Tue 4/5-Sun 4/17
The Connor Palace radiated positive energy, both before, during and after opening night of this gorgeous touring production of Broadway mega-hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. It’s the story of a songwriter eclipsed by her songs, but if story creator Douglas McGrath’s shy Carole is anything like the real Carole, she’d have wanted it that way, at least in the beginning.
The musical opens with Carole (the vibrant, amazing and tuneful Abby Mueller) spotlighted, alone on the stage, playing the piano and singing from her 1971 hit album Tapestry. It’s a big solo show (and we get to play the role of audience). She sings to us as she reminisces, “So far away/Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?”
And then the adult Carole and the piano are rolled offstage, the curtains part, and there she is in 1960, an eager, naive 16-year-old determined to make a living writing songs. The show tracks her marriage and her friendships, but a gratifying amount of it revels in King’s hit songs — over two dozen, many still associated more with other performers than with King. Want a sampling? There’s “Take Good Care of My Baby” for Bobby Vee, “Chains,” covered by the Beatles, “The Loco-Motion” for Little Eva, and, perhaps the most iconic, sexiest fun of all, “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” for the legendary Aretha Franklin.
Abby Mueller brings a freshness and energy to the role that works especially well when she plays the teenage Carole. (I saw the original Broadway production and wondered at the time if this show would work without original star, the talented Jessie Mueller. Little did I know that she had a sister! But she does and so the answer is “Yes,” it will work, and beautifully too.) See the two sing together at 54 Below for a vocal treat.
A great cast supports Mueller. Becky Gulsvig (as Cynthia Weil) creates a likeable, perky, fellow songwriter who is Carole’s BFF. (Weill was no slouch herself; she wrote “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” and other hits.) Liam Tobin as Gerry Goffin, Carole’s husband and writing partner, breaks her heart, but not before they write their first hit, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” for the Shirelles. Ben Fankhauser (Barry Mann), Andrew Brewer (Don Kirshner), and Suzanne Grodner (Genie) as well as excellent ensemble singers and dancers (great costumes too) swept many of us back to the “olden days.” As someone sitting nearby laughingly exclaimed, King’s songs “tell our story.” Indeed they do.
Bottom Line: Go if you can still get tickets. All seats are pretty good and the sound is what really counts in this musical delight. Despite the wind that nearly knocked us off our feet as we left (that snow-loaded cold front blew in that night), I could not help but think how lucky we were to have such fine shows coming our way via Playhouse Square and the Broadway Series.
For tickets or information go to playhousesquare.org/beautiful or call Playhouse Square at 216-241-6000.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]Cleveland, OH 44115