Broadway Review: ‘Beautiful — The Carole King Musical’
7 / 10
The early life and career of legendary singer-songwriter Carole Kingsurely deserves more imaginative treatment than the corny chronological storytelling (And then we wrote ...) and old-fashioned musical format (scene/song/scene/song) of 'Beautiful.' But whenever this bio-musical stumbles over Douglas McGrath's flat-footed book, helmer Marc Bruni rushes to the rescue with some snazzy piece of stagecraft for the sleek production numbers. And all is forgotten, even momentarily forgiven, whenever Jessie Mueller, in the modest person of Carole King, sits down at the piano and pours heart and soul into familiar favorites from the composer's songbook.

