Coming into its fifth year on Broadway, the musical Beautiful which is based on the life of famed singer-songwriter Carole King has a rarity of sorts. The rare thing is that it's one of those shows where you come into the theater (the Stephen Sondheim, to be exact) humming the songs and come out doing that same thing. But it's more than that. You leave the theatre having gained a greater appreciation of King than you can ever expect.
This musical bio looks back at King's successes as a songwriter and her problems in domestic life with her husband, Gerry Goffin. We first see Carole (Chilina Kennedy) as a teenager in her Brooklyn hometown in 1958, trying to make her way into the music business writing songs so that she can be noticed. She soon meets Gerry (Evan Todd) when they're both students of Queens College. Their writing partnership then became a romantic one. Suddenly, Carole ends up pregnant and they soon became husband and wife.
The couple later became a hit songwriting team, writing one blockbuster song after another in the 1960s. They even made best pals with another songwriting couple, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (Daniel Torres and Jessica Keenan Wynn). But soon, Gerry's acts of adultery ends up causing pain on the marriage. After the divorce, Carole decides to sing the songs that she wrote on her own, which ends up being successful as she soon has a top-selling and Grammy winning album (1971's Tapestry) and performs to a sold out crowd at Carnegie Hall as experienced in the show's beginning and climax.
Many hit songs from the King songbook are there in the show such as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "I Feel The Earth Move", "One Fine Day", "You've Got A Friend" and the show's title song. Some songs from the Mann and Weil songbook are also used including "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "On Broadway".
Director Marc Bruni gives the show a biographic movie-like feel that's reminiscent of music biopics such as Ray, Jersey Boys (which was, in fact, adapted from the Broadway show) and What's Love Got To Do With It. Bruni, along with chorographer Josh Prince, also helped polished many of the production's show-stopping numbers to good effect. Alejo Vietti's costumes and Derek McLane's sets recreate the various time periods throughout Carole's career with a seamless touch.
Playing the role that gave its first actress in the role, Jessie Muller, a Best Actress Tony award when it first opened, Kennedy gives an excellent portrayal as King. She makes one imagine what it really was like when King was taking a chance as a woman's songwriter in the mostly male-dominated music business. Todd is very effective as Gerry and Torres and Wynn makes a sweet and comic couple as Mann and Weil. Comic support is also supported well by Liz Larsen, playing Carole's mom with a Brooklyn attitude.
At the show's end, Gerry tells Carole that she's "going all the way". But then again in real life, King really did go all the way to the top. Carole continues to perform today at age 77. To have a Broadway musical that honors and celebrates the career of an iconic singer-songwriter such as Ms. King, seeing it is such a pleasure.
The Buzz on Beautiful:
Rating: ***
Bottom Line: A faithful and supremely entertaining musical bio that celebrates the career of Carole King and leaves you with more than expected appreciation for the famed singer-songwriter.
Recommended Best for: Ages 8 and up. A suitable-enough show for the family.
Playing at: The Stephen Sondheim Theatre on 124 West 43rd Street (between 6th Avenue and Broadway) for an open-ended run. For tickets, go to telecharge.com or call 212-239-6200.
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