Just the Beginning highlights a variety of stellar musicals in which Caughell has appeared, including Wicked (“I’m Not That Girl” / “Defying Gravity”), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”), 9 to 5 (“Get Out and Stay Out”), Waitress (“You Matter to Me”), and Paradise Square (“Heaven Save Our Home”). The album also includes “Janey with the Light Brown Hair,” a number cut from the Broadway production of Paradise Square. The Paradise Square tracks, both world premiere recordings, are arranged and orchestrated by the musical’s composer Jason Howland. Also represented are selections from classic musicals such as Company (“Being Alive’) and Annie Get Your Gun (“I Got the Sun in the Morning”), in addition to newer works like The Notebook (“My Days”) and Violet (“Let It Sing”). The album’s title number, a world premiere recording from the new musical Far from Canterbury, has music and lyrics by Danny K. Bernstein. Just the Beginning features guest vocal appearances by Jason Gotay (Floyd Collins), Ben Fankhauser (Newsies), Shoba Narayan (Aladdin), and Isaiah Bailey (National Tour, The Phantom of the Opera). “Growing up, I always felt most understood by the melodies of musical theater,” says Kennedy. “I would lose myself in those stories and, for a little while, become the hero — the one who saves herself and those around her. She laughed without fear of the future, loved fiercely, and faced the world as her truest self. This album is for her. If I’ve learned anything, it’s how easy it is to let fear and self-doubt keep us from becoming who we’re meant to be. That’s part of being human. But eventually, we all have a choice: to keep shrinking ourselves or to step into the person our younger selves always believed we could become.” “This album is my invitation to choose courage,” she continues. “It’s a love letter to the music that shaped me — from Broadway and beyond — and a celebration of the stories that remind us who we are. In a world that can feel heavy, my hope is that these songs bring a little more joy, a little more hope, and a little more light. If someone walks away feeling seen, inspired, or simply believing in themselves again, then this album has already become everything I hoped it would be. May these songs remind us that our story is still unfolding. This is just the beginning.”
