Opening night of BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at the Wales Millennium Centre was like being in the middle of a jukebox playing all the hits you know and love so well. But hang on a second Henry, I can hear you say, I’m not really that familiar with Carole’s songs. Yeah she did that brilliant Tapestry album which gets played all the time, but you can’t make a whole musical out of that surely.

Maybe I’m underestimating your knowledge of popular music and where Carole King fits into it, but judging by the audience whispers of ‘OMG she wrote that song, I love that one’ I think a little musical reminder of some of the biggies is needed. So before we tell you what we thought of the show, here’s a few minutes of some of Carole King’s best and biggest hits.

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.

What is so great about BEAUTIFUL the story of Carole King, is that you watch the show, listen to the music and realise what an incredible songwriting talent she is. Now that seems a pretty glib statement, but it’s not only the songs themselves, it’s the variety within her 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 was watching for the characters surrounding Carole, names I have seen credited on records for their songwriting prowess. Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann are two such people. They may well be secondary to the 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 Beautiful 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.

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.

Photo – Helen Maybanks

We have to give special credit to the band and particularly the orchestrations, vocal and musical arrangement by Steve Sidwell. These are classic pop songs, but he somehow makes them sit comfortably in a theatrical show, without losing any of the heart and soul of these incredible tunes.

We can tell you that from where we sat the entire audience loved every second. I escorted (held their umbrella) a group of six ladies back to their minibus, waiting to take them home to Pontypridd. Charlotte, Val, Pat, Linda, Maggie and spokesperson (the loud one) Debbie said they pitied the driver on the journey back as they were ready to burst into a chorus or ten of The Locomotion. As for the show, they too loved every second of it…….

“As soon as the lad playing Neil Sedaka came out that was it, we were singing and tapping along to every song in the show. It was bloody brilliant. We loved that she was just an ordinary lass who could do something really special. She wasn’t all glam and glitzy, it was like she was one of us, but she wasn’t. We’re definitely coming back this week.”

“Val had a little cry when they sang You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, but I had a little gasp when the fella playing her husband took his shirt off. Now I’ve gotta got back to my husband stretched on the sofa in his vest and pants. But no, we all loved it and would tell anyone to come and see it.”

BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is an Olivier award-winning West End and Broadway show and it’s back in Cardiff for a second time. And 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 DAISY WOOD-DAVIS who plays Carole.

Daisy is best known for her regular role, Kim Butterfield In Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. She’s also been in Eastenders and Holby City. Her stage work is pretty impressive too. She’s been in Dreamboats & Petticoats, The Rocky Horror Show & most recently, was Sheila in the UK tour of Hair.

Also in the show are……..

This is the full line up…….

Daisy Wood-Davis will play Carole King. She will be joined by Adam Gillian as King’s husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, Laura Baldwin as song-writer Cynthia Weil, Cameron Sharp as song-writer Barry Mann, Susie Fenwick as King’s mother Genie Klein and Oliver Boot as music publisher and producer Donnie Kirshner. At certain performances, Carole King will be played by Vicki Manser.

Vicki Manser

The cast is completed by Toyan Thomas-Browne, Reece Budin, Ronald Brian, Carly Cook, Julia Dray, Jordan Fox, Louise Francis, Chloe Gentles, Katrina May, Grant McConvey, Jacob McIntosh, Samuel Nicholas, Leah St Luce, Mica Townsend and Damien Winchester.

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.

And what of the woman in question?

Carole – Back in the day

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.

Carole’s major success began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits, many of which have become standards for so many artists. She has continued writing for other artists since then. As a performer in her own right, success didn’t come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano. Her first album, WRITER flopped and then came along TAPESTRY and that was it. It topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.

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.

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 Wales Millennium Centre till Saturday 14th March. Performances are at 7:30pm with a 2:30pm matinee on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets start at £18 and you can get them here. BEAUTIFUL