come out and support! We’ll be bringing out some new tunes as well as some of the songs y’all heard in June. Big fun!

Other than all that, I’m dabbling in all kinds of little projects and keeping as busy as possible. Auditioning a lot, of course, and will keep you all posted!

Rebecca

We got some fine reviews, as well. I’m so grateful to have been mentioned in a few,

“Among the returning cast members, Rebecca LaChance shimmers as Jane Brooks, the white singing star who becomes involved with both brothers sequentially.” -Robert Windeler for Backstage

“…excellent performances from Boone, Lawrence, and especially LaChance and Sargent, anchoring the proceedings with… raw feeling”" -Matthew Murray for Talkin’ Broadway

“Both the boys take their turn with bombshell singer and actress Jane Brooks (Rebecca LaChance)” -TheAndyGram.com

“Toss in a beautiful Hollywood movie star who can swing a tune like Anita O’Day for a love triangle and the racial prejudice of LA cops in that era for some simmering violence and you’ve got yourself a show….overall, her character and performance are stronger, with LaChance nailing the tricky changes on her swinging jazz number in act one with more confidence this time around. (She was always aces with her act two number “Unnatural Attraction.”)” -Michael Glitz for USMag

“a beautiful and talented white singer (Rebecca LaChance)” -Anita Gates for The New York Times

But now it’s over! I’ve already jumped back into the audition world and am trying to fill myself with pep for whatever project comes next, but my heart is heavy to say goodbye (again!) to these beautiful people and characters and this incredible story they’re all a part of. Central Avenue Breakdown isn’t like other productions I’ve been a part of; it is a true labor of love and it was created by a family of collaborators. My family! They all touched me so deeply in so many ways, and it’s sad to wake up in the morning and know I don’t get to see them every day!

That’s the theater world, though, isn’t it? Invest yourself and your life, and then say thank you and turn to the next. Boy oh boy. What have I gotten myself into?!

At least we’ll always have…Korea?

xoxo

Rebecca

P.S. Check out these awesome production photos from our run in Daegu!

We had an awesome, sold-out opening night for Central Avenue Breakdown last night in the New York Music Theatre Festival. We have five more performances and we are SO excited to share our show and this journey with as many people as we can!

Show dates and times are:

Friday, Jul 20th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Friday, Jul 20th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Saturday, Jul 21st, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 9:00 pm
and all performances will be at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street )

Check out video footage from a performance I did with Rod Lawrence at Birdland to promote the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKFoZdgByw

As well as my  interview about my character, Jane Brooks and my experience with the production!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66fm2iyjYUM

And most importantly, check out our website and get your asses in the seats!

xoxo

Rebecca

We began rehearsals the very day my band, Lucky Sons, had our debut show…which is why you haven’t heard from me since! (By the way, the gig was a complete success and we can’t wait to get up and running again for some August shows in the works! Check out video footage from the show at our YouTube channel)

The rehearsal process was a quick but great one and before we knew it, we were on a good ol’ 14 hour plane ride to South Korea!

It was a whirlwind trip to be sure, full of delicious meals, sightseeing, and a LOT of hours spent in the beautiful Art Pia theatre we called home.

Check out some footage from one of our autograph sessions with the Korean fans…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcV2E3Q7fEY

And a photo of the full cast and crew on stage after our final performance:We performed to wonderful audiences who really loved the music, the story, and the characters, we got to participate in the lovely Daegu International Music Festival, and we got to spend a week in a place most of us had never visited! I’m not sure I ever would have made it to Korea on my own, so I’m unbelievably grateful to have had this opportunity. Central Avenue Breakdown is truly something special, and being a part of it makes me trust that the universe is putting me exactly where I’m supposed to be!

That said, now we are ready to bring this incredible production back home to NYC for our encore run at NYMF next week!

Performances are as follows:

Thursday, Jul 19th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Friday, Jul 20th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Friday, Jul 20th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Saturday, Jul 21st, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 9:00 pm
and all performances will be at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street ).

You can click the links to each performance to purchase tickets directly from NYMF.

For more information, you can always check out www.centralavenuebreakdown.com

I hope to see you on the Avenue!!

Cheers,

Rebecca

GUYS! It’s really happening. My childhood dream of singing in a band had come to fruition over the past few months and I’m thrilled to say that my band, Lucky Sons, has our very first show this coming Monday, June 11.

This is a true labor of love for me and my bandmates, Emily Olson, Mark T Evans, and Jonathan Russ.

Emily and I got together in January, downtrodden and frustrated at the state of our careers and the challenges of the actor’s life. We decided we wanted something that was in our control, something creative and collaborative, and something fun…we decided to start a band!

It’s amazing for me now to think back to me and Emily in my Brooklyn bedroom, harmonizing to cover songs, as now the full band swells through original music on a slew of instruments and we face our debut show. Man, music is really something. MAKING music is something else.

Here are the details:

Lucky Sons PREMIERE Concert!

Monday, June 11 at 8pm

The Caulfield

119 E. 27th Street (between Park and Lexington)

www.thecaulfield.com

F-R-E-E-!! No cover, no minimum, and happy hour prices all night long!

The bar is a great spot for our first gig, good people, DELICIOUS food (TACOS! GRILLED CHEESE!), and yummy drinks!

It’s sure to be a great way to start the week, and we would be thrilled to see friendly faces in the crowd. (And it’s FREE!)

Hope to see you there,

Rebecca

P.S. Check out some more of our band photos!

I also had the extreme pleasure of performing in the Broadway by the Year: 1975 concert at Town Hall along with many of my fellow Broadway Rising Stars-alums in a newly created Broadway by the Year chorus! We got to knock out a couple of numbers with the brilliantly talented, star-studded cast, and it was such fun to be back under the direction of the wonderful Scott Coulter. Here’s a photo from our performance of Time Warp with Patrick Page:

As May comes to a close, I’m still going full-tilt and trying to line up some fall work before I begin swinging back down the avenue with the Central Avenue Breakdown team. After rehearsing for a few weeks in June, we’ll be jetsetting off to Daegu, South Korea to perform in the Daegu International Music Theatre Festival! And we also just found out that we’ve been invited back to NYMF to perform our revamped production in this year’s festival, with 5 performances from July 19-22. Hope to see many of you there!

Even on a rainy day like this one, I’m so grateful for all I’m accomplishing (even in small ways) in this uphill climb called being an actor. This is only the beginning!!

Yours,

Rebecca

P.S. It should be live on the media section soon, but in the meantime, check out the delightful Rebecca LaChance VO demo !

In the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I took a visit to Switzerland and Italy with my mom and sister and suddenly found myself with time to reflect in a way I couldn’t at home. What I’ve typed below is a slightly cut version of what was a much longer entry from that trip, but I think so much of it still stands true, and I’m proud that 18 year old me had this much scope about the world.

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN I START BITCHING/WHINING/BEING MEAN/BEING UNGRATEFUL:
-all my blessings
-Desiderata: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”
-the helpfulness of a positive attitude
-Desiderata: “No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should”
-It’s okay not to have control
-It’s also okay to be wrong
-It’s just money. Pieces of paper.
-Unkind words hurt people
-Don’t take it personal, everyone has bad days
-Make your own sunshine
-”It is enough to be taken care of by myself” -Brian Andreas
-Positivity. Seriously.
-What is beautiful/fun/unique/wonderful about this person/situation?
-Two heads (or three or four or ten) are ALWAYS better than mine alone.
-It’s ALSO okay to be scared and stupid and uncreative.
-I could never, ever end up with nothing.
-Kindness is better than being “cool”
-Let it be!
-Always be generous. It will feel better than acquiring masses of stuff.
-Be happy. Smile.

Good reminders on a sunshiney spring day.

SMILE Y’ALL!

Cheers,
Rebecca