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LaChanze
LaChanze at the2022 Tony Awards
Born	Rhonda LaChanze Sapp (1961-12-16)December 16, 1961 (age 63) St. Augustine,Florida, U.S.
Other names	LaChanze Sapp, La Chanze Sapp-Gooding, R. Lachanze Sapp
Occupation(s)	Actress, theater producer, singer, dancer
Years active	1986–present
Spouses	Calvin J. Gooding ​ ​ (m. 1998; died 2001)​ Derek Fordjour ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2014)​
Children	2, includingCelia Rose Gooding
Website	mslachanze.com

LaChanze Sapp-Gooding, known professionally asLaChanze (/ləˈʃɑːnz/; born December 16, 1961), is an American actress, theater producer, singer, and dancer. She won aTony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in2006 for her role as Celie Harris Johnson inThe Color Purple.^[1][2] LaChanze has subsequently received four moreTony Awards for co-producingKimberly Akimbo,Topdog/Underdog,The Outsiders, andPurpose.^[3]

LaChanze's first summer job was as a tap dancer in the ensemble ofUptown... It's Hot! at theTropicana Hotel inAtlantic City,New Jersey. The show opened onBroadway in January 1986, where LaChanze began her professional career in the theater.^[4]

LaChanze played the role of Ti Moune in theLynn Ahrens andStephen Flaherty musicalOnce on This Island in 1990 and received nominations for theTony Award as Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical at the45th Tony Awards and theDrama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.^[5][6] In December 1998, she joined the cast of theLynn Ahrens,Stephen Flaherty andTerrence McNally Broadway musicalRagtime, replacingAudra McDonald in the role of Sarah.^[7] She played the role of Viveca in thePlaywrights HorizonsOff-Broadway production of the musicalThe Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, which opened in June 2000.^[8] She received aDrama Desk nomination forOutstanding Actress in a Musical, for her performance.^[9] LaChanze participated in an Actors Fund of America benefit concert ofFunny Girl, with many performers portraying the character ofFanny Brice, in September 2002.^[10]

In 2005, LaChanze played Dessa Rose, a runaway slave in the Ahrens and Flaherty musicalDessa Rose. The musical opened Off-Broadway at theMitzi Newhouse Theatre atLincoln Center in March 2005.^[11] LaChanze received anObie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress forDessa Rose.^[12][13] LaChanze appeared as Celie Harris Johnson in the Broadway musicalThe Color Purple, from its opening in 2005 to November 2006.^[14][15] She won theTony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for this performance at the60th Tony Awards.

In September 2008, LaChanze participated in theBoston Pops concert,Handel's Messiah Rocks atEmerson College. The performance was filmed byPublic Broadcasting Service.^[16] She was in the Off-Broadway production ofInked Baby, written byChristina Anderson, which opened in March 2009 at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater.^[17] In June and July 2009, she played the role ofGlinda in theNew York City CenterEncores! staged Summer Stars concert production ofThe Wiz.^[18]

LaChanze published her first picture book,Little Diva, in 2010. She was in the Broadway production ofIf/Then in 2014, starring as Kate. In 2018, she appeared inSummer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway, playingDiva Donna/Mary Gaines,^{[citation needed]} for which she received a Tony Award nomination at the72nd Tony Awards. In 2019, she appeared inA Christmas Carol on Broadway, starring as theGhost of Christmas Present.

In January 2022, LaChanze took a star turn on Broadway inTrouble in Mind, written byAlice Childress in 1955. She earned a nomination for theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination for her performance as Wiletta Mayer at the75th Tony Awards.^[19]

In 2022, LaChanze began her career as a Broadway producer. She producedTopdog/Underdog withDavid Stone, Rashad V. Chambers,Marc Platt,Debra Martin Chase, andthe Shubert Organization.^[20] She also producedKimberly Akimbo on Broadway with David Stone, Aaron Glick, Patrick Catullo andJames L. Nederlander.^[21] She was nominated for theTony Award for Best Musical and theTony Award for Best Revival of a Play as a producer forKimberly Akimbo andTopdog/Underdog on May 2, 2023. She was announced as a winner for both shows during the76th Tony Awards telecast on June 11, 2023.^[22]

In 2022, she launched Tima Productions with friend and formerRagtime castmate Marylee Fairbanks.^[23] Together they co-producedThe Outsiders, for which she won another Tony Award for Best Musical at the77th Tony Awards. She also received a nomination for theTony Award for Best Play forJaja's African Hair Brading at the same ceremony.^[24][25] In 2024 she launched a multimedia company called LC Productions.^[26]

LaChanze married securities trader Calvin Gooding in August 1998, two years after they met.^[27] Together they had daughters Celia and Zaya, but when LaChanze was eight months pregnant with Zaya, Calvin was killed in theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. He had been at work atCantor Fitzgerald in Tower One of theWorld Trade Center.^[28]

LaChanze remarried in 2005, toDerek Fordjour. They separated in 2013,^[29] and finalized their divorce on March 27, 2014, in Westchester County.^{[citation needed]}

On September 6, 2002, LaChanze sang theNational Anthem at a joint meeting of Congress inFederal Hall National Memorial, the first meeting of Congress in New York since 1790.^[30][31] On May 15, 2014, she performed "Amazing Grace" at the dedication of theNational September 11 Memorial & Museum, in tribute to her late husband.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019, LaChanze and the elder of her two children,Celia Rose Gooding, simultaneously appeared on Broadway, with LaChanze starring inA Christmas Carol and Gooding starring inJagged Little Pill.^[32] The two repeated the rare event of mother and child starring in simultaneous Broadway shows, followingDebbie Reynolds andCarrie Fisher in 1983.^[33][34][35]

Sources:

• The New York Times^[36]
• TCM^[37]

• 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 at54 Below, featured on four songs, 2014
• If/Then (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 2014
• Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording), 2018

• 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

• LaChanze at theInternet Broadway Database
• LaChanze atIMDb 
• LaChanze at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• LaChanze -Downstage Center interview atAmerican Theatre Wing.org

• 1961 births
• 20th-century African-American actresses
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century African-American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Connecticut
• Actresses from Florida
• 20th-century African-American women singers
• 20th-century American women singers
• 20th-century American singers
• American women singers
• American musical theatre actresses
• Living people
• Morgan State University alumni
• People from St. Augustine, Florida
• Theatre World Award winners
• Tony Award winners
• University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni
• American women theatre managers and producers
• Broadway theatre producers
• American musical theatre producers

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