Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL Is A Stylish Evening of Wit and Musical Memories

BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL is a jukebox musical that tells the story of the early life and career of Carole King with a book by Douglas McGrath, using songs that she wrote, often together with Gerry Goffin, and other contemporary songs by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Phil Spector and others. The original production received its world premiere in San Francisco in October of 2013, and made its Broadway debut at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in January 2014. This U.S. touring production now at Bass Concert Hall launched in September 2015.

The show opens in 1971 at a Carnegie Hall performance where Carole King (Julia Knitel) sings "So Far Away". We then flash back to 1958 Brooklyn, where a 16 year old Carole is telling her mother, Genie (Suzanne Grodner), she is going to Manhattan to try to sell a song to music publisher Don Kirshner (James Clow). Genie opposes her plan but Carole goes anyway. The new song she is trying to sell is "It Might As Well Rain Until September". Kirschner not only buys the song but he asks her if she has more. Carole meets a young lyricist named Gerry Goffin (Andrew Brewer) and they collaborate, both musically and romantically. In fact, their collaborations are so fruitful that Carole becomes pregnant. Gerry asks her to marry him. This takes us to her days at 1650 Broadway (a rival to the other major music factory in New York during that period, The Brill Building) and the fateful meeting where Carole meets lyricist Cynthia Weil (Erika Olson), who is looking for a composer to work with. Gerry and Carole sing her their new song, during which Barry Mann (Ben Fankhauser), the composer with the office next door, enters. Barry meets Cynthia and they decide to collaborate. As they begin to work, romantic sparks fly. Kirschner tells them he needs a song for The Shirelles and whoever gets a song completed first will get the prestige of a hit act recording their song. The couples compete for the job. In Kirshner's office the next morning, Carole and Gerry present "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" while Cynthia and Barry perform "He's Sure the Boy I Love". Kirschner picks Carole and Gerry's song for The Shirelles and it goes to no. 1. And thus is a competition born. The two teams churn out an astonishing number of hit songs that includes "Up on the Roof", "On Broadway", "The Loco-Motion" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'".

In all, 28 golden oldies are packed into the show, mostly from the two writing teams. The show traces King's rise from songwriter to star and how, along the way, she managed to write the soundtrack to an entire generations lives. Indeed, she was a major influence on the singer/songwriter movement. If she wasn't the first female singer/songwriter she was by far the most successful.

Douglas McGrath's book for BEAUTIFUL is wonderfully written with a great deal of wit. All of the major historical facts are given and nothing feels rushed or glossed over. By the same turn, the script never falls into the trap of dwelling on things too long either. The end result is an inspiring story of female empowerment told with a great deal of wit. Director Marc Bruni does a masterful job with the script and the evening flies by. He has used a light deft touch wisely focusing on the humor and well written characters to deliver a highly entertaining evening of theatre. Likewise, Susan Draus gets great sound out of the company that hints at the original pop hits without being a duplication, which keeps the energy fresh and lively. Josh Prince's choreography is sharp and snappy and even has a sense of humor about itself. I loved how the signature moves of his routines are used for exits in the group performances.

Derek McLane's scenic design is an elegantly simple series of industrial structures, softened by fabrics, and minimal furniture to convey time and place. It all works like clockwork. Peter Kaczorowski's lighting design is perfection, enhancing the performance beautifully. Alejo Vietti provides period perfect costumes that convey even the subtle differences in fashion during the sixties and seventies. This greatly aids in establishing time change of and by itself.

The cast here is uniformly excellent right down to the ensemble. Julia Knitel, as Carole King, conveys her style without mimicking and gets the most out of the characters wonderful self effacing humor. Suzanne Grodner has great comedic timing and does a terrific Jewish mother turn as Genie King. Andrew Brewer is charming as Gerry Goffin and does a credible job conveying the deep conflicts and mental problems plaguing the character. As Cynthia Weil, Erika Olson is simply terrific with brilliant comic timing and a powerhouse voice. Ben Fankhauser, as Barry Mann, does a great job, nailing the self effacing Jewish hypochondriac humor. James Clow is excellent as Don Kirshner, the master manipulator with a heart of gold. And, in a small but recurring role as Neil Sedaka, John Michael Dias is hilarious. His exits are perfection. Hard to explain, but once you see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

BEAUTIFUL is a great evening of music, laughs and a feel good story of one of music history's true legends coming into her own. Highly recommended to anyone who loves her music and to everyone who enjoys great musical theatre.

BEAUTIFUL: Book by Douglas McGrath, Music and Lyrics by Carole King, using songs that she wrote, with Gerry Goffin, and other contemporary songs by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Phil Spector, among others.

Running time: Two Hours and Thirty Minutes including Intermission
Please note that current Bass Concert Hall policy does not permit exiting the building at intermission. If you go outside, you will not be allowed back in.

BEAUTIFUL, presented by Lexus Broadway In Austin, at Bass Concert Hall in the Texas Performing Arts Center (2350 Robert Dedman Dr, Austin, TX 78712). Performances run through Mar. 26th. Tickets start at $35.00.
Ticket info 512-471-1444 or www.BroadwayInAustin.com