BEAUTIFUL, now on stage at Beck Center for the Arts, is a Juke Box musical loosely based on the life of Carol King (aka Carol Joan Klein), one of America’s most prolific songs writers, arrangers and entertainers.
As with all musicals of that classification (e.g., MAMMA MIA!, JERSEY BOYS, MJ THE MUSICAL), the songs, which were not written specifically for the show, are shoe-horned into a script. The music doesn’t always fit smoothly, but the importance is not the literary development of the tale, but the fact that the character, performer or person, who is the center-piece of story, has connection to the songs.
BEAUTIFUL, shows the development of King, a young Jewish Brooklyn girl, with a dominating divorced mother, who has little self-confidence, but a strong drive to write music and succeed in the stressful business, growing from a modest song scribe to a popular and confident writer and performer of songs. It spotlights a conflicted person within the reluctant star, who emerged as a leader in her field and also in politics and the women’s movement.
The audience is taken on a journey of her relationship with her husband, and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, to her career’s development, divorce and close friendship and playful rivalry with fellow song-writing duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
The musical opened on Broadway on January 12, 2014 and ran through October 27, 2019. The 60 previews and 2,418 performances made it, at that time, the 27th longest-running musical in Broadway history.
One of the highlights of the run was that King attended the April 3, 2014 performance and appeared on stage at the curtain call, singing "You've Got a Friend" with the cast.
As is often the case with Juke Box musicals, when the show opened on Broadway, it was criticized for the weakness of the book. As one reviewer stated, the musical does not have the "dramatic coherence of book bio-musicals.” Another stated, while the musical "doesn't hang its songs on the greatest or most suspenseful story ever told, it has enough bounce and Broadway show glitz to keep you in your seat."
The near sold-out Beck audience, however, wasn’t in their seats. At the conclusion, they leapt to their feet, clapping and yelling their appreciation.
BEAUTIFUL is a difficult musical to produce. Not only do you have the “Carole King” sound that is familiar to many, but there are also the groups, The Shirelles, Drifters, Righteous Brothers, each of whom has a recognizable sound and movements. To do the script service means for the director, choreographer, music director and cast to be familiar with all of these elements, or the authenticity of the show is lost.
In the main, the Beck production, which is the local premiere of the piece, is on track. While some of the acting was superficial, most of the material was well-conceived.
Reese Henrick (as Cynthia Well) and Jordan Potter (as Barry Mann) were delightful. They had a wonderful physical and emotional connection, displaying a keen sense of comic timing. Her “Happy Days” and their duet “He Sure the Boy I Love,” were show highlights.
Elsie Carlisle displayed a fine singing voice and an understanding of Carole King, while Mikhail Roberts was appropriately tortured as Gerry Goffin.
There are well-known synchronized movements identified with each boy or girl group. In some, in this staging, the choreographic timing was off. It was especially obvious in “On Broadway,” the song made famous by the Drifters. More time was need for each of the quartets to watch videos and getting the styles down pat, with fine tuning by choreographer Lauren Tidmore Marousek.
Chris Richards, he of dead-pan comic face, developed a fine Donny Kirshner.
Cheri Proguh Devol’s juke box set was ingenious. Inda Blatch Geib effectively used yards and yards of fabric to create the era-correct costumes.
Capsule judgment: BEAUTIFUL, THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, though there were some acting and choreographic stumbles, and the script is more soap-opera than quality musical theater writing, gets an audience pleasing production at Beck. The music is wonderful. The cast sings with gusto. There is lots of dancing. It is well-worth a look-see!
BEAUTIFUL runs through August 11 at Beck Center’s Senney Theater. For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org.
