For the first time, a black mother and daughter are starring in lead roles on Broadway at the same time, and I just can’t stop smiling. Tony Award-winning actress LaChanze is leading in a production of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol, and her 19-year-old daughter, Celia Rose Gooding, was cast in the lead spot of the Broadway newcomer Jagged Little Pill, both actresses told the Today show. LaChanze said the honor is “thrilling” and also shocking. “Because when I was her age, I was still in the ensemble of shows and learning and finding my way," LaChanze said. "And for her to be so young and this to happen for us, it's just a huge honor honestly."
LaChanze, who’s been performing on Broadway for 33 years, beamed as she talked about seeing her daughter on Broadway for the first time. “Well, first of all, I could barely see it because I was crying so much the entire time, but I was thrilled,” she said. “I was sitting there watching her, thinking, ‘This is my little girl who’s up there on that stage, and she’s managing it, she’s handling it, and she’s knocking it out the park.’ And I couldn’t have been more proud.”
When Gooding told the Today show that her mom had it written in her contract that she would have her daughter’s opening night off, the 58-year-old actress couldn’t hide her enthusiasm. “And when she yelled ‘Hi mom,’ at the end, at her bow, that made my life,” LaChanze said.
Gooding said that she knew she wanted to follow in her mom's footsteps when she watched LaChanze giving her acceptance speech after winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her performance in The Color Purple. "I didn't understand it, but there was a joy on my mom's face," Gooding said. "And I put both of my hands on the TV and I said I want to do that, and I think what I meant at that young non-knowing age is that I want to chase whatever intense joy my mother was feeling in that moment, and I found that in theater.”