BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Along the way, she made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation.
Featuring a stunning array of beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend” and the title song, BEAUTIFUL has a book by and Tony® Award-nominee and Academy® Award-nominated writer Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, choreography by Josh Prince, and took home two 2014 Tony® Awards and a 2015 Grammy® Award.
I was smiling from the minute the curtain opened on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, now running at the Hollywood Pantages. The show is highly polished, fast-moving, and funny. My smile stayed on throughout the show, but Beautiful is a colorful confection that is not very deep.
While many musicals of this nature can feel like a series of popular songs with thin filler in between, Beautiful is a more fully realized story, one where the book (Douglas McGrath) actually strengthens the music, making the songs more meaningful when they naturally occur. It has plenty to offer for every type of theatergoer, and you'll be humming the songs for days.
Then there's Sarah Bockel, who all but channels the real Carole King. To say she radiates everything Carole was about is a major understatement. At once shy, vulnerable, loving, and yet subtly charismatic and strong as an ox as her living legend counterpart navigates fame, fortune, and a mess of a personal life, Bockel is miraculous. Add in a voice that reaches the heights, finds the raspy riffs, and still mines the personal depths of insecurity and emotion that made King's music some of the most enduring of all time, and her performance is the stuff for which they give out awards.
Beautiful is a beautiful way to spend an evening. Thanks to the direction of Marc Bruni, and especially the choreography of Josh Prince, this jukebox musical looks like a jukebox that has exploded and metamorphosed into a performance on American Bandstand or The Ed Sullivan Show.
I was smiling from the minute the curtain opened on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, now running at the Hollywood Pantages. The show is highly polished, fast-moving, and funny. My smile stayed on throughout the show, but Beautiful is a colorful confection that is not very deep.
While many musicals of this nature can feel like a series of popular songs with thin filler in between, Beautiful is a more fully realized story, one where the book (Douglas McGrath) actually strengthens the music, making the songs more meaningful when they naturally occur. It has plenty to offer for every type of theatergoer, and you'll be humming the songs for days.
Then there's Sarah Bockel, who all but channels the real Carole King. To say she radiates everything Carole was about is a major understatement. At once shy, vulnerable, loving, and yet subtly charismatic and strong as an ox as her living legend counterpart navigates fame, fortune, and a mess of a personal life, Bockel is miraculous. Add in a voice that reaches the heights, finds the raspy riffs, and still mines the personal depths of insecurity and emotion that made King's music some of the most enduring of all time, and her performance is the stuff for which they give out awards.
Beautiful is a beautiful way to spend an evening. Thanks to the direction of Marc Bruni, and especially the choreography of Josh Prince, this jukebox musical looks like a jukebox that has exploded and metamorphosed into a performance on American Bandstand or The Ed Sullivan Show.
