Ben Fankhauser News

Charitybuzz's new auction offers a chance to meet Jeremy Jordan after enjoying the special filmed performance of NEWSIES.

For Ben Fankhauser, life is 'Beautiful.' He's about to celebrate his one-year anniversary touring in that Broadway bio musical about Carole King. It showcases Abby Mueller, the sister of its original Tony-winning star, Jessie Mueller. In 'Beautiful,' Fankhauser plays Barry Mann, who teamed up with Cynthia Weil to co-write top pop hits like 'On Broadway' and 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling.'

While the Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL celebrates the pop classics of Carole King, there is also strong representation from the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Disney Theatrical Productions and Fathom Events announced today that the Tony® Award-winning musical NEWSIES will make its worldwide cinema debut in early 2017, starring Jeremy Jordan, reprising his Tony Award-nominated performance as 'Jack Kelly.'

Today's big news: Broadway's REBECCA scandal appears on CNBC's AMERICAN GREED, the stars of SOMETHING ROTTEN! visit Bryant Park, and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF welcomes a new 'Fruma-Sarah' tonight!

Beautiful - The Carole King Musical is one of those shows where you can't help but fall in love with the nostalgia of it all.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Washington, DC, Rhode Island, Sacramento and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include JUMANJI in DC, WEST SIDE STORY in Rhode Island, and HELLO, DOLLY! at Sacramento Music Circus, just to name a few.

In the opening scene of the jukebox musical Beautiful, Carole King (Abby Mueller) is seated at the piano in concert at Carnegie Hall and is describing to the audience how life takes a turn and what results is unexpected...and beautiful. In this Tony-winning show Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, we are taken through the musical history of the 60s when Carole King published music with her then husband Gerry Goffin (Liam Tobin). We see the Shirelles, the Drifters, the Righteous Brothers, for whom King and Goffin wrote tremendous hits like 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', 'The Locomotion' and 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'. We also see the harsh personal life that King suffered due to Goffin's drinking, infidelity and mental illness. Life was successful yet painful and eventually the pair parted, with the Brooklyn-born King going on to establish herself in LA in a whole new light with 'It's Too Late', 'You've Got a Friend', 'So Far Away' as well as 'Beautiful'. Now onstage at the Pantages Beautiful is bound to please every fan of the 60s era of rock 'n roll music and bring an uplifting spark of encouragement to live out your dream.

BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL: A CAROLE KING MUSICAL Is A Good Time At The Hobby Center

The Tony & Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its Fort Lauderdale premiere at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for two weeks, May 10 - 22, 2016. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in action below!

Unsurprisingly, the crowd at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the Opening Night performance of the Tony-winning musical BEAUTIFUL, the final show of the 2015-2016 Broadway in Orlando season, was filled with baby boomers. Not only does that age group line up with traditional theatergoing demographics, but it also encompasses the generations that grew up listening to the music of the legendary songwriter and reluctant performer, Carole King, the show's inspiration. However, the musical, playing through Sunday, May 8th, will almost certainly appeal to music (and musical) lovers of all ages. In fact, the timeless tunes, inventive staging, and dynamite performances make BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL one of the most universally appealing shows in the Dr. Phillips Center's brief year and a half history.

How many of these great songs do you know from underappreciated musicals?

With two Broadway-calibre voices hitting the hits out of the park, BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is pure gold

King is being portrayed by the very talented Abby Mueller. Mueller. Sound familiar? Her sister, Jessie Mueller, won the Tony Award for her portrayal of Carol in the original Broadway production of the show.

Producers Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing announce that the Tony & Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its Cleveland premiere at Playhouse Square for two weeks, April 5 - 17, 2016. To purchase tickets visit playhousesquare.org, call 216.241.6000 or visit the Playhouse Square Ticket Office, located at 1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland. Ticket prices start at $30. Beautiful - The Carole King Musical is part of the 2015-16 KeyBank Broadway Series at Playhouse Square.

The Tony & Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its Fort Lauderdale premiere at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for two weeks, May 10 - 22, 2016. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in action below!

What began in book writer Douglas McGrath's head as a jukebox musical centered around the relationship between competing songwriting teams Carole King and Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil evolved into something slightly different. This was due to the fact that the show stopped before Carole's ground-breaking, highly personal, and still relevant album, 'Tapestry'. So, the show was altered to place the emphasis on King's story, although there's still a lot of interplay between the couples. And, if you happened to catch the 'American Masters' special on King on PBS, then her story will be familiar to you already, but you'll also catch a few historical inaccuracies here and there. BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is a wonderful look at King's rise to fame as a teen who could conjure up melodies that caught the public's ear. It's a sheer delight, packed to the hilt with gorgeous songs that are a part of pop culture history. This is a feel-good, genuinely terrific show that I urge everyone to see immediately!

Producers Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing announce that the Tony & Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit Beautiful-The Carole King Musical, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its St. Louis premiere at the Fabulous Fox Theatre for 2 week February 23 - March 6, 2016.

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance officially opened in Chicago on December 28, and will play thru January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a look inside opening night below!