Review: The Earth Moved For The Australian Premiere of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL At Sydney's Lyric Theatre

Saturday 23rd September 2017, 7pm, Lyric Theatre

BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL, the multi award winning heart-warming musical filled with the hit songs of the 20th century opened to a standing ovation in Sydney on Saturday night. The all Australian cast, led by the outstanding Esther Hannaford as Carole King, recreate the original production that has been seen on Broadway and the West End, infusing an energy and lightness to the incredibly beautiful and brilliant expression of the true story of Carole King and her closest friends.

With an initial glimpse of where the whole show is leading too, Carole King's first concert in front of an audience at the legendary Carnegie Hall on June 18 1971, BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL takes the audience back to 1958 when the 16 year old meek and mild Carol Joan Klein from Brooklyn changed her name, ventured uptown to 1650 Broadway, and sold her first song. Whilst naturally focused on King's journey, BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL is very much a story of her partnership with writing partner and first husband Gerry Goffin (Josh Piterman) and their best friends and creative competitors writing duo Cynthia Weil (Amy Lehpamer) and Barry Mann (Mat Verevis). Weil and Mann occupied the office next to King and Goffin in the iconic 1650 Broadway building which was home to Don Kirshner's (Mike McLeish) Aldon Music and part of the evolution of the Brill Building sound which defined the rock and roll of the 1950's.

Whilst this fits within the jukebox musical genre, Douglas Mcgrath (Book) has ensured that this is an honest biographical work, capturing the truth of the characters, all of which were alive when he first wrote the musical, Goffin having passed away after the show's debut. There is a lovely contrast between the two couples, from King's innocence and naivety and Weil's more confident worldliness even though she was only two years older and Mann's absolute devotion to Weil whilst Goffin spiralled into depression, drug use and a string of affairs because he never aspired to the American dream of a family and home with a white picket fence in the suburbs which was all King wanted. The changing times were expressed in the difference between King and Goffin's shotgun wedding when they discovered she was pregnant at 17, to Weil turning Mann down when the lovesick hypochondriac first proposed because she wanted to retain her independence, and King's mother Genie Klein's (Anne Wood) initial assertions that music wasn't a career and King should teach and later her support for King leaving the cheating Goffin.

McGrath has drawn works from both writing teams to illustrate their rise to success as the two pairs chased each other up the Billboard charts whilst ensuring that the songs have context, not just being inserted for the sake of squeezing in another hit and pandering to audience sentimentality. Given that both duos wrote but didn't perform their own work, groups like The Drifters, The Shirelles and The Righteous Brothers are recreated to deliver the works, capturing the style and sound of a generation that were the first boy bands and girl groups long before the MTV generation thought they invented the concept.

For this wonderful story, Derek McLane has designed an ingenious set of sliding parts that looks simple but has so much detail, allowing the spaces to be transformed from the offices of 1650 Broadway to King's childhood Brooklyn home, the recording studios where demos were laid down and King and Goffin's suburban New Jersey home. Whilst the same upright piano serves all the locations, even turning between the two offices at 1650 Broadway, the furniture reflects the location and the character of the inhabitants. Costume Designer Alejo Vietti has captured the transition of time and growth of the characters from King's conservative schoolgirl skirts and sweaters to what she considered was appropriate for a wife and mother and finally embracing more of the freedom of the late 60's following her divorce. Vietti captures the contrast between King and Weil, with King always more homely whilst Weil is always more sophisticated, evolving into a Mod by the time of King's Carnegie Hall concert. He also presents the various song groups with the vibrant colour and movement that, when paired with Josh Prince's choreography, perfectly captures the nostalgic cheesiness of the 1950's and 1960's music performances which had the ensembles all perfectly coordinated and making the most of technicolour television.

Director Marc Bruni has bought together a stellar cast where the performances are consistently fabulous with no weak points. The comic timing is perfect and the emotion is conveyed with an honesty that feels King's pain when she realises that Goffin can't love her the way she loves him and Mann is completely dejected when Weil turns down his proposal. Even for the smaller roles of Kirshner and Genie Klein, casting director Lauren Wiley has put musical theatre heavy weights McLeish and Wood in to ensure that there are no gaps in the storytelling. Wiley has also done well dealing with the challenge of meeting Producer Michael Cassel's commitment to an all Australian cast, drawing on an ethnically diverse talent base to fill the roles of The Shirelles, The Drifters, Little Eva and Janelle Woods. She has ensured that the performers capture the essence of the roles they are filling whilst also presenting enough of a visual representation of the African-Americans they are portraying.

Whilst Piterman and Verevis deliver solid performances as the mentally unstable and unsettled, rocker playwright lyricist and the neurotic lovesick composer respectively, it is the women that shine the brightest. Lehpamer, a star in her own right, is deliciously delightful as the smart and stylish Cynthia Weil, delivering lines with a brilliant deadpan including when the expression continues from her voice to her physicality as she passes judgement on Mann's ridiculous Who Put The Bomp. Lehpamer also ensures that the audience sees the softer side to the confident career woman, as she consoles King and eventually opens up to Mann. Weil's 'audition' adaptation of Happy Days Are Here Again for Kirshner is a perfect showcase of Lehpamer's comic talents whilst He's Sure The Boy I Love utilises her more sensitive side but also showing her cheeky sass.

Esther Hannaford is absolutely perfect as Carole King, capturing the nerdy musical genius with grace and sensitivity that makes the audience understand why King's music has been so powerful and speaks to so many people. Hannaford captures King's growth from innocent schoolgirl to mother, wife and musical legend with heart and honesty, finding the perfect balance so that everything feels real and the audience share in King's heartbreak and her successes. Vocally she captures King's sound and physically she captures King's mannerisms, exuding her enthusiasm and excitement when creating and also competing with Weil and Mann next door, and the complete defeat when she realises that whilst she may be a chart topping composer, her home life is falling apart. Hannaford captures the essence and soul of the music with her remarkable voice expressing King's joy of Louise's birth but also her raw broken pain that was also tempered with forgiveness, often accompanying herself on the ever-present upright piano.

The Australian production of BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL is a definite must see for any musical theatre lover and any fan of music as many may be surprised at how prolific King and Goffin and Weil and Mann were. You'll laugh, cry and come out with hope and humming a song or two as Hannaford and the cast ensure that BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL touches your soul. Of the jukebox musicals, this surpasses all others as it is so much more than just a vehicle for a collection of hits, telling a true story with heart and honesty and is a definite Must See

BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL

Lyric Theatre Sydney

(Title Image: Joan Marcus)