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Show: BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
Society: Mayflower Theatre
Venue: Mayflower Theatre. 22-26 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1GE
Credits: Book by Douglas McGrath. Words & Music by Gerry Coffin & Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. Music by arrangement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Type: Sardines
Author: Bradley Barlow
Performance Date: 12/04/2022
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Bradley Barlow | 14 Apr 2022 14:28pm
The cast of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical – Photography by Ellie Kurttz
Jukebox musical Beautiful made its debut in San Francisco in 2013 before transferring to Broadway a year later, winning multiple awards for its showcase of the songwriting and performance career of legendary Carole King – and it’s easy to see why.
From beginning to end, Beautiful is crammed full of hit songs from the 60s and 70s and charts her meteoric rise from writing her first number one song at just 17 with the classic Shirelles hit ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’, through to her own sellout show at Carnegie Hall following the success of her classic album Tapestry, itself filled with classic songs like It’s Too Late, You’ve Got a Friend and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
You’d be forgiven for expecting only songs by King and songwriting partner/husband Gerry Goffin to appear but the musical also highlights their friendly rivalry with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to write songs for the biggest stars of the era and with it come the songs You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and We Gotta Get Out of this Place. With too many songs to mention, it’s safe to say audiences should expect to be tapping their feet the whole time.
Douglas McGrath’s book effectively weaves together Carole King’s teenage years to her late 20s and paints an emotional picture of a teenage mum marrying a wayward husband before branching out on her own, leaving the audience wanting to know what happened next. As someone familiar with King’s music but not of the woman herself, I was keen to find out more about her and grateful to the show for introducing me to her.
Set largely at 1650 Broadway, the studio of music mogul Donnie Kirshner, the set is quickly and easily adaptable to become a high school common room, ski chalet, family home, TV studio and many more, made even more versatile by Ben Cracknell’s lighting design. Leah Hill’s choreography captured the era perfectly, working nimbly alongside Nikolai Foster’s direction.
The standout of the show is undoubtedly Molly Grace-Cutler as the eponymous lead. A powerful voice with a beautiful tone matched by impeccable instrument-playing and wonderful acting – an absolute star in the making. However, one of the elements I most loved about the production was how it always felt like a true company where a swing was just as important as the ‘lead’. This was definitely helped by the constant presence of the cast of triple-threat performers – one minute dancing and singing as a Drifter or Shirelle, the next providing accompaniment to another song. The whole company should be immensely proud of what they’ve achieved.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre until 16 April 2022 before continuing its tour until the end of the year and is definitely worth catching if you can.
- : admin
- : 12/04/2022