Teenage singer and actress Angelica Hale recalls writing her first song at 7 years old.
Titled “What’s It Like” — which would later become the name of her 2020 EP — the song was borne out of Hale’s desire to make it big like Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande and the performers she saw on the Disney Channel.
“[It was about] feeling trapped and wishing to be something,” Hale said. “Seeing someone and wishing you could be like that, but being like, you can’t achieve what they are, or you’ll never be as great as them.”
Several years later, at 16, the Atlanta resident is on her own path to stardom as a cast member of “BOOP! The Musical,” which is continuing its pre-Broadway run at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe) through Dec. 24. The show is directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, with a book by Tony-winner Bob Martin and music by Grammy Award winning composer David Foster and Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead.
Based on the classic 1930s animated character created by Max Fleischer, the musical follows Betty Boop (portrayed by Jasmine Amy Rogers) as she moves from her black-and-white cartoon world into the colorful modern age. Hale plays Trisha, a Boop superfan who befriends her idol.
Growing up, Hale said she saw images of Betty Boop, but only recently went into a “rabbit hole” watching the short films featuring the character.
“I was more of a ‘My Little Pony,’ ‘Littlest Pet Shop,’ ‘Dora [The Explorer]’ kind of girl,” Hale said.
But Boop is now an inspiration for both Hale and Trisha, the young actress said.
“She basically boosts my confidence and she consoles me and tells me that I can do these things that I keep telling myself I can,” Hale said of Trisha’s story line. “That’s really how I see Betty Boop — just as this caring and compassionate and confident girl. And that’s who I try to aspire to be one day.”
Hale has achieved and overcome enough to help guide her in that aspiration; before she amassed more than 1 million Instagram followers and completed stints on “America’s Got Talent” in 2017 (she was runner-up at 9 years old) and “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” in 2019, she received a life-saving kidney transplant at 6 years old from her mother.
“When I was about 4 years old, I was coming down with an illness, and we all thought it was the flu,” Hale said. “I finally went to the hospital and they diagnosed me with double pneumonia and sepsis. So that was really hard. I had a lot of internal bleeding and multiple organ failure. And I lost 20% of my right lung.”
This year, Hale celebrated 10 years “kidney strong.”
“I’m forever grateful that I get to be here today and fulfill my dreams,” she said. “It’s honestly such a blessing. It’s good to wake up every day with gratitude for the things that you get to do.”
Hale said she hopes to record her first full-length album before she turns 17, but for now, she is focused on the rigorous “Boop! The Musical” schedule, which she said she found daunting at first.
“I honestly have never gotten tired of performing,” she said. “It’s always that jittery excitement every night.”
So far, in the Windy City, Hale said she has visited Giordano’s, the Nutella Cafe and the Chicago Riverwalk, but hopes to go to the Art Institute of Chicago.
And these days, she is no longer focused on wondering what it’s like to be in the shoes of other celebrities.
“Now, I’m finding my own path and I’m gaining new experiences,” she said. “There’s no current artist I want to specifically be like right now. Just being able to perform onstage and share my passion for music with other people and seeing them connect to that is really one of the most important things to me.”
