Actors' Equity Association honored Beautiful – The Carole King Musical with the eighth Annual ACCA Award. Presented by Equity’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA), the ACCA Award is the only industry accolade of its kind to honor the distinctive talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical.
The 17 individual recipients of the 2014 ACCA Award — all of whom were part of the Beautiful chorus on the musical’s January 12, 2014 Broadway opening night — are Ashley Blanchet, E. Clayton Cornelious, Josh Davis, Alysha Deslorieux, Kevin Duda, James Harkness, Carly Hughes, Sara King, Rebecca LaChance, Douglas Lyons, Chris Peluso, Gabrielle Reid, Arbender J. Robinson, Rashidra Scott, Sara Sheperd, Melvin Tunstall and Alan Wiggins.
The award was presented on Tuesday, June 17 at 4 p.m. during Equity’s National Council meeting in New York.
In reviewing the chorus of each Broadway musical that opened during the 2013–14 theatrical season, ACCA considered the chorus requirements made by each show’s director, choreographer and musical director; the caliber of technical skill used to execute those requirements; and the unique contributions made by the entire chorus to the overall production.
About Beautiful
Beautiful - The Carole King Musical,about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, is now playing at the Sondheim Theatre (124 West 43rd Street) on Broadway. Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller stars as 'Carole King'; she's joined by Jake Epstein as 'Gerry Goffin,' Tony Award nominees Anika Larsen and Jarrod Spector as ‘Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann,' Jeb Brown as 'Don Kirshner' and Tony Award nominee Liz Larsen as 'Genie Klein.' With a book by Tony and Academy Award nominated writer Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni and choreography by Josh Prince, Beautiful features a stunning array of beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil.
