Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Little Firehouse Theatre

Legendary singer-songwriter Carole King once said she didn’t want to be an artist. Or a divorcee for that matter. 

But the Bergen County Players’ gripping and poignant rendition of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” directed by Alyson Cohn with musical direction by Steve Bell, spotlights the opposite. 

“Who would want to hear a ‘normal’ person sing?” asks King — whose understated elegance, humility and striking inner beauty is played perfectly by doppelgänger Hadar Baron — in response to a prompting Peter Moriarty, who steps into the shiny penny loafers of one of The Righteous Brothers so righteously. 

“Normal people,” he quips. 

When she gives in, King takes a seat at the piano playing one of her most lauded hits, “It’s Too Late.” The song, penned by Teri Stern, is about coming to terms with, and accepting the inevitable end of a romantic relationship that has long run its course. In this case, King croons about the dissolution of her 12-year marriage to her long-time songwriting partner, the troubled but brilliant and gifted Gerry Goffin, played by the dishy Jesse Kriesel. Precipitated by a premature marriage given an unplanned pregnancy, marital issues emerge when he’d criticize his wife, for example, for acting like an “old lady” when she refuses to take part in a game of Strip Poker with fellow songwriting couple Barry Mann (played by the debonair Steven Munoz) and his lover Cynthia Weil, played by Candice Belina, who gives off electric Karen-O vibes in style and aura. This husband-and-wife team juxtaposes a healthier version of what mixing business with pleasure should look like.

In lieu of raging at the moon — even after Goffin wails about his desire to be “Up on the Roof” — which leads into a head-swaying lullaby of his namesake hit — King keeps her cool. As strong and resilient as a mighty tree, staying true to her roots and grounded in who she is, King is wise enough not to assign her self-worth — and everything she’d worked for up until that point — to another human. Certainly not a man. She is, after all, revered for “being a girl who sings girl songs.” 

“My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever-changing view,” King once mused. 

The musical begins with the Players’ taking viewers into the music room of Queens College in the 1950s where the college sweethearts share a deep appreciation for each other's writing talents and charming looks. An unplanned pregnancy prompting a speedy marriage leads to growing their family. Subsequent marital challenges arise tied to Goffin's emotional immaturity, frequent outbursts and coquettish nature, which were later blamed for his drug-induced onset of bipolar disorder. But, with drama being the so-called spice of life,  impassioned songs wouldn't be what they are without histrinonic displays of emotion. This philosophy is precisely what makes this musical shine. The Players' stirring rendition of the jukebox musical teaches that those who stay grounded in self-belief, a radical beginning awaits at the end of what may feel like an earth-shattering ending. The Players’ uplifting, unflinching and wildly entertaining production, which spans the the doo-wop of the 1950s to the turbulent counterculture of the 1960s and early ‘70s New York and California, makes it feel as though King's failed marriage cemented her name as the incomparable Carole King. Baron’s voice inflections mimick the icon, too.

“You know what’s so funny about life,” Baron muses as King. “Sometimes it goes the way you want… and sometimes it doesn’t. But sometimes, when it doesn’t, you find something beautiful.” 

Baron, who takes a seat at her Steinway piano with a smile as reassuring as a primary care physician during her first iconic live performance at Carnegie Hall playing songs off her 1971 debut solo record, “Tapestry,” — one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time — proves it. 

The same woman who made a disheartening performance of her and Goffin’s “One Fine Day,” after discerning she’s not the only apple of his eye earlier in the production, is the same wild-haired, smily woman who sings a hair-raising performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” (popularized by Aretha Franklin) when she taps into her own feminine superpowers she had all along. 

In between navigating this journey of self-discovery from Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter-in-the-making to a household name in easy listening, a spirited cast of Gen Zers (some of whom admitted to having recently navigated their own heartbreak and romantic confusion in their personal lives during the making of the production) brought the musical to life with a sequence of nostalgic, scintillating performances wrapped in dazzling sequin blazers and dresses charmingly emulating The Shirelles (Alyssa Marie, Shelina Faith, Danielle Nelken and Tonette Smith), The Righteous Brothers (Peter Moriarty, T Bone Rube), Lou Adler (T Bone Rube) and Neil Sedaka (T Bone Rube). There’s even some surprise songs from The Monkees and The Animals that bring 1960s hip to life. Larry Brustofski plays an endlessly hilarious Don Kirshner, the music publisher with the “Golden Ear” who means business as much as he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

While the audience was mostly Silent Gen and Baby Boomers relishing in a fond trip down memory lane, the gaping generational gap doesn’t dim the cast’s shine or enthusiasm for embodying their characters. Surprisingly, the cast of Zoomers look and act like they were born in the wrong decade, or connect that deeply with timeless classics from dreamers who originated from their own backyard of the world’s biggest city — inspiring faith, love and hope. As King sings so eloquently in “Beautiful:”