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Special Episode: Kennedy Caughell on telling her life story with ‘Just the Beginning’
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- [00:13]
Kennedy Coghill
Where am I? Where am I going? Is it somewhere that I want to go? And when I get there, is that where happy is? Or is it somewhere I already know?
- [00:37]
Matt Tamnini
Welcome to a special interview episode of Broadway Radio. My name is Matt Tamnini. On today's episode, I'm in conversation with Broadway favorite Kennedy Coghill. Not only has she been seen on Broadway in Beautiful, the Carole King musical, Natasha Pier in the great Comet of 1812 in Paradise Square, she's also performed across the country in the national tours of Wicked Beautiful and most recently as Jersey in Hell's Kitchen, which I saw here in Orlando twice. And I do share a little bit of my review with her during our conversation. But the reason I got the opportunity to talk to Kennedy is the fact that she just recently released her first ever album, Just the Beginning. And it is an absolutely delightful listen filled with so many different types of show tunes from things that she has performed in shows over the years, to some roles that she hopes to someday play, to some deep cuts that maybe aren't at the top of mind in terms of the musical theater canon, to some songs that actually got cut out of shows. In our conversation, Kennedy and I talk about the process of putting an album together and choosing the songs and how it is similar and yet different from building the world of a character in a show. She also explained how fans on social media contributed to the eventual track list. We discussed some of the incredible friends that she had join her for some songs like Jason Gotay, Ben Fankhauser, Shoba Narayan and more, as well as some very red letter names who contributed to the liner notes. Just the Beginning is currently streaming anywhere you can get your music and as we talked about in the episode, physical versions of the album will be available soon. In the show notes I will have links to various places that you can listen to Kennedy's album. So with all that out of the way, here is my conversation with Kennedy Coggle. Well Kenny, I have listened to the album and I have to say like, and I don't know if this sounds good or bad but it feels felt like an album from, I don't know, the late aughts, early 2000 and tens. It just had that musical theater good vibes where like from every song I was like oh I love this. Like it just kind of washed over me and I don't know if that's something that is no longer a part of the album making process. But was that vibe intentional? Was that like the way you built that? Was that what you were going for
- [03:11]
Kennedy Coghill
with this album, honestly, the vibe. The vibe was just trying to collect and capture facets of who I am as a person. And so that makes sense that it would sound that way because, you know, the 2010s we had. We had the Disney vibe going on Broadway. We had the, like, the. The pure pop. That's really when pop rock was beginning to kind of move in to the sound of Broadway that we know today. And so, gosh, I'm trying to think of, like, what I saw on Broadway at that time.
- [03:44]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah.
- [03:44]
Kennedy Coghill
Because I was. I was really young when that was going on. But no, that wasn't. I wouldn't say that that was necessarily an intentional goal, but I'm very happy for that byproduct because there was just so much good music happening at that time. So thank you. Thank you for that.
- [04:01]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah. Well, what the album has, obviously a mix of songs from shows that you have done in the past, but also some new songs and some songs that I never honestly heard from. Heard of before. So when you sat down and you said you wanted to show facets of yourself, but, like, how do you pick what those facets are? Is it professional, personal? The. The mix of both. How are you going through your book or other people's recommendations to figure out how you're going to assemble this track list?
- [04:33]
Kennedy Coghill
Right. Well, so when I started. So first off, I didn't. I. I didn't know what I was really doing. And I said, isn't that how all
- [04:42]
Matt Tamnini
the best things start? You know?
- [04:44]
Kennedy Coghill
Yes. And I've honestly realized I'm like, oh, I really. Here's my hot take. You want to know my hot take, Matt? Here we go.
- [04:51]
Matt Tamnini
I do.
- [04:52]
Kennedy Coghill
I think that nobody really knows what they're doing. We're all just kind of faking it till we make it. Like, I really think. I mean, sure, there's such things as adulthood as far as scientifically, our brains mature. Right. But I don't think there's that much difference, at least for me. And maybe that's because I've held on to my childlike belief because I'm an actor, I guess. And we have. And we play with. Basically playing imaginary for our job. But I think we're all just big kids. Some of us kids have been on this planet longer, and we're all just not faking it. Well, faking it until we make it, but also just making it up as we go and saying, yep, that's my adulting for the day. So, you know, when I fully. But I will say that I jumped into the deep end I had. I had been on a few other people's albums, but when I set out to make this album, I actually was kind of digging in my feet a little because I told. I told Brian Spector, my executive producer, I said, you know, what do you mean you want me to make an album? I don't think anybody. What does the world need from me? And at this point, I'm another white girl on Broadway, you know? And I was like, I'm not so sure if we need another white girl Broadway album. And that's the reason I didn't do it for so long. And I'm kind of sad that I held myself back in that way because so first, because I didn't know what I was doing. The beautiful thing about social media is that you can go to social media and say, well, what do you want to hear? Because I really wanted to poll the people and see, you know, what they were hungry for. What. What is something that they would just bop to over and over and over again. And so I did. I held, like, a little contest, and we're gonna announce the winners soon. I said, the winners are gonna get a free packet of goodies from me. And that's awesome. When we make CDs, they're gonna get a signed CD and copies. But I said, so the first people to recommend songs that they want to hear, and if we select them, you will win a prize. And we got all sorts of different songs from different genres. I mean, we got all the favorites. Like, people really wanted to hear Defying Gravity, which we did end up giving you, just not in the format that you expected, because everyone expects us to belt a fierce Defying Gravity. I said, I think there's more to the meaning of the song, too, than just being loud. Even though it is a triumphant call, let's really. Let's really bring it down and let's listen to the lyrics and the meaning of the song. So the first thing I did was ask the people what they wanted to hear. The second thing I did was ask myself, what do I want to sing? And so I just. I kind of. I made huge lists of songs. Like, we're talking list, like, list of like 70 to 80 songs people wanted me to hear. And then without looking at that, I said, well, what do I want to sing? Then we found the correlations. We found songs that both audience wanted to hear and that I wanted to sing. And then there were a few, like, suggestions from my team that were like, oh, you know, because I really wanted to sing from Paradise Square. But then I was like, oh, there's this really great cut song that I sang in the Berklee version of Paradise Square. It was one of the best songs in the show called I Dream of Janie. Played Janie. My original role in Paradise Square was Janie, and then she got cut when we moved to Broadway. And so I ended up understudying Annie at that point and then going on during preview. So my. My journey with Paradise Square has been a wild one. So I was like, well, let's. Let's preserve this. So I reached out to Jason Howland and I said, would this be something you would want to consider? I feel like the world needs to hear your music. Since the way it all went down, we haven't heard from that show yet. And I would really love to preserve slices of. Of that. So we got the lists, we got what corresponds and then. And what's interesting with albums is most people start what I'm learning. Most people start an album with like an idea, a theme, or a vibe. The thing about Broadway and me that is so similar is the fact that we are so eclectic, I think when people are like, well, who is Kennedy Cogg and what does she do? And I'm like, well, I'm kind of a wild card because what do you need? So I wanted to make. I. I was, you know, I said, well, if I don't really know what I'm doing, then there aren't really any rules necessarily that I have to follow. So I would like to show the world my collectiveness. I would like to show them the little slices of Kennedy pie that each one comes out a different flavor, you know, so.
- [09:46]
Matt Tamnini
Good waitress reference there too. Very well done.
- [09:49]
Kennedy Coghill
You know, just, you know, what truly what baking can do. So I really wanted to vary it up. And so. But what was really beautiful about it all, as I selected different songs that were from different because I love jazz, I love old school Broadway, but I love pop and how pop influences have influenced Broadway as we know it today. So I wanted to make sure that everything. So some of them are from roles, some of them are from dream roles that people want me to sing. So my days, obviously was the highest requested. So we, like, if I had done this and not done my days, I would be doing a disservice to the people who had asked for it because there were so many. And I mean, who doesn't love that song? The Notebook, Ingrid Michaels. I was like, I wept my way through that show.
- [10:38]
Matt Tamnini
I've seen it five times and Openly weeped every single time. I've got my little souvenir tissue box that they sell over in the corner right now. Yeah, I'm gonna ask. Yeah, yeah, Here we go.
- [10:49]
Kennedy Coghill
I.
- [10:49]
You know, I. I just loved it. Oh, look at it. So cute.
- [10:54]
Matt Tamnini
I do. Yeah, I love it. Couldn't not get it. Yeah. So good.
- [10:59]
Kennedy Coghill
Yeah. I really loved it when I saw it on Broadway. And so, you know, what girl doesn't want to sing. My Days is such. I just think it's just the song in the show. It's so anthemic and so beautiful of coming to yourself, but in a very mature way. It's not necessarily. What's the word? It's not immature. You're come. It's the way she's discovering herself is in a very mature, grounded way, which normally it's very different from the song Just the Beginning, which is like a little bit younger, a little bit more fiery kind of discovering her, I want. But in a. It's kind of all tumbling out of her without her being able to control her own thoughts, you know, So a lot of. So a mix of the songs are from songs that I've done before, from both new musicals and musicals that you know and love. And some of them are brand new. Some of them are new arrangements of songs like from Wicked and arrangements from Annie get yout Gun things. And I haven't done a full show of Annie get yout Gun. But so it's a mix. I would say that the Finding the list. This is a really long way to say finding a list was from both pulling from the community, pulling from my own desires and wants of what do I want to sing, what do. What are roles that I wish I had done or that I hope to do in the future. And some roles that I'm like, you know, and Love Me for this. So they all came out together. And the way that I structured, the way that we ended up structuring the piece, you know, I just was like, well, what's something that really ties it all together? And that's me. And so we put the songs in an order of. Kind of the story of my life a little bit and my life within the business. And it just worked out beautifully that. That the songs flowed so well into the next, into the next, into the next. So something that I didn't really set out for that I think was. Is interesting about the feedback I'm getting is a lot of people go, oh, girl. Like, I sat down and I was just going to listen to chunks at a time. But then I pressed play and then the album was over, and I realized that I had listened to the whole thing all the way through, which is, like, really beautiful to hear.
- [13:10]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, people don't do that with music anymore. And like the streaming age, you don't just put a CD on and listen to the whole thing from start to finish. So that's. That is certainly a testament to, I think, that emotion and that vibe and that spirit that I talked about at the beginning. Speaking of the recommendations, was there a song that somebody recommended that was just so off the wall that almost didn't make any sense, but you almost wanted to do it anyway?
- [13:38]
Kennedy Coghill
Oh, man. I would have to. I would have to go back and look. I would have to go back and look. You know, there were. Well, there were several funny ones, I think. I think somebody requested, like, Spelling bee. I mean, these things were all over the map. You know what? There was. There was a lot of Mean girls. Like, people wanted to hear me sing Mean Girls. But both. Both Janice's Song and Karen. I think people really wanted to hear Regina.
- [14:06]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah.
- [14:06]
Kennedy Coghill
Oh, thank you.
- [14:07]
Thank you.
- [14:08]
Yes. Regina George. So people wanted to hear Apex Predator and I'd Rather Be Me. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Well, you know, I have so many friends in that show. Never done it. And part of me is like, is there a way to, like, I. I almost wanted to do, like, I was toying for a bit because, you know me, I'm crazy and I love to do crazy things. I was almost toying with Apex Predator and kind of like a mashup between that and, like, it was something really wild. Wild.
- [14:41]
Matt Tamnini
Oh, please tell me it was something from Lion King or something.
- [14:44]
Kennedy Coghill
It was something like Disney. It was, I think. But I think it might have actually been Jungle Book. Like, it might have been. It might have been. I want to be like you. Like a jazz version of it. And I was like. I was like, this is wild. And honestly, too complicated. So we ended up going a completely different direction. But that was. That was one of the stranger things that we got. But I actually got a lot of, like, Phantom. People wanted to hear me do boy roles. You know, people wanted to hear me sing Music of the Night. And I almost did that because I did that for a concert one time and I was like, oh, that's really cool. Like, just a gender bent way to do it. I mean, Barbra Streisand did it all the time. So, yeah, almost. We almost went there. And maybe that's for. Maybe that's for Season Two. So yeah, yeah.
- [15:34]
Matt Tamnini
Well, you've released music before, but like you said, like, this is the first full length album now that you have gone through this process. Like, how different is putting it together, all the stuff we just talked about and recording it versus building, rehearsing, performing a character in a musical. Like, is it the same muscles or do you have to kind of tap into different things to do both? Obviously one's far more collaborative when you're with a hundred person crew for a show. But is it the same two sides of the same coin or are they completely different animals?
- [16:12]
Kennedy Coghill
You know, I wouldn't say they're completely different animals, but it's, I would say like two dogs, different stripes. They're from the same litter. If I can make a farm girl reference. They're not the same thing, but they're from the same litter. It's kind of like auditioning, doing a show, doing a musical theater album. Same litter, different dogs. But I think the main difference between building an album and building a show is one is a complete live experience. So you're building an experience that's meant to be experienced live. And the album, you are zeroed in on the aural experience. So there were a lot of times when I was recording that it would be great in a show because it was an acting moment of da da da da, you know, and you'd really hit it. And Robby would say, okay, let's try something a little bit more gentle. Because if I'm listening to that in my headphones, it kind of like, it's jarring. And so I had to very quickly learn that when I was recording, it was an interesting experience because I kind of had to self monitor within my own, within the cans, my headphones. And I was singing and I would, you know, I would let the emotion take me away, but then I would also have to go back and go, okay, where, where do I need to, where do I need to sing this? Don't that. The story is there now. I, I would kind of sing it like the story I wanted to tell you. And that was the baseline. And then when I went back and did other takes, I'm like, okay, I'm going to really, I'm going to really punch this up here because I think the strings are going to sweep us away here. And so it's more about like your collaborators are the other instruments on the track and the other people listening to the track rather than your scene partner. So the other instrumentalists and singers are your scene partners rather than live. And we did it all out of order. Matt. The crazy thing about this album, I'm just. I'll give you all the tea. The crazy thing about it is we began this album, like, the idea, I would say, back in 2020, early 2025. Like, I. Brian and I talked late 2024 and said, okay, let's do an album. I'm like, okay. So early 2025, probably about, like, April, May, ish, is when we began the planning for this. I. In, like, February of 2025, I pulled the audience, and then we were kind of putting it all together and then get going. Okay, these. This is what we have. Getting my. I was getting my arrangers together. I had four different arrangers because. And that's even, like, the smallest number of friendships of people that I could call upon just based on each song, because I was gonna have more. But then, you know, people have conflicts and stuff because of the time. So four different arrangers, which is something that you don't normally do. I understand. I'm a wild card. We did it all out of order. So may I get the call that they want me to be Jersey in the national tour of Hell's Kitchen?
- [19:22]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, we'll get to that.
- [19:24]
Kennedy Coghill
Yeah. Late May, so we were planning on recording that summer, and I was like, okay, well, we got to do this and do it now. And the album, because of other people's schedules and meetings between other people in the team, it just. We didn't start. We weren't able to start recording till the fall. So I started rehearsals in September. I was recording these songs on my Mondays off from rehearsal. I would never recommend doing that. I would never recommend learning a new show where you are belting your face off and then going into the booth and doing these incredibly vocal, pyrotechnic songs. I wouldn't recommend that. And because of the time schedule that they had hurried everything along, I was basically singing these songs to scratch tracks. So the imaginatory part came into play. I had to imagine what I thought the orchestrate. Excuse me, the orchestrations would sound like, because for me, I'm very musical. So when I'm singing a song, the orchestrations tell me everything I need to know. So it was. It was kind of a very exposed, vulnerable thing to hope and pray that these things would come together. And so they orchestrated to my voice, which is very backwards of the way it normally does. And when I do another album, if I do another album, I'm gonna do it the opposite way around, because I understand why they did that. But and the rest. So we got about half the album down, and then I went on tour. And so the rest of the album, my vocals that you'll hear were recorded in different sound studios across the US which is wild. You don't do that. Right. So the fact that it all is so cohesive is kind of a miracle in itself, but it's been a wild journey with that.
- [21:09]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, that's. That's not. I had. I had no idea. Also, shout out to Robbie Rizzell, who you mentioned earlier as well, I want to get to Hell's Kitchen. But before I get that, like, one of the things that really. And because I got to look at the liner notes, which is something that we want to recommend. Everybody does when that physical copy CD comes out. Get those liner notes. Not only did you have great people singing with you on some of these songs. Jason Gotay, Ben Fankhauser, Shoban Orion, Isaiah Bailey, but you also had some, like, pretty big Broadway heavy hitters, like, writing testimonials for you in the liner notes, which maybe it's just because I haven't paid super close attention to liner notes over the years, but, like, I don't know that I've seen people like Kate Baldwin, Douglas Lyons, Michael Arden, like, write about how big of fans they are of you. How did one. You get all the people that sang with you, and how did you approach them? How did you figure out what you were doing? But how did it come about that Kate, Douglas, and Michael, you know, signed on to be a part of the liner notes?
- [22:07]
Kennedy Coghill
Well, all of the people that you mentioned are really good friendships that I've had throughout my career and different things that I've worked on. So I've worked on each and every one of them on a project and just, like, formed a friendship that continued on through there. And just so you know, when those three wrote the liner notes, I was very moved because I had no idea that most of them knew who I was before we met. And, like, that's a. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how small this world is, like, if you really think about it. So that was really humbling and beautiful to find out. I was like, wow, I've been fans of y' all forever, and you were fans of me. What are you talking about? So, yeah, please go read the liner notes. It's amazing. But we'll circle back around to them. So my guests. So my guests. It was an easy choice because Shoban, Orion and I were swings together in Great Comet, we made our Broadway debut Together. We made our Tony Award performance debut together in Great Comet. And we really. We were side by side. We had mirrors that were really close to each other because we. We were both swings, and we just developed a deep, bonded sisterhood, friendship. And it's been my privilege and honor to watch her career grow in the direction that it has and see her play Jasmine on Broadway and do all these things. So when I was. I was obviously going to have a Disney song because I love Disney and, like, Disney kind of shaped my internal musical bias from a young age. So I knew that I wanted. And people. Oh, yeah, that's the other thing. People requested Elsa. And I was like, well, of course. But I'm not gonna do. Let it go. We're gonna do something really cool. I wanted it to sound like a Disney fireworks show. We were listening to it, and I think we certainly captured that. So thank you to Caleb Hoyer and John Balcourt for doing that with the arrangement of the piece. It was quite a big ordeal. So when I asked her to do it, it was an easy in because she is also a Disney girly now. And Isaiah Bailey is one of my best friends that I met doing Beautiful the national tour. So I did the Broadway, and then they asked me to take the role over on tour. He was one of the Drifters, and I just really. We just really hit it off as friends first. And he's such a wonderful human being. He's now playing the Phantom on the national tour. He's my favorite Phantom I've ever seen. And I don't say that lightly because I'm very picky. And it's not just because he's my bestie. He actually. If people have a chance to go see him in this role, go see him. He's incredible. But he worked for Lion King for years, and so he was also in the Disney sphere. And I just remember those friendships because of the subject matter of the song. When you go and you listen to the song, it's all about something calling you. Something calling you higher, farther. Because all three of us started as swings and understudies in our careers. And so it's a much deeper meaning because when you're swinging in your understudy there, sometimes there are seasons where you go through questioning. You're like, am I? Is it time? Do I want to step into the lead to the leading roles? Are people going to see me as that? And you just hear. Because I felt like all three of us had this calling. We're like, I think this is for a Season, and then we're going to step into leads. So that's kind of what that trio. A dream we're chasing. All the things are about something calling you further there's something where I'm not where I'm meant to be, but I know where I want to go. And can we go together? Can you show me? I can show you. If you listen to the song, it's like. It's so much deeper. Like, the meaning for me is so much deeper than just your average Disney songs. It is the journey of all three of us because this is part of the Broadway community when people have deeper dreams and goals. And when you're seeing your friends succeed, it's like a yes. When one of us rises, we all rise together. And so to watch both of their careers just take off in the incredible direction that it's going has been my highest privilege and honor. When my friends succeed, you better know I'm having a party wherever I am. And so that song and picking them has incredibly deep meaning for me and for them in their lives. So that's how I chose them. And with Jason Kapay, obviously, Jason and I, we have been in the same circles for so long, and he asked me to be on his album over the Rainbow. So whenever. So his album on audible, please go stream it. I am singing on it. And we've just been friends for a really long time and just loved each other and loved each other's art from afar, and I was on his album. And then, of course, our friendship from there really just became really close. And so he was the first person that I thought of. I was like, oh, it's not a matter of, do I want you to be on this album? It's what song are we gonna sing? And so I was like, oh, and he just has that. You know, he's. He's that Disney prince voice. And so I was like, he's got
- [27:06]
Matt Tamnini
a little Flynn in him. Yeah.
- [27:08]
Kennedy Coghill
Yes, exactly. So I was like, okay, you are the Flynn to my Rapunzel. So we're gonna. We're gonna sing this song. And my mother loves that song. It's her favorite Disney romantic song song. So of course we're gonna put it on the album because what mother wants, mother gets.
- [27:22]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, another Disney reference there.
- [27:24]
Kennedy Coghill
Yeah, right. Exactly. But Ben Fankhauser was also an easy in because I. Well, here's the funny thing. I met Ben. So my sister Caitlin Coghill was in the original cast of Newsies, and so I ended up seeing newsies, like, 16 times or something it was. So I met Kara Lindsey and Ben Fankhauser before I ever worked with them on stage. I was fans of them from afar. And Ben and I, last summer, we played Jenna and Pomatter opposite each other at Musical Theater Wichita. And it was just like a weird kismet. Like, truly, it was so fun to do that role opposite him because he is such an artist that's in the moment vocally. So we would be. You know, we would be sitting and doing a song in tech, and one of us would hit a new riff. You know, we would play a game of can we goose the other mid show, and we would. But there was. There was also, like, kismet moments where we would both decide to do a new riff, but the riff would be exactly in the same. Exactly in harmony, exactly in tandem without ever talking about it. And we both would. We'd be like. And we would, like, stop. So it was a really beautiful moment of going, oh, my gosh. When you meet somebody whose vocal timbre and vocal choices match yours, it's like a perfect kismet. And whenever you dance together, it's when you find a perfect dance partner within riffing songs. It's just a whole level of magic when you're like, oh, my gosh, I see you, you see me. And we're very similar in the same. And that's a really beautiful. So it was just a really beautiful experience to be able to do that with him. So I wanted. The fans. And the fans also really wanted to see something from Waitress. So I said, well, let me commemorate and do something really out of left field with this song, because we did. You matter to me. But we ended up putting the bad idea riff in the middle because I was. Because that's the one thing people wanted to see, the bad idea riff. And I'm like, I don't really want to do Bad Idea on my album. And so that's when I brought in Joshua Stephen Cartes, who's really incredible at rearranging songs in a different format than you're used to hearing. And we made a really cool R and B version. R and B gospel version of you Matter to me. And so that's how. So I was like, ben, I love that. Come on, we're commemorating our waitress together. Get on this album.
- [29:57]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, you. You will not only always have Wichita, but you always have it on the album as well.
- [30:02]
Kennedy Coghill
Yes, exactly. So Douglas and I did the Broadway version of Beautiful. And I remember. I remember hanging out with him in the male dressing room while he was Writing Beau and all these things. He was. He was actively writing other shows, and. And he was, I believe, just beginning his creative journey as a writer. So it was really wonderful to watch him kind of. I got to watch him branch out into his artistry, and it really moved me. And so we were good buddies. And he's the one who has been kind of daring me to dream bigger and daring me to say no to things so that I can say yes to bigger things. And, like, I say, it's his fault, you know, it's his fault that I did Hell's Kitchen national tour because he's. Because I was choosing between that and a Broadway show, being in the ensemble and covering.
- [30:54]
Matt Tamnini
Oh, wow.
- [30:54]
Kennedy Coghill
In a Broadway show this season. And he was like, you're a lead now do the lead. And so, you know, he's always been encouraging me to dream bigger. So I felt like he's the one that I had to have him. I had to have his words on my album because he's a good buddy now. I did with Kate Baldwin, I did. I did Little Women, and she played. She played my mom when I was Jo. And it's just. It's another form of artistic kismet where you just meet a soul sister in a piece and you go, wow, I feel like your family. And every moment of rehearsal and the show, when I did it with her was just. I felt like I was just learning from greatness. So she is so. So near and dear to me, and she. And she's. I wanted the feminine perspective, right? I wanted to make sure that I got a feminine perspective because I am eclectic. And so she was obviously one of the first people I asked as well. Now, Michael and I did. We did the workshop of Lost Boys. And reading his foreword, I was like, oh, my gosh. He knew who I was before we had ever met. And, like. And, I mean, I knew who he was because obviously Quasimodo and what was the. He played Huck Finn.
- [32:19]
Matt Tamnini
Big River.
- [32:20]
Kennedy Coghill
Yes.
- [32:20]
Matt Tamnini
For Jeff West.
- [32:21]
Kennedy Coghill
I knew who he was because he's famous, you know, But I really just loved the way that he shaped stories as a director. And when I went to see maybe Happy Ending, I had no idea what it was. And I fell in love with this story about how a robot becomes more human and how robots have feelings. I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is a Pixar musical. It's a Pixar musical.
- [32:43]
Matt Tamnini
It really is.
- [32:44]
Kennedy Coghill
And I just thought it was really brilliantly done. Everything he touches, honestly, I'm like, that Lost Boys Like, I cannot wait to see Lost Boys. I haven't gotten to see it yet.
- [32:53]
Matt Tamnini
Oh, my gosh.
- [32:53]
Kennedy Coghill
In its full iteration, but what a testament to the man running the ship, right? So I swung big, and I emailed Michael, and I was like, hey, I would love for you to, you know, write something, a forward on my album, if you want. And so he responded, like, very, very kindly and was like, I would love to, you know, give me. Give me some time. I gotta open Lost Boys. I said, no problem. Yeah, no problem. You get through the Tonys.
- [33:20]
Matt Tamnini
And then, yeah, just. Just the. The largest scale musical in the history of Broadway to. To get up on its feet.
- [33:26]
Kennedy Coghill
Broadway broke the vampire curse, y'.
- [33:28]
Matt Tamnini
All. It did. It really did well. And I've got to say, like, I think that Michael is, like, the most brilliant director of his generation. I also thought that Bo the Musical was one of the best shows I've seen in years, and Kate Baldwin is Kate Baldwin, so you picked really good people to. To. To write the forwards for that. So. Well, we. We talked about Hell's Kitchen. I saw. I. I live in Orlando, so I'm 10 minutes from.
- [33:52]
Kennedy Coghill
I love Orlando.
- [33:55]
Matt Tamnini
But you were here. Was it earlier this year or last season? In the last season with the tour of Hell's Kitchen. And I saw it. Saw it twice. And I think in the review that I did, I think I said pawn it all was as close to a religious experience as you're gonna get in a. In a musical theater show.
- [34:11]
Kennedy Coghill
Listen to that episode. Thank you for that.
- [34:14]
Matt Tamnini
I did.
- [34:15]
Kennedy Coghill
I was like, oh, my God. I'm saving this from whenever I have a website someday when I have a website.
- [34:20]
Matt Tamnini
There you go. But what I'm always kind of taken by, especially as we've gotten more jukebox musicals over the years, and you've done multiple. As we've talked about with Beautiful, but especially the ones featuring more modern songs, is how the show and then the individual performers bridge the gap between musical theater storytelling and musical theater singing styles with songs that were written for very different purposes and in a lot of cases, very different voices. Sometimes it works great, sometimes not as great. In this case, obviously, for me, worked great. How do you do that? How do you figure out where the line is between sticking to the original that people know and the way that it was originally written, but still making it musical theater, but not making it sound like it's a very special regional episode of Glee or something?
- [35:15]
Kennedy Coghill
Oh, my gosh. That is hilarious. Shout out to Glee and my people on Glee. That is so funny. It's a really good question. You know, I think with the original jukebox musicals, when they originally happening was like barbershop quartet style, where you're like. You're like, come on, Anne. You'll always be my girl, my girl, my girl, you know, and it was always really cheesy. Right. But then you have shows like Jersey Boys and Beautiful, where it's almost like, we need a new category because those shows worked so well because they were a play and people actually singing those songs. Right. And then it transformed into shows we have now, like, Hell's Kitchen, where it's from. Like Hell's Kitchen, I mean, I think. And Juliet kind of leans into the jukebox style, which is where it's like, you know, you wink, wink, nudge, nudge, audience. You're coming along the ride with us.
- [36:14]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, they're looking for some laughs on the. Yeah. On the way the songs are integrated in.
- [36:19]
Kennedy Coghill
But then you have other shows like Hell's Kitchen, where I think Alicia really wanted to go away from that tongue in cheek vibe, give you what you loved, but with a story that's really grounded in human behavior and truth. And so I think more than a jukebox musical, because I don't think it is, because I think with Jersey Boys, Beautiful and Hell's Kitchen, when we say jukebox, we think of that corny tongue in cheek feeling. But really what it is is a catalog narrative musical. More so because the songs. More so jukebox with Beautiful and Jersey Boys, simply because of the nature of. This is their life story, and this is them actively writing the songs in real time. But with Hell's Kitchen, the songs flow and narratively push it forward. So it's more of a musical than it is jukebox. So I like to say that it's a catalog narrative musical. It's an. I think it's this new style of musical that we're doing nowadays that's not jukebox, not fully musical theater, but somewhere in between, where they take the catalog and the songs beautifully and they rearrange it to further the plot. And so what I do in catalog narrative musicals is the first thing I look at is, all right, what story am I telling here? What story am I telling here? And that is the through line for everything that I do in. In. In all musicals is the story comes first. What story am I serving? And then once I know the story that I'm telling, I'll go, okay, what's the vibe? What's the style? Oh, we are in 90s and early 2000s r b pop. And so that's when I really go back. Like, I learned the song as is, and then I see where the song. How does the song serve the story as a whole? So that's the story, the through line of the story that I'm telling. Okay. Then I go back to the original, and I really listen over and over to their style. So whether it's Carole King or Alicia, you know, I really get into the style of what was the original artistry within it. And I find little hooks, I find the little hook. So with Carole King, she does a lot of, you know, like, that's. She kind of, like, falls off the phrases.
- [38:34]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, yeah.
- [38:35]
Kennedy Coghill
So when I do Carole King and Beautiful, I don't do it all the time, but I'll do little isms to kind of clue in the audience that loves Carol that it's like, okay, you're coming with me. This is Carol. But I'm not playing Alicia Keys in the show. Right. Because it's not a biopic musical. But we'll do. There are certain things, like can't wait to get home. Like, she has. She uses a lot of air at the end of her phrases. And Alicia was very particular about the rhythms. She's all about the rhythm. The rhythm and the back phrasing. She wants it very specifically. And she worked with all of us during tech. There are certain things, like catchy hooks in the songs that we know, like. But Teenage Love Affair, you know, everything is very. And it gives you that vibe because it's like a warm hug. Right. It's very memorable for people. So with that and Pawn it all, you would pawn it all less because Pawn it all is more like, do whatever you want, girl. Go off. But Teenage love Affair, if I ain't got you fallen, which fallen? We do a completely different version than you're used to, but I really love the way that they've incorporate it into the show. So there are things that Alicia wants and Alicia gets. Let me tell you, Alicia, what Mama Alicia says I'm going to do.
- [39:57]
Matt Tamnini
Yes.
- [39:57]
Kennedy Coghill
She can have whatever she wants. Yes. Boss lady. She's incredible, by the way. But the story comes first, and then. Then the stylization comes into play after that for me. So if I'm faced with a choice between telling the story and getting the stylization perfect, I'll always give you story when I'm in a show, but if I was doing it in an album, the stylization would come first. See what I mean? So that's kind of the process of how I found Pawn It All. So Pawn it all is much more story driven. And I kind of do I really go. That is the song where I inject most of Kennedy into the show, I think, and what I do and what I do well. And Alicia pulled me aside one day during rehearsal, and she's like, you know, I wanted this song to be in there, and it's imperative for Jersey's story. And she said, but really, when you sing the song, I want you to sing the song for anyone who's never been able to stand up for themselves in a moment where they needed to. And so then my mission with that song from that point on became breaking chains off of people active in real time in the audience, which is why I was like, oh, my gosh, it is a religious experience. Because my prayer for that song is that somebody hears that song and all of a sudden is. Is freed from whatever has been holding them back. Absolutely holding them down, like. And it is the only song where you see another character break the fourth wall other than Ali. And when I realized that, I was like, oh, wow. It really is a poignant moment because I start the song in the story, but then all of a sudden I'm talking to the audience and the audience. You're all of a sudden with me in this journey, and we're. And we're going on the journey together, and we're standing up for ourselves now. Yeah. I'm so grateful that that was the experience that you had.
- [41:49]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah. And what a. What a cool opportunity, too. And, like, I think if people say, oh, it's a. It's a. And it's Alicia Keys. Not jukebox musical, but catalog driven narrative musical. I don't know that they immediately think of, like, oh, you're gonna have this opportunity to speak to the people who have been held back. I mean, it's just. I'm getting goosebumps just talking about, like, but what. That's what theater, and that's what musical theater, and that's what this whole thing is all about. So I love that. I love that I got to witness, and I love that you got to do it all across the country, but I'll wrap it up. You've been so generous with your time, but this album out now, and you said the physical copies are becoming available soon, but you can listen to it wherever you get it. I have done that multiple times.
- [42:31]
Kennedy Coghill
For now, they're all on.
- [42:33]
Matt Tamnini
Yes. Everything's on digital. Now that it's out there. What are you Excited for people to hear. Obviously, we know everybody was really excited to hear certain things at the beginning because they recommended all of these songs to you. But now that it's there, what are you most excited for people to either hear? Whether it's a song or the arc of the entire album, what is it that you are excited for people to take away from hearing it?
- [42:58]
Kennedy Coghill
Yes. Well, because this is the first interview where I'm revealing to the world that this is basically the story of the beginning of my career, because it is just the beginning. I'm just getting started. I feel like the name of the
- [43:16]
Matt Tamnini
album is Just the Beginning.
- [43:17]
Kennedy Coghill
Right, Right. I'm stepping into this new season, and honestly, I'm stepping into the shoes of who Kennedy is and how far she can carry me, because I think I've been stepping into the shoes of what other people give me. You know, when this is really profound, when you're an artist and a musical theater artist at that, you are beholden to the stories people give you. But there is a beautiful, fresh freedom in stepping into your own shoes and saying, well, what. What story do I want to tell? What's my story? You know? And it's vulnerable and powerful. And so I hope people get a sense of the very, very beginning of my love for theater to this point now, and I hope that people go on the journey with me. I'm also really, really pumped and excited for people to hear me sing stuff that I've always loved, like jazz. I got the sun in the Morning. Like, I grew up listening to Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, and Ella Fitzgerald. And so sun in the Morning is kind of like my love letter to Ella and every. Because you will hear it. It's very. The scat section. Oh, spoilers. Spoilers. For those who haven't heard it, there's a jazz scat in there, and it, you know, all of it is a love letter to the people who influenced my early. My early musicality, if you will. And so I'm excited for people to hear things they know and love and things that they've never heard before. And I hope they listen to it. I hope they press play, and when it ends, they're like, I just listened to the whole album. And I hope that they are moved and filled with hope, because I think we all need a little happiness and hope right now.
- [44:58]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, definitely. All right, I lied. One more question, because you were talking about. You were saying, like, this is your story. You're telling your story. You're telling people. You're introducing Who Kennedy is through this album, but this is just the beginning. That is the name of the album, but also kind of the starting point for the story that you're telling. Do you know who Kennedy is? Like, I mean, as an artist, like, is it. Is that a fully answered question for you?
- [45:26]
Kennedy Coghill
You know, I would have to say no. I think. I think I'm discovering her. And this album has been really beautiful because I feel like I've met. I really had to sit down and meet with the different versions of myself over the years. Yeah, I was like, oh, what song do you want to sing? What song represents you in this time? And it was so beautiful to hear from every facet of myself. I feel like I know. Like I can really look back at that time, my early, early career, from like childhood to college and to my first gigs out of the business. Like, I know her joys, I know her struggles and I know where she's going to end up. And it's so the story is more hope filled even if in that moment, if there are some moments where that younger version of me couldn't see where it was going and was hopeless. And I'm so glad that I got to see her journey of that part of her life with the hindsight of knowing where it's going, you know, and man, it just, it's. It's so. I'm getting goosebumps because, yeah, it's hard to unearth all parts of yourself, I think. I think that we are all capable of greatness and destruction, both to ourselves and others. I think that there's darkness and light in all of us. And sometimes the journey to self love is seeing the ugliest parts of yourself and going, hey, I love you anyway. And finding that. Wow, Matt, we're really. We're really going deep.
- [47:09]
Matt Tamnini
We're getting in there. I'm gonna have to charge you by the hour for this conversation, I guess, you know, Right.
- [47:15]
Kennedy Coghill
But finding that self love and really making that ribbon that through line to where we are now, like understanding all parts of ourselves, we get a better, clearer idea of where we want to go. We may not know exactly where we're going, but at least we have the direction.
- [47:36]
Matt Tamnini
Yeah, I love that. What a beautiful way to wrap it up. No, that's great. Well, Kennedy, thank you so much. You know that I'm a huge fan of your work and I'm excited for this album to be out there in the world and to see if this is just the beginning, to see what's next, whether it's on stage in my ears or anything else. So thank you so much for giving so much incredible insight to this whole process. I really appreciate it.
- [48:00]
Kennedy Coghill
Thank you so much for having me
- [48:03]
Hearts to leave In a kiddie world he could be that boy
- [48:17]
but I'm
- [48:17]
not Not that girl. Don't dream too far don't sight of who you are don't remember that rush of joy he could be that boy but I'm not that girl Every so often we long to steal to the land of what might have been but that doesn't soften the achy feel when reality it sets back in Blithe smile, lithe limb she who's winsome, she wins him.
- [49:40]
Matt Tamnini
I love my phone, but not my carrier.
- [49:42]
Kennedy Coghill
What do I do? Well, there are 250 reasons to join T Mobile.
- [49:46]
Matt Tamnini
Like what?
- [49:46]
Kennedy Coghill
You can keep your phone and your number and T Mobile helps pay it off up to $800 per line.
- [49:51]
Matt Tamnini
So I wouldn't have to buy a new phone?
- [49:53]
Kennedy Coghill
Yep. Plus your plan price stays the same for 5 years on experience plans.
- [49:57]
Nice.
- [49:57]
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- [50:02]
Matt Tamnini
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