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Show: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Society: New Wimbledon Theatre (professional)
Venue: New Wimbledon Theatre
Credits: Book by Douglas McGrath. Words & music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Produced by Paul Blake, Mike Bosner, Jeffrey A. Sine, Richard A. Smith & Michael Harrison.
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 23/05/2018
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Chris Abbott | 23 May 2018 11:26am
BEAUTIFUL. Bronte Barbe ‘Carole King’. Photo by Craig Sugden
The New Wimbledon Theatre hosts many musical theatre tours but the first nights are not always as full as was the case for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, when a full house welcomed the show. Not just a jukebox musical, this is a fully staged narrative of the long and productive life of a musical legend, taking us from her first song-writing successes in the 1950s to her Carnegie Hall concert.
In the lead role, Bronté Barbé was entirely convincing as the young and older Carole, although by playing a songwriter for much of the time she often stands by while others do the singing till she brings the house down with the solo rendition of Beautiful which ends the show. By nature self-effacing, Carole King is a difficult character to play as the central role, but Barbé does so with charm, humour and commitment – and she can certainly sing the songs. There is deft character work from Carol Royle as her mother and Adam Howden’s Donnie becomes less clichéd and more sympathetic as the story progresses.
In more substantial roles, Matthew Gonsalves and a striking Amy Ellen Richardson play a songwriting duo who seem to be forever in King’s shadow, and both make believable characters and are given more time to do so than is the case with some of the rest of the cast. As King’s first husband, Kane Oliver Parry portrays very effectively the gradual decline of their relationship.
Most of the audience were there for the songs not the life-story of course, and these were delivered, almost 30 of them, to a delighted audience and within a totally convincing period setting. Marc Bruni’s direction is responsible for much of this of course, with pacy use of the settings from Derek McLane. The two facets of the production that contributed most however were costume and choreography. Costume Designer Alejo Vietti and team have created a feast of flares, fifties suits and shimmering dresses, and on a couple of occasions, presented these through a remarkable series of quick changes. The choreography from Josh Prince evolved with the narrative, and it was a joy to see again (well, for some of us it was a revisiting) Little Eva doing the Locomotion or the Drifters matching tight harmonies to movement in unison.
The audience response at the end showed how much they had enjoyed the evening, and that includes the many who remember the eras portrayed and sat enthusiastically applauding as well as those younger people who have learnt from TV that the only way to show appreciation is to whoop, holler and leap to their feet blocking the view of those behind. But enough of the grumpy old man – this was a delight of an evening for those who are new to the Carole King story and for those already familiar with her amazing achievements.
- : admin
- : 23/05/2018