This Beautiful Broadway Role Can Get You Pregnant

It was a chilly March morning when Kara Lindsay was getting ready for the first rehearsal of her third stint as Cynthia Weil in Broadway’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and she was feeling a little off. “It didn’t feel like PMS, so I knew something was up,” the former Broadway.com vlogger known for her performances in Newsies and Wicked says. “It was eight a.m. and I had rehearsal at noon.” Instead of waiting until later in the day, Lindsay took a pregnancy test; it was positive.

Lindsay didn’t tell anyone her happy news that day, but she did try to hide a bit, even though she was far from showing: “I wore my winter coat all day long, even though the baby was the size of a poppy seed back then.” As Lindsay proceeded to perform eight times a week as one half of the married songwriting duo (with Barry Mann, played by Ben Jacoby), she decided to confide in her understudy, Stephanie Martignetti.

“We were at a put-in rehearsal,” Martignetti recalls. “Kara called me into her dressing room, and was like, ‘I have to tell you something: I’m eight weeks’ pregnant! And I was like, ‘Well, I’m four weeks’ pregnant!’” Both performers told the Beautiful wardrobe department and their dresser the double secret. “We had no choice,” Lindsay says. “We wear tight skirts, and we were tearing through our costumes!”

It’s quite a coincidence that two of the women who play Cynthia Weil are expecting at the same time, but when you add in the fact that Anika Larsen, who originated the role, also got pregnant during her time in Beautiful, it’s an unmistakable trend. So, what’s the correlation between playing Cynthia Weil and pregnancy? “It’s not a physically strenuous role and it’s not even emotionally taxing because you get to be the comic relief of the show,” Lindsay says. “It’s fun to do,” Martignetti adds, “it keeps the stress hormones down.”

Lindsay left the show on June 30, and Martignetti will play her final performance on August 11. They are both appreciative for the kindness of the Beautiful company. “We brought the costume department a huge bottle of bourbon when I left the show,” Lindsay says. “It’s been a lot of work, and they’ve been so sweet about it. The whole company has been very supportive and celebrated us.”

The celebration included a gender reveal (with donuts): Lindsay is having a boy and Martignetti is having a girl. There has also been plenty of backstage fun with co-stars—including Jessica Keenan Wynn, who is currently playing the role. “We feel lucky to be together for this and to be able to rely on each other,” Martignetti says.

“The coolest part is that our babies have been on Broadway before they were even born,” Lindsay says. “Our children will be obsessed with Carole King, which is fine with me.”