Locals watching the televised Tony Awards on June 15 will see a little bit of Boxford at the Radio City Music Hall. Caren Lyn Manuel, a Boxford native, will perform two numbers with the cast of "Rent" at the awards ceremony, broadcast nationwide from New York City on CBS Sunday evening.
Since graduating from Masconomet High School in 1994, Manuel has worked as a musical theater actress and has performed on Broadway and in world tours of productions such as "Evita," "Grease" and "Les Miserables."
She has been in "Rent" on Broadway for several seasons.
In between awarding Tonys, the June 15 show will pay tribute to "Rent" and Jonathan Larson, creator of the show. The original principal cast members of "Rent" are scheduled to appear alongside the current Broadway cast (which includes Manuel) to celebrate the show's more than 10-year run, which comes to an end on Sept. 7.
This year, Manuel has played the role of Mark's mom in "Rent" on Broadway as well as the understudy for the role of Mimi. She also played the character Maureen during May. She has performed in "Rent" off and on since 2002, said her mother, Sandy Manuel, who still lives in Boxford with husband and Caren's dad, Charlie.
Since 2002, Manuel has left "Rent" for opportunities to do shows titled "BKLYN, the Musical," "Times they are a-changin" and "High Fidelity." She also left "Rent" on Broadway to do a four-month tour through Asia for the musical's 10-year anniversary.
After having a baby girl last August, she returned to "Rent" on Broadway last October, settling into the role of Mark's mom, Sandy said.
After graduating from Masco, Manuel enrolled in Emerson College. Her "big break" came when she auditioned for the role of Eponine for a touring production of "Les Miserables" in her first year at Emerson. She was chosen for the role out of 750 women who auditioned and left to join the tour three days later. At age 18, she was touring the country.
Manuel performed in the Tony Awards ceremony in 2006, dancing in a tribute to famed theatrical producer and director Hal Prince.
The Tony Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS, Sunday, June 15, starting at 8 p.m.
From Boxford to Broadway
Caren Lyn Manuel, a Boxford native and working actress in New York, sat down with Town Crossings in June 2006 for an interview about how she made it to the Great White Way:
Manuel credits the instruction she received from the Masco theater and music departments, as well as Boxford's rural setting.
"A rural setting is the best way to prepare for something creative," Manuel said. "When you're surrounded by nothing but woods, it's a creative setting."
Graduating from Masco in 1994 was "perfect timing" for theater, Manuel said, because the drama program was becoming strong and getting off the ground.
"Masco and Boxford had everything to do with where I am right now, and my parents," Manuel said.
Her parents have always supported her, even when she was struggling, Manuel said. They have never encouraged her to have a "real job." Charlie and Sandy Manuel watch Caren perform as often as they can, and traveled to Europe to see her on stage.
"I think I've seen 'Rent' about 50 times. Good thing I like the show," Sandy said with a laugh. "I'm not a stage mom, I'm in the background, and that's where I'll stay. I love live theater. It beats the movies by far."
Manuel says the best thing about what she does is "being able to have the biggest passion in your life what makes your money."
What attracts her to musical theater is being creative, on stage, and connecting with an audience, Manuel said.
"It's almost like therapy, but it's like for 1,500 people at a time," Manuel said.
Her profession is not all spotlights and curtain calls, Manuel said, and it can be a rough, shaky career. She can go a year between shows and struggle because "New York is so expensive."
"Once you get that first job, it doesn't mean you'll be working forever," Manuel said. "If you have a goal of settling down and starting a family, it's a challenge, but it's a possibility. There's a way to balance it all, but it involves throwing yourself in. The glamor is great, but there is a huge practical side."
Early beginnings
Manuel said she has always loved performing and singing, even as a child. Her father, Charlie, played saxophone in a band, so she was always around music growing up. She used to put on shows in her backyard with her brother and neighborhood friends.
"I've always wanted to put on shows for people, it used to be sort of a problem, but now it's my career," Manuel said with a laugh.
Manuel credits her brother, Corey, for convincing her to audition for "Les Miserables," where she caught her first break. She said she "wasn't feeling all that hot" because she had not been called back after auditioning for Emerson's musical that year.
"I think I got the part because I didn't expect to get it, I wasn't nervous about it at all," Manuel said. "I can't even remember that experience very clearly because it was so powerful."
Manuel never finished at Emerson, and "got her education hands-on," said her mother, Sandy Manuel.
From that point on, Manuel began performing professionally. She was in the European and U.S. tour of "Fame," in the role of Carmen Diaz, and also the European tours of "Evita" as Eva Peron, and "Grease" as Sandy.
Manuel has also written her own musical, titled "Womyn in three." She presented it in the Fringe Festival in New York in 2004, and it was one of 200 chosen to be performed out of more than 1,000 entries.
She says that Eponine will always be meaningful to her because it was her first role, but that her favorite role was Eva Peron in "Evita." It is the most meaningful, she said, because the character starts at age 15, blossoms to age 33, and then tragically dies of cancer.
"It was the most challenging theatrical experience I've ever had. You start at age 15, go to 33, and then you have to die. That's quite an arc," Manuel said.
Manuel said that one piece of advice she would give to a current Masco student interested in musical theater is, "Do not let anyone ever say that you can't do it."
"Use criticism as fuel. Stick around and keep doing it. It's all a matter of time, the biggest thing is sticking with it. Any one can make it, if they want to. Masco is the best place to start from possible," Manuel said.
