By Frank O’Donnell
There are some who would consider Carole King an overnight success. Her 1971 album, “Tapestry,” took the music industry by storm, earning her four Grammy Awards.
But after you see “Beautiful,” the musical based on King’s pre-“Tapestry” years, you’ll appreciate that none of her success happened overnight.
From the opening notes of the overture to the curtain call, “Beautiful” will have you smiling.
The show opens with a single piano on stage. When the lights come up, Carole King (Abby Mueller) is addressing a Carnegie Hall audience before launching into one of her solo hits, “So Far Away.” The piano and King withdraw and are replaced by an early 50s New York apartment, where the young Carole Klein – King’s real name – pushes her mom (Suzanne Grodner) away from a small upright piano so she can play her newest song.
She’s 16, and determined to become a songwriter. Her mom’s determined that she become a teacher. But Carole persists, drags her friend Betty (Sarah Bockel) to Don Kirshner’s (Curt Bouril) music studio in Times Square, and manages to sell her first song.
That’s the start of an amazing career that included writing or co-writing over 100 pop hits that were including on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 chart.
“Beautiful” is the story of King’s hard work and sacrifice, with a superficial but telling glimpse into her personal life. Mostly, this show is about the music she created, on her own, and with her then-husband, Gerry Goffin (Liam Tobin). It’s intertwined with the story of their writer-composer friends, Cynthia Weil (Becky Gulsvig) and Barry Mann (Ben Fankhauser), who were also amazingly productive hit makers.
There’s not a song in this show that you won’t recognize. For many in my particular age range, this is the song track of our lives. But even for the younger generation, these are songs you know. You might not be able to instantly identify the original artists, but you now the songs. And the coolest part: you had no idea King and company were involved.
There are wonderful “cameos” throughout by actors portraying real-life singers and groups like Neil Sedaka, The Drifters and The Shirelles. When the Righteous Brothers are revealed, singing “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” folks in the audience applauded as if they were the real deal.
The show moves quickly, thanks to the music, and to some very witty dialogue. Gulsvig and Grodner do most of the heavy lifting in the humor department, with a nod going to Fankhauser’s portrayal of Mann’s hypochondria (“I’ve never been in a place with such a high pollen count.”)
As for Mueller’s portrayal of King – it’s not an impersonation, it’s more an impression. But when she’s seated at the piano, playing to her Carnegie Hall audience at the open and close of the show, it’s very easy to imagine that she is Carole King. The look, the sound, the mannerisms are all there.
As she says at the top of the show, sometimes when life doesn’t go the way you want, it ends up beautiful. And “Beautiful” is just that.
