First Nighter: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Is Beautiful Where It Counts
7 / 10
...it should have a long and healthy run, if, that is, the producers can either convince Jessie Mueller to remain in the title role forever or, failing that, if they can find replacements as enormously talented as she is and as cannily cast... Beautiful is snappily moved along by Derek McLane's shifting sets...But while everything mentioned above contributes to Beautiful, Douglas McGrath's libretto pulls it down several notches. Not so many that it threatens irreversible damage, but still.

