LaChanze

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LaChanze Sapp-Gooding, known professionally as LaChanze (; born December 16, 1961), is an American actress, theater producer, singer, and dancer. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her role as Celie Harris Johnson in The Color Purple. LaChanze has subsequently received four more Tony Awards for co-producing Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/Underdog, The Outsiders, and Purpose.

Career

LaChanze's first summer job was as a tap dancer in the ensemble of Uptown... It's Hot! at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The show opened on Broadway in January 1986, where LaChanze began her professional career in the theater.

LaChanze played the role of Ti Moune in the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical Once on This Island in 1990 and received nominations for the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical at the 45th Tony Awards and the Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. In December 1998, she joined the cast of the Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally Broadway musical Ragtime, replacing Audra McDonald in the role of Sarah. She played the role of Viveca in the Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway production of the musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, which opened in June 2000. She received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, for her performance. LaChanze participated in an Actors Fund of America benefit concert of Funny Girl, with many performers portraying the character of Fanny Brice, in September 2002.

In 2005, LaChanze played Dessa Rose, a runaway slave in the Ahrens and Flaherty musical Dessa Rose. The musical opened Off-Broadway at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in March 2005. LaChanze received an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for Dessa Rose. LaChanze appeared as Celie Harris Johnson in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, from its opening in 2005 to November 2006. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for this performance at the 60th Tony Awards.

In September 2008, LaChanze participated in the Boston Pops concert, Handel's Messiah Rocks at Emerson College. The performance was filmed by Public Broadcasting Service. She was in the Off-Broadway production of Inked Baby, written by Christina Anderson, which opened in March 2009 at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater. In June and July 2009, she played the role of Glinda in the New York City Center Encores! staged Summer Stars concert production of The Wiz.

LaChanze published her first picture book, Little Diva, in 2010. She was in the Broadway production of If/Then in 2014, starring as Kate. In 2018, she appeared in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway, playing Diva Donna/Mary Gaines, for which she received a Tony Award nomination at the 72nd Tony Awards. In 2019, she appeared in A Christmas Carol on Broadway, starring as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

In January 2022, LaChanze took a star turn on Broadway in Trouble in Mind, written by Alice Childress in 1955. She earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination for her performance as Wiletta Mayer at the 75th Tony Awards.

In 2022, LaChanze began her career as a Broadway producer. She produced Topdog/Underdog with David Stone, Rashad V. Chambers, Marc Platt, Debra Martin Chase, and the Shubert Organization. She also produced Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway with David Stone, Aaron Glick, Patrick Catullo and James L. Nederlander. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play as a producer for Kimberly Akimbo and Topdog/Underdog on May 2, 2023. She was announced as a winner for both shows during the 76th Tony Awards telecast on June 11, 2023.

In 2022, she launched Tima Productions with friend and former Ragtime castmate Marylee Fairbanks. Together they co-produced The Outsiders, for which she won another Tony Award for Best Musical at the 77th Tony Awards. She also received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play for Jaja's African Hair Brading at the same ceremony. In 2024 she launched a multimedia company called LC Productions.

Personal life

LaChanze married securities trader Calvin Gooding in August 1998, two years after they met. Together they had daughters Celia and Zaya, but when LaChanze was eight months pregnant with Zaya, Calvin was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had been at work at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower One of the World Trade Center.

LaChanze remarried in 2005, to Derek Fordjour. They separated in 2013, and finalized their divorce on March 27, 2014, in Westchester County.

On September 6, 2002, LaChanze sang the National Anthem at a joint meeting of Congress in Federal Hall National Memorial, the first meeting of Congress in New York since 1790. On May 15, 2014, she performed "Amazing Grace" at the dedication of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, in tribute to her late husband.

In 2019, LaChanze and the elder of her two children, Celia Rose Gooding, simultaneously appeared on Broadway, with LaChanze starring in A Christmas Carol and Gooding starring in Jagged Little Pill. The two repeated the rare event of mother and child starring in simultaneous Broadway shows, following Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher in 1983.

Acting credits

Sources:

• The New York Times
• TCM

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Discography

• Once On This Island (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 1990
• Disney's Princess Favorites, featured artist, 2002
• Dessa Rose (off-Broadway Cast Recording), 2005
• The Color Purple (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 2006
• Disney Collection 1, featured artist, 2006
• The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Studio Cast Recording), 2007
• Handel's Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise, featured artist, 2009
• Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration Live at 54 Below, featured on four songs, 2014
• If/Then (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 2014
• Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 2018

Concerts

• September 6, 2002 - Federal Hall National Memorial
• 2008 - Handel's Messiah Rocks, Emerson College
• Dec 1 & 2, 2008 - Joe's Pub
• December 5, 2010 - Playhouse Square Center
• December 16, 2012 - Birdland
• May 15, 2014 - National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• February 13, 2015 - Kennedy Center
• 2016/17 - Feeling Good Tour

Accolades

References

References

1. Gioia, Michael. (August 4, 2013). "Anthony Rapp Will Join Tony Winners Idina Menzel and LaChanze in Broadway-Bound Musical ''If/Then''".
2. "LaChanze".
3. (June 12, 2023). "'I Added a New Hyphen!' LaChanze Is Now a Two-Time Tony-Winning Producer". Playbill.
4. "Uptown...It's Hot".
5. "LaChanze Career".
6. "Listing, see Awards". Internet Broadway Database.
7. (December 18, 1998). "Bway's ''Ragtime'' To Get All-New Leads, Incl. Rubinstein, Alton White & LaChanze".
8. "Listing".
9. (May 20, 2001). "Drama Desk Winners Include ''Producers'', ''Proof'' and ''Mnemonic''".
10. (September 17, 2002). "More Fannys: LaChanze, Kayden, Murney Join Funny Girl Concert".
11. Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/91239-LaChanze-and-Rachel-York-Begin-Previews-in-Dessa-Rose-at-Mitzi-Newhouse-Feb-17 "LaChanze and Rachel York Begin Previews in 'Dessa Rose' at Mitzi Newhouse, Feb. 17"] {{webarchive. link. (December 12, 2013 February 17, 2005)
12. [http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/search "Search 2005"] {{Webarchive. link. (May 30, 2013 villagevoice.com, accessed August 29, 2013)
13. Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92985-Shanley-Hughes-Culkin-Marvel-OConnell-Among-2005-Obie-Winners "Shanley, Hughes, Culkin, Marvel, O'Connell Among 2005 Obie Winners"] {{webarchive. link. (December 12, 2013 playbill.com, May 16, 2005)
14. Hernandez, Ernio. [https://archive.today/20130829152112/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/94798-LaChanze-Confirmed-as-Leading-Lady-of-Color-Purple-Musical-Broadway-Cast-Announced "LaChanze Confirmed as Leading Lady of 'Color Purple' Musical; Broadway Cast Announced"] playbill.com, September 7, 2005
15. Hernandez, Ernio. [https://archive.today/20130829152128/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/102815-Tony-Winner-LaChanze-to-End-Her-Run-in-Broadways-The-Color-Purple-Nov-5 "Tony Winner LaChanze to End Her Run in Broadway's 'The Color Purple' Nov. 5"] playbill.com, October 18, 2006
16. Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/121065-PBS-to-Film-LaChanze-Spencer-and-Boston-Pops-in-Handels-Messiah-Rocks PBS to Film LaChanze, Spencer and Boston Pops in Handel's Messiah Rocks"] {{webarchive. link. (October 29, 2013 playbill.com, September 5, 2008)
17. Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/127550-Inked-Baby-Starring-LaChanze-Opens-March-23-in-NYC " 'Inked Baby', Starring LaChanze, Opens March 23 in NYC"] {{webarchive. link. (October 29, 2013 playbill.com, March 23, 2009)
18. (May 7, 2009). "Jones, LaChanze, Arnold, Lewis, Henry, and More Will Join Ashanti in The Wiz". playbill.com.
19. (November 19, 2021). "'Trouble in Mind' Broadway Review: LaChanze Leads Alice Childress Play to Overdue Triumph".
20. (June 14, 2022). "'Topdog/Underdog' Returning to Broadway with Corey Hawkins & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II".
21. (February 25, 2022). "Acclaimed off Broadway Musical 'Kimberly Akimbo' Plans Move to Broadway with Original Cast".
22. (June 12, 2023). "Tony Awards Winners: 'Kimberly Akimbo' Takes Best Musical; 'Leopoldstadt' Named Best Play – Complete List".
23. Adri Pray. (August 2, 2024). "Marylee Fairbanks, co-producer of award-winning 'The Outsiders,' is a multifaceted force". The Boston Globe.
24. (2024-06-13). "5 minutes with a Tony nominee: Producers LaChanze and Jamie Forshaw".
25. Culwell-Block, Logan. (June 16, 2024). "The Outsiders Wins Best Musical at the 2024 Tony Awards".
26. Huston, Caitlin. (2024-05-29). "LaChanze Launches Production Company for Theater and More".
27. "911 Living Memorial: Calvin J. Gooding". Voices Center for Resilience.
28. Gordon, Meryl. [http://nymag.com/news/articles/wtc/1year/widows.htm "The Lives Left Behind"] ''[[New York (magazine). New York]]'', accessed March 19, 2016
29. Gioia, Michael. (2014-06-18). ""My If/Then Moment": LaChanze Recounts the Divine Intervention Leading Her to the 9/11 Memorial". Playbill.
30. "Joint Meeting of Congress".
31. Lehrer, Sari. [http://nymag.com/weddings/album/2006summer/index3.html "Weddings"] ''New York Magazine'', Summer 2006, retrieved August 29, 2013
32. "Video: LaChanze & Celia Rose Gooding Are the First Mother/Daughter Duo On Broadway".
33. Haun, Harry. (2020-04-01). "From the Archives: When Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Simultaneously Starred on Broadway". [[Playbill]].
34. "Agnes of God – Broadway Play – Original".
35. "Woman of the Year – Broadway Musical – Original".
36. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131030001735/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/363116/LaChanze-Sapp/filmography Filmography] ''The New York Times'', accessed August 29, 2013
37. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131031024001/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/1397108%7C0/Lachanze-Sapp/#filmography Filmography] tcm.com, accessed August 29, 2013
38. "'The Secret Life Of Bees' Takes On A 2nd Life As Musical Theater". NPR.org.
39. "2009-2010 Emmy Winners: Chicago/Midwest Chapter". [[National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences]].
40. (October 15, 2019). "The Secret Life of Bees, Much Ado About Nothing Lead 2019 AUDELCO's VIV Award Nominations".
41. "2020 Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations".
42. (June 14, 2020). "'The Inheritance,' 'Strange Loop,' 'Moulin Rouge' Among Drama Desk Award Winners".
43. (June 20, 2020). "Here Are the Winners of Broadway Black's Inaugural Antonyo Awards".
44. "71st Outer Critics Circle Awards".