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Spotlights Black performers of a past era
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre’s (CDT) latest show, “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” has received positive reviews from publications for the production’s ability to capture stellar performances from its actors and go beyond the limits of a jukebox musical to tell a captivating story about a nostalgic era of music.
Set predominantly in the 1960s, the musical tells the story of Carol King, the songwriter and musician behind some of the biggest tunes of the last century. It captures her difficult relationship with her husband and collaborator Gerry Goffin and her own journey as a performer.
New York actress Monet Sabel was tapped for the role of King at CDT though she has had experience working as an understudy on the show in Rhode Island.
“Beautiful” is the first time that father-daughter duo Michael and Cat Brindisi directed a show together. As the artistic director of CDT for over 37 years, Michael has been at the helm of every show but has always wanted to work alongside his daughter.
Cat, a longtime actress with several shows under her belt, had also looked forward to the opportunity to direct at CDT, a place she always considered a second home.
“Beautiful” allowed the pair to work together and help tell a timeless story to a wider audience of generations familiar and unfamiliar with the era.
“The material is so fascinating in itself that we really tried to find ways to let the story present itself by itself without adding a lot on top of it,” Cat said.
Michael spoke about his collaborative approach to working with his daughter, who worked to capture the heart of the story.
“A lot of things that I was throwing out there, she was taking off the table,” he said. “That really helped us to focus on the storytelling, to keep it minimalistic and focused on the story and the actors, and I think it really paid off.
Though CDT often works with many of the same actors in different productions, they had 11 new contracts with “Beautiful,” which isn’t typical, according to Michael.
This local rendition of the successful and widely acclaimed Broadway show also offered the opportunity to highlight the talents of local Twin Cities actors, especially those who brought to life the stories of Black characters on stage.
John Jamison II, KateMarie Andrews, and Quin Lorez are among the leading actors of “Beautiful” and portray some of the performers that King had once written songs for in the era. They all held several different roles in the production but delivered some of the biggest performances of the show as members of these iconic groups from the 1950s and 60s.
Jamison portrayed the lead member of the Drifters, Lorez portrayed the lead of the Shirelles, and Andrews portrayed Little Eva, who was once King’s babysitter.
They each had varying connections to the songs but knew little about King’s involvement before joining the cast.
“I didn’t realize how prolific of a songwriter she was. A lot of [the songs] I was just familiar with being on the radio or growing up with parents of that generation,” Lorez said. “I think ‘Natural Woman’ is probably the one I knew the most of just because of Aretha Franklin.”
Andrews shared that with each role she takes on, she researches the show and her character in depth to get a better sense of direction for her performance.
“I did a lot of research on Little Eva,” she said. “First, a fun fact was finding out that me and Little Eva have the exact same birthday, June 29th.”
Andrews also discovered that the real Little Eva, known as Eva Narcissus Boyd, had only made $50 total from her hit song, “The Loco-motion,” highlighting the bad business deals and contracts many Black performers were in under White music labels.
Jamison echoed her surprise in that discovery which challenged his assumption that notoriety brought riches to these artists.
“I still fall into that habit of if I see somebody who’s on-screen or performing, I do make that assumption that this stardom equates to this fruition of money, but it’s just not the case,” he said.
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Finding balance for the long run
One main focus for the cast has been to keep their health in check as they embarked on this eight-month run for the show. With eight shows throughout the week, the cast consistently works to bring their best performances to the stage with a mix of tea, vocal warmups, and reliable understudies.
Lorez, who has experience working multiple shows a week as a performer in theme parks, found that she needed to change her approach to meet the demands of the show.
“I think it definitely is good to get into a routine of warming up, which I’m still kind of figuring out what that looks like for me on a daily basis,” she said. “I think as you grow as a performer, you learn how to pace yourself and figure out where in a show you need to go full out and where you can pull back a little bit because you’re supported by the rest of your castmates.”
Jamison shared in Lorez’s sentiment for actors to find a routine that worked for them and shared that he has to remind himself to rely on the understudies.
“I know I have to tell myself that we have understudies and repeat to myself that they’re there for a reason,” he said. “When I first started, it was a pride thing. ‘I gotta stick it out, I gotta make it through.’ I’ve never done a contract for eight months.”
Andrews shared that she has also learned to give herself grace while working on shows with demanding schedules.
“Something I’ve learned over the years and still have to constantly remind myself is that your 100% is different every day,” she said. “Sometimes your 100% is 75%, and you really have to be okay with that.”
Centering Black performers
Michael and Cat wanted their production of “Beautiful” to highlight the lives of these performers who brought King’s songs to life. They viewed the script as somewhat outdated in the way it used Black performers and shaped the show to center the Black members of the cast in the show.
Lorez found that the play helped shed some light on the performers of the day when the lead member of the Shirelles tells King that she wants their records seen as mainstream and not segregated like other records from Black performers.
“I found a sense of humanity in that,” she said. “Trying to convey in a very short amount of time to the audience that we are in the time that we are in and race is playing a part in this show.”
In their collaboration, Micahel and Cat hope that the show connects with audiences who are fans of King and her work and the younger crowd who may be discovering her work for the first time.
Their collaborative father-daughter team has given audiences the ability to revisit this past era of music to appreciate and interrogate the cultural landscape in which these hits were made, all the while appreciating the lasting impact of King’s work alongside the many talented artists she collaborated with.
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