It’s been a few years since BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL was in the city but next week it makes a welcome return and gets to the New Theatre in Cardiff all next week. This show isn’t just the usual stuff you get from musical theatre, but also the constant surprises at the sheer volume of hits Ms King has turned out.
I can pretty much guarantee you’ll sit in the theatre and hear whispers of ‘OMG she wrote that song, I love this.’ You see, Carole King isn’t only a fantastic performer in her own right but for around 65 years she has been churning out some of the most era defining, life enhancing songs. Her first hit, which she had when she was just 17, was the incredible ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,’ and from that moment on she has written for some of the biggest artists in the world – including herself.
I promise you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of a musical jukebox, which only plays great songs that we all know and love. Take a look at the compilation below we’ve put together and see how many of these classics you remember. The cast you’ll see from the musical are from previous productions.
Some of the versions we included were re-makes, which shows just how everlasting these Goffin/King songs are. The look on Carole King’s face when James Taylor was introduced at a special performance of Beautiful was priceless.
You can watch the trailer for the current tour production HERE.
What is so great about BEAUTIFUL is the variety within Carole King’s songbook. There’s the sugar coated, unadulterated pop songs (The Locomotion) to those that will tear your heart in two (You Make Me Feel). We guarantee there’ll be at least one song in the show which gives you that – ‘I didn’t know she wrote that’ moment.
Long before she was Carole King, the chart-topping music legend, she was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. By rights this really shouldn’t make for the stuff of a theatrical stage. Carole was and is down to earth, the nicest, most normal, least eccentric star ever to be at the heart of musical. This is not only the show if you love popular music but especially for those theatre regulars who don’t like drama queens.
BEAUTIFUL tells the inspiring true story of Carole’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit song-writing team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.
For someone like me, who’s been around music for more years than I care to admit, I look for names on records to see who has written what (feel free to call me a geek). Carole’s name I have seen credited on many records over the years. Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann are two others. Now they may be secondary to the BEAUTIFUL story but were such a key, positive part of Carole’s life. And actually the songs they turned out over the years would quite easily make another smash hit musical.
- Walking In The Rain
- Saturday Night At The Movies
- On Broadway
- Come On Over To My Place
- It’s Getting Better
- Somewhere Out There
- You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin‘
And the list goes on. So secondary in the Beautiful story they may be, but they add to the rich TAPESTRY (sorry) that is Carole King’s life.
There’s no doubt that Carole and Gerry wrote the soundtrack to a generation, with countless classics such as, Take Good Care of My Baby, You’ve Got a Friend, So Far Away, It Might as Well Rain Until September, Up on the Roof, and The Locomotion. Yep, the song that eventually made Kylie such a star.
Also watch for Neil Sedaka who crops up as a character in the show, played by DAN-DE-CRUZ, who also plays a Righteous Brother and is the onstage Musical Director. Any ideas which of Neil’s songs Carole influenced?
The music is seamlessly woven into the story, with no corny one liners which eventually lead to a hit song. Something you get a lot in these musical biogs. You do get the feeling that songwriting was both a job and occasionally a chore, that neither Carole or Gerry could juggle alongside a young family, Gerry in particular. As with any relationship, the pressure of living and working together was always going to be damaging to the pair of them.
BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is an Olivier award-winning West End and Broadway show and it’s back in Cardiff for a third time now, and that’s because we love this show so much. Although it’s about Carole King, it’s a real ensemble piece, especially as so many of her hits were performed by some incredible groups and artists.
The cast for this production are outstanding, led by MOLLY-GRACE CUTLER who plays Carole.
Molly-Grace is an Olivier award winner herself for the touring production of The Worst Witch, which also spent some time in London’t West End.
Other theatre credits include; Girls Don’t Play Guitars (The Royal Court Liverpool), We’ll Live and Die In These Towns (Belgrade Theatre), Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Queens Theatre Hornchurch) .
We asked Molly-Grace to tell us what the audience can expect when they come to see Beautiful……..
“It’s done by a full company of live musicians, which is very different to the original Broadway and West End productions and previous tours. It’s a really feel-good musical. It’s emotional and very heartwarming, to say the least.”
We’ve already mentioned the body of work Carole King has turned out over the years, but how would you describe her as a character? And do you feel any pressure about bringing her to life on stage?
“She’s an incredible music icon. She’s very driven and very determined, and you get to see how resilient she is as her story goes on. As for feeling the pressure, yes there’s a lot of that – especially given that she’s still to this day a living legend. But I’m very happy that I’m getting to play her and her music.
The big challenge is in playing someone who is still around, so people will inevitably compare you to her as well as other people who have played the role before. It’s about doing your own thing whilst also paying respect to the people before along with to Carole herself.”
Molly Grace is joined by TOM MILNER as her husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin. SEREN SANDHAM-DAVIES is song-writer Cynthia Weil, JOS SLOVICK is song-writer Barry Mann.
We asked the three of them to tell us about their characters and where they fit into Carole’s story – Tom first.
“Gerry Goffin is her first husband and songwriting partner. In the show he’s quite chaotic, he’s always striving for more and he eventually suffers a massive breakdown.”
Seren………
“Cynthia Weil is part of a songwriting team with Barry Mann whose paths cross with Carole and Gerry during the Brill Building era in the 60s. As a character she’s ahead of her time. She doesn’t conform and she’s very prescient, plus she’s very funny and having a female comic character to play is an absolute gift.”
Jos…….
“Barry, as Seren says, is Cynthia’s songwriter partner as well as her husband. He’s very sharp with a lot of that Jewish humour; think Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld because he has that kind of rhythm to him. He’s a humorous hypochondriac.”
The cast is complete with CLAIRE GREENAWAY is Carole’s mother Genie Klein and GARY ROBSON is music publisher and producer Donnie Kirshner.
Also – Naomi Alade, Kemi Clarke, Chris Coxon, Amena El-Kindy, Louise Francis, Dylan Gordon-Jones, Jessica Jolleys, Sorrel Jordan, Myles Miller, Peter Mooney and Adrien Spencer.
A little bit of theatre geek info now – during the last tour VICKI MANSER played Carole King at certain performances and she is in town right now finishing up a week long run at the New Theatre in ROCK OF AGES.
The musical is directed by Leicester Curve’s Artistic Director NIKOLAI FOSTER, whose recent credits include acclaimed five-star productions of A Chorus Line, West Side Story and 2020’s streamed production of Sunset Boulevard – at Home.
And what of the woman in question?
Carole has been making music for an unbelievable 62 years now. She started as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building, famous for its musical roots and links with Tin Pan Alley. Sh then went on to a solo career becoming the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in America, having written or co-written 118 pop hits. 61 of those made it into our charts, making her the most successful female songwriter here between 1952 and 2005.
If there’s one album you need in your collection then TAPESTRY is the one. Since then Carole has made 25 solo albums. Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She’s won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honoured. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.
Since the show first opened back in 2015 it has had nothing but high praise, five star reviews and sell out after sell out performances and an Olivier Award along the way. For the cast though, the opening night will be one of those never forget moments, when Carole herself joined them on stage for the curtain call.
Finally, with so many incredible songs in the show we wondered were there any favourites among the cast. Molly-Grace first……
“I’d have to say (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman because it’s such an honest, emotional song about her relationship with Gerry.
Seren……
“That song is very special because it has such an impact on the audience. I also love the rockier numbers and It’s Too Late, which has a jazzier feel. There are so many good songs, it’s hard to choose between them.”
Jos……
“I play the guitar on It’s Too Late and it’s got a great groove to it. [Laughs] It’s my jam, as the kids say, and Molly-Grace sings and plays it wonderfully.”
Tom……
“There’s a song I do with the cast called Pleasant Valley Sunday and it’s a great rocking, uptempo song.”
Incidentally, Pleasant Valley is the song made famous by The Monkees.
So with a musical pedigree like that BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is one show you don’t want to miss when it gets to the New Theatre in Cardiff next week from Tuesday 28th May. Performances are at 7:30pm with a 2:30pm matinee on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tickets start at £23.50 with a range of prices and concessions. You can get them and more details right HERE. and you can get them here. BEAUTIFUL
