Taking over from a performance that won another actor a Tony must not be easy, and yet Chilina Kennedy does it with flair, while leaving a mark all her own, eight times a week as she plays the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Playing the iconic songwriter is just the latest in a list of achievements by the Canadian artist, who first drew attention on Broadway for her stirring turn as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar and whose other credits include West Side Story, Mamma Mia and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
In 2015, Kennedy also released her first album, What You Find in a Bottle, a sumptuous collection of folk influenced tunes that recall the work of Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and of course King. Unafraid to bare her soul for album listeners, she delivers one of the greatest debut records in recent years, which makes it clear that whether it’s stage, music or drama, Kennedy can, and most likely will, conquer it all. We talked to her about the album, playing Carole King on Broadway and what roles she wants to play next.
You’ll be doing SummerStage in August. What can we expect from the performance?
I’m so excited about it, it’s gonna be great! I think we’re gonna do most of the show in sections, a Weil/Mann section, a Goffin/King section, a Tapestry section. It’ll be done in chunks which will be interesting for people to hear because it’ll be a different order from the show. It’s going to be more about the music than the plot.
In a way the songs will be going from being “songs” to “show tunes” and back to “songs” for this performance. Is doing the songs from the musical in a concert setting very different than doing them in the theatre?
What’s interesting about Beautiful is that often the songs are songs in the show, I haven’t really experienced that in a show before. Specifically in musicals songs are always part of the story but in Beautiful we see Carole and Jerry writing together and figuring out the song, so doing them in concert or onstage isn’t very different. We recently did a PR show in Atlantic City where we did songs for the show and it was really fun, the material works great because they’re great songs that stand alone pretty well.
On stage you’re following a script which tells you how the character is feeling, but when you’re being Chilina in a concert, how do you determine the kind of emotion you’ll bring to each performance?
With Beautiful songs it’s kind of a seamless integration of both, I never really am just myself when I’m singing in concert, even when I’m in my own clothes, I’m still Carole on some level. I always think about Carole now when I sing those songs and I don’t think I’ll ever be able not to do that (laughs). When I’m doing my own songs I’m never really sure how to answer that question, because it’s so personal when the songs are coming from me and not from a character. Really each song is its own story so I like to think of each song as a monologue I’m delivering to the audience. I love songs and music in general that tell stories, I love hearing and understanding somebody’s journey. To me that’s what it’s all about, just communicating the message to audiences whether it’s my own material or someone else’s.
As a singer songwriter, how do you detach yourself from your creations to allow others to interpret them as they see fit?
You know what I love watching other people perform my material, I did an indie festival a couple of years back and I had a very good friend of mine, Canadian Idol winner, Melissa O’Neal, who’s wonderful, to come and did the concert with me because I wanted her so badly to sing some of my tunes. When I write songs, I feel like they kinda write themselves, I sit there and the songs just come to me, I’ll think of some kind of melody and write around that. I often feel that I don’t necessarily write for my own voice so to hear someone like Melissa, who’s a very different singer than me, do those songs is incredibly rewarding. I love hearing how other people interpret everything, from the lyrics to the phrasing. I’m not attached to my material in that way. In Beautiful I think it’s so interesting to listen to Carole’s version of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and then hear The Shirelles doing the same song because both versions are so different. I think that’s the heart and beauty of collaboration.
Right, I always get goosebumps with the last few seconds in the first act of the show when we have two versions of “One Fine Day” and Carole does her raw, heartbreaking version.
It’s one of my favorite moments in the show.
When you took on Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical you were not only playing an iconic artist, but also had to play off audience expectations with what Jessie Mueller had brought to the part. Were you worried that people would expect you to be Chilina doing Jessie doing Carole?
(Laughs) Yeah, there’s always that sort of expectation that comes around with taking on a role that someone did so famously and won the Tony for. Jessie’s version was so specific and what I loved about watching her do the role was that she made it her own and I knew that if I took on the role I would never be able to do anyone’s version of the character other than my own, because that’s what makes it so alive. If I even remotely think about those expectations I’m not doing Carole justice, my job isn’t to fulfill people’s expectations but to make the character come to life and feel authentic.
Let me tell you, there’s a lot of truth telling going on in What You Find in a Bottle.
(Laughs) You can say that again…
You start with the powerful Without You, then do things like The Gambler, which ouch, but after all the despair and heartbreak, you finish it off with Now It’s Up to You which is an empowering anthem. I’ve found myself unable to skip songs in the album so I felt that it was a throwback to the idea of listening to vinyl records, particularly classics from the 70s, which need to be listened from start to finish. Were you consciously trying to achieve this?
You know what, I’m so glad that you said that because that was absolutely my intention. It’s funny because when we were putting together the order of the songs everyone kept saying “oh Chilina, nobody listens to albums the way they used to, they do the songs in the order that they want” and I said “yeah, but for the one or two people who listen to it from beginning to end it’s important that the songs take us on a journey and tell a specific story”. My producer Rick Fox and I sat there and went back and forth for many, many weeks talking about the order and how it all should fit together. I also consider myself a chid of the 70s, I was born in that decade, but I really wish that I’d had a couple of years being a teenager during that decade, I love art and music from that time. Our culture is so different now, so I guess in a way it’s a bit of an homage to a time when people sat and listened to records. I have a record player at home and I love that feeling of listening to Side A and then getting up to turn it over and listen to the other side. You get an experience that’s like listening to a show.
Pick three of those albums that you’d take with you to a desert island...
Joni Mitchell’s Blue, without sounding cheesy Tapestry because I love that album, and I would probably say The Beatles’ White album. There’s so many other ones I love though, like Roberta Flack...anyway (laughs).
Let’s say someone does That’s How It Goes: The Chilina Kennedy Musical in a few decades, which of your songs would you absolutely want them to include?
It’s funny because when I talk to people about my music, or they talk to me about it, everyone always has such a different perspective on what they like the best or what song speaks to them more. My personal choices for that version of the story would be “Prisoner” and “Gold”, probably “For Fenner” and “Now It’s Up to You” would have to be there too.
I like that you picked “Gold” because it’s such a complex, wondrous song, it’s one of those songs that you never know where they’re taking you…
Aww thanks, I also want to point out that my producer Rick was the one who suggested we used the Hammond organ, and like I said I love the 70s and I love that keyboard sound that pops every now and then in the album, and that was totally Rick’s idea, I’m so grateful that he suggested that and that we went with it.
You’ve already played Evita, Maria in West Side Story, Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar and Nellie in South Pacific. Are there any iconic musical roles you wanna tackle next?
Oh yeah, to be honest there’s not a role that I wouldn’t want to tackle, recently I just watched the original Broadway cast of Passion and oh my gosh, I would love to do that show. I would love to play Guinevere in Camelot, Julie in Carousel...there are just so many roles, and also in plays, I’d love to tackle more Tennessee Williams, more Shakespeare. That’s the beauty of what we do, there’s so much to do and so little time, we have such short lives and I’d just love to have as many experiences on the stage as possible before it’s my time to go.
Chilina Kennedy's What You Find in a Bottle is now available. For more information visit her official site. For tickets to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical click here. You can see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Songs in Concert on August 3 at SummerStage. For more information click here.
