She had never been to Minnesota before coming in February as the headliner of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Now, high-wattage stage star Monet Sabel, who also played King on Broadway and on the national tour, is staying put.

"I had no idea I would love this place so much and meet some of the greatest friends I ever had," Sabel said a day after returning from a weekend cabin getaway on the Kettle River. "Nobody had to be this nice to me, but I've been welcomed with open arms."

Sabel has been impressed with the Minnesota talent pool, and considers it the nation's best kept secret. She also has taken to the expansive restaurant scene, hanging out in Minneapolis' North Loop, including the Japanese-Italian eatery Sanjusan, her new favorite restaurant. She recommends the crab linguini and assorted appetizers.

And she's been swimming in Lotus Lake in Chanhassen. Because she does many of these things by herself — she prioritizes her career and being a stage star can be intimidating for partners — she always gets quizzical looks and questions.

"When I call for reservations, they repeat, just one?" Sabel said. "But I like to explore, meet new friends and keep my own company."

Sable likes the tempo of Minnesota, which she describes as being very human. There's a ritual and charm to the smallest of interactions, she said.

Leila Navidi
“Resilience is the key word for me,” Monet Sabel said. “There’s so much up and down in this career that I constantly take acting classes and keep up my voice training. There’s always more to learn.”

"The feeling when I go into a coffee shop in New York is: 'Please get your coffee and get out of my shop.' And I feel the same way — 'Don't talk to me, I have things to do,'" Sabel said. "But here there's a little chat about how my day is going and people are so kind. It's nice to slow down and connect like that."

How a star was born

Born to arts-loving parents in Redondo Beach, Calif., Sabel has spent the past 13 years in New York, where she earned her degree in theater. Her first job out of New York University made her feel like she was on top of the world. She was cast in the London transfer of "Sweeney Todd" as the standby for daughter Johanna, the Beggar Woman, and the pants role of Adolfo Pirelli.

Bill Buckhurst's buzzy revival of the Stephen Sondheim show starred Hugh Panaro and Brad Oscar in a Greenwich Village theater that had been transformed into a British pie shop. Sabel held her own in the spotlight.

"It was so big and popular, when it ended I felt like now, things are going to be nonstop — I'm going to have to turn down jobs," Sabel recalled. "Then I didn't get anything. For years. Then the pandemic happened, and I was like, 'Wow, awesome, end of my life here.' I had to get it together."

She did a variety of what she calls "survival jobs" — mostly in restaurants but anything that would pay bills. She auditioned but could not land roles.

"Sometimes I'd be in the [audition] waiting room with all these amazing Broadway girls I've seen and admired for years, and I'd think, 'Look, we're all back at square one in this little room together, waiting to sing a song.' No matter how wonderful you think you are, you always end up back at square one together. It's very humbling, and I try to carry that with me."

After six years of auditioning, she landed the national tour of "Beautiful" in 2021, playing the title role.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," Sabel recalled as the job coincided with the end of a relationship. "I went on tour and remembered my self-worth"

That buzz, and the fulfillment she gets from working to delight audiences, is part of the thrill of her career that is all about discoveries about self and character. That's why she finds herself not only delighted to be in Minnesota but in the hunt for a permanent place to stay.

"I really had no expectations coming in, just an open mind and curiosity," Sabel said.

A strong company leader

CDT artistic director Michael Brindisi, who staged "Beautiful" with daughter Cat Brindisi-Darrow, said that he knew right away that Sabel would be a good fit for the company.

"She'd done Carole King three times before, so we knew she had the talent," Brindisi said. "But she went with everything that we threw at her — and we threw lots of things at her — without ego. And her discipline, including being smart about keeping her voice in good shape, set the tone for the company."

Brindisi has cast Sabel as Rizzo in "Grease," which he will launch after the holidays.

A quick study, Sabel is getting to understand some of the quirks of Minnesota's culture. For one thing, people are exceedingly polite, even if it sometimes obscures the point they're trying to make.

"If you want me to do something, just tell me what to do and I'm going to do it," Sabel said. "Sometimes people will beat around the bush a lot and then I kind of leave wondering, 'Is there something in there that you want me to do or was there an ask in there that I can't quite decipher because nobody wants to offend me?"

But that's a feather on the balance sheet. Sabel said that she still can't believe that actors buy houses in Minnesota. That's an unachievable fairy tale for actors who are successful in New York.

Leila Navidi
Monet Sabel plays Carole King for eight performances a week, singing most of the show’s songs. “When I began, I knew I had to sleep a lot and drink a lot of water to succeed,” she said. “But then I started going out to dinner between shows and hit a wall. Now I need to be quiet a lot during the days.”

Sabel, who also dances and plays piano and guitar, has cut her teeth mostly in musical theater. That's her forte and it has carried her to places like Japan, where she did a tour of Disney classics. In Minneapolis, she may work at places that do musicals, including the Guthrie, Theater Latté Da, Artistry and the Ordway. But she also intends to keep a toe in the national pool.

"The nature of my life right now is unmoored and untethered — I left my whole life in New York to come here," Sabel said as she became introspective. "I value my career so much I don't want to sacrifice it."

Laura Rudolph, who's in the "Beautiful" company at Chanhassen, said that Sabel fit in easily with the Minnesota-heavy cast. And she loves that she's led by example.

"Coming into a show with such a big cast of people with strong local roots could be intimidating," Rudolph said. "But she's embraced us, and we've welcomed her. Of course, she's spectacular as Carole. I think she's going to be a great add to our thriving artistic community."

'Beautiful: The Carole King Musical'

When: 8 p.m. Tue., 1 & 8 p.m. Wed., 8 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 1 & 8 p.m. Sat., 6:30 p.m. Sun. Through Sept. 28.

Where: Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 W. 78th St., Chanhassen.

Tickets: $75-$105, 952-934-1525 or chanhassendt.com.