The first of New Broadway shows for the Spring 2014 season opened on Sunday, Jan. 12. Beautiful The Carole King Musical celebrated Opening Night at the Sondheim Theater on W. 43rd Street.
As indicated by its title, Beautiful tells the story of how Carole King came into her own as a songwriter and performer. The story starts back in the late 1950’s when Carole was just 16 years old but already writing music. As she got older, the story of how she and her husband, Gerry Goffin, became a song writing team is told. She wrote numerous songs for some big acts in rock’n’rock and the catalog includes such hits as “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” and “Up on the Roof” among many others. The show concludes with her own entry as a performer as the world famous “Tapestry” album was being enjoyed by so many of her generation.
L-R: Jeb Brown as Don Kirshner, Jake Epstein as Gerry Goffin, Jessie Mueller as Carole King, Jarrod Spector as Barry Mann, and Anika Larsen as Cynthia Weil. Photo: Joan Marcus 2013
To see what the critics had to say about the show, visit this Review Roundup on www.BroadwayWorld.com. To summarize, there are mixed reactions to the show but a basic enjoyment of the musical aspects presented.
Learn more about the show at the official website of beautifulonbroadway.com. Full priced tickets are available through this site. As of yesterday, discounts were not showing up easily if at all.