Some Kind of Wonderful

It’s been a thrilling few months since we opened Beautiful. We’ve broken box office records, been sold out the past two weeks, and of course the past month has held many surprise visitors including none other than CAROLE KING herself!

Check out this video footage shot by an audience member of Carole joining us to sing “You’ve Got a Friend” for  $30,000 donation to BCEFA.

It was such an honor to have Carole at the show, and she is as lovely and kind as she is talented. We remain so proud to be able to tell her story every night.

I also had the joy of representing Beautiful at the International Pow Wow Conference in Chicago at the start of the month. Here are some photos from the performance, what a ball!

Chicago Promotion!

Chicago promotion2 Even more exciting, our Original Broadway Cast Recording has officially been released! This is my first OBC recording and I can’t even believe how incredible it sounds. We really have something special on our hands here. Download on iTunes here!

Here’s hoping things continue to be as fabulous as they’ve been! I can’t imagine anything better than this dream life I’m living!

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We’re Open!!

Well, last night was the star-studded opening for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. After 32 San Francisco performances and 60 previews, we are now officially open on Broadway!

This entire experience has been a dream. It is unbelievable that I get to go to the theatre every day and perform with the cast that has become my family. It’s amazing to watch audiences singing and dancing along during curtain call, and the response to the show has been truly fantastic. I can’t wait to see what comes next for us, and I hope that last night was the first of many, many Broadway openings for me!!

Here’s a sneak peek of last night’s festivities:

photo by Walter McBride
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Backstage Greetings!

Hello from backstage at the lovely Stephen Sondheim Theatre, where we open previews for Beautiful this Thursday, November 21. My Broadway debut!

We had an amazing sold-out run in San Francisco, and have been working hard every step of the way to bring the story to life in the best way possible. I even had the insane, incredible opportunity to step into Carole’s shoes on our last show at the Curran, which was probably one of the greatest experiences of my whole life. I had never had a moment of rehearsal for the role and only had an hour’s notice, so it was a whirlwind to say the least. I’m excited to think the next time I go on I will (hopefully!) have a bit of preparation first.

I’m so grateful to be a part of this unbelievably talented and full-hearted group of performers and to have the joy of working with every member of our creative team and crew. It is without question a dream come true life blessing to wake up every day and come to work.

Tickets are available for purchase at www.beautifulthemusical.com and we just announced a $40 day-of general rush for the show, so I hope all of you will be able to make it out to see the show!

Lots of love,

Rebecca

Beautiful the Musical

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Dreams come true!

I have been waiting on pins and needles all summer to share this amazing news with you all:

It’s happening! I will be making my Broadway debut in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical when we open at the Sondheim Theatre January 12, 2014 after previews beginning November 21st and an out of town tryout in San Francisco from September 24-October 20th.

I am still in complete disbelief, even as I walk into rehearsals each morning, that I’m finally living the dream I’ve had for as long as I can remember. And I’m celebrating, because I worked damn hard for this! 🙂

Here is our official cast posting on Playbill and you can learn more about the show at its official website.

And to back track a little, it was an AMAZING six weeks at Williamstown. I am swimming in gratitude for the opportunity I had to be in the Eden of all summer theater jobs. We had a fantastic run of Johnny Baseball, the show was very well received, and I spent so much time playing ukulele by a creek! Check out these great production photos and the video featuring our creative team and some footage from the show!

Johnny Baseball- One More RunJohnny Baseball- Johnny O'Brien Reprise Johnny Baseball- Boosters

Can’t wait to share all the exciting stuff that will be coming my way from here out.

Thanks for all your support!

Love,

Rebecca

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Summertime, and the livin is easy…

Well, whoops.

I haven’t written for almost six months…sorry y’all.

But I’m writing you now from PARADISE aka Williamstown, MA at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

My mom wasn’t wrong when she said 2013 was going to be my year, and I’m feeling so thrilled and grateful for everything that’s been coming my way and everything still to come!

Quick recap on the past few months…I was, of course, auditioning my butt off, but I also had the pleasure of working on some readings/developmental workshops of a few new musicals and each time it only reaffirms my desire to do NEW work. I love the creative, collaborative energy those projects give, and the possibility of what is to come for them in the future. My band, Lucky Sons, is on a bit of a hiatus now while we each follow our individual dreams for a little while, but I am still hard at work songwriting and trying to improve my music skills. I acquired a ukulele in May (!!) and have been teaching myself how to play and write on it, which is a total blast.

And now I’m here, in the most relaxing, beautiful place I’ve worked, and I’m having a ball. I’m in the ensemble of JOHNNY BASEBALL, a delightful new musical with music by Rob & Willie Reale and a book by Richard Dresser. I sing about the Sox and Boston and baseball (a lot of stuff I know nothing about), and I get to be a showgirl, and a nurse, and a cheerleader…and it’s going to be awesome. We play here on the Nikos stage at WTF starting July 24th. If any of you are feeling up to a vacation in the Berkshires, I’d love to see you there!

More info on the show can be found at the Williamstown website here.

I’ve got even more exciting news to share soon, and I can’t wait to continue this amazing journey I’m on with all of you!

Love,

Rebecca

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2013 is my year!

At least that’s the mantra I keep repeating!

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

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The Hap, Happiest Season of All

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

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.

May we all have love all year round!

Cheers,
Rebecca

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Fall is here!

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.

Cheers,

Rebecca

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No more time to be blue!

Wow–after having that initial post-Central Avenue melancholia I am back into the swing of things and getting swept in every which way!

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

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The reviews are in! And the post-show blues…

Well, we had another fabulous run of Central Avenue Breakdown  at NYMF! Countless audience members came up after the show encouraging us all with their kind words and sweet remarks about our performance. I suppose I can only speak for myself, but I felt like a million bucks after every show!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

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