A familiar tale, with terrific pop tunes
Entertaining biographical jukebox musical is as strong as the talented performer it profiles
The arc of Carole King’s story, as told in Beautiful — The Carole King Musical, will be familiar to anyone who has seen A Star Is Born or Funny Girl.
A talented woman achieves professional success as a musical artist while struggling for personal happiness and self-esteem. The man she loves both helps and hinders her until she finally emerges as person in her own right.
The bumps in Carole’s road, from her precocious 16-yearold debut in 1958 to her triumphant 1971 solo album, Tapestry, almost all relate to her husband and songwriting partner, lyricist Gerry Goffin. Together they composed dozens of the most successful pop songs of the era.
The greatest strengths of this entertaining jukebox musical are the songs themselves and some fine performances, especially by the marvellous Sarah Bockel, who absolutely channels King in this Broadway Across Canada touring production.
Ambitious young Carole refuses to be fazed by her funny Jewish mother (Suzanne Grodner, doing a nice job with the stereotype), who tells her, “Girls don’t write music, they teach it.”
Pitching producer Don Kirshner (a relaxed James Clow) and hooking up with Goffin (Dylan S. Wallach), Carole composes a string of great hit tunes: Up on the Roof, On Broadway, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Uptown, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling and more.
Cynthia Weil (Alison Whitehurst) and Barry Mann (Jacob Heimer) join Kirshner’s stable, write their own pop classics (He’s Sure the Boy I Love, Walkin’ in the Rain) and become Carole and Gerry’s best friends.
Meanwhile, Carole has two babies and Gerry gets restless. He aspires to be an artist, not write pop schlock. And the times they are a-changing. He wants more than the monogamy and suburban family bliss that self-described “square” Carole longs for.
The play’s somewhat mechanical structure nicely showcases the songs. The writers first sing it solo or as a duet with just a piano. Then the recording group performs it, fully costumed and orchestrated.
Stripped down to their simplest form, the familiar songs sound fresh. But the group performances are largely overproduced, over-arranged and too heavily choreographed. The Shirelles in the show get away with it, but The Drifters really suffer from these excesses. Things work best when director Marc Bruni trusts the material and presents the performances relatively unadorned.
Wallach sustains a sympathetic Gerry, even when his affairs and drug habit threaten Carole’s happiness. Whitehurst makes a lively, stylish Cynthia, and Heimer’s hypochondriac Barry is the very funny comic centrepiece.
All have good voices and the four friends have excellent chemistry.
But Bockel is the star in every way. A terrific actor and fine singer, she has a voice that could pass for King’s own. When Carole goes solo, Bockel showcases King’s genius in stirring ensemble performances of You’ve Got a Friend and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, and lovely solos of It’s Too Late and Beautiful.
Leaving her man behind and literally letting her hair down, Carole finally comes out from under her sense of plain ordinariness.
The title song captures her dawning self-realization that she. in every way, is as beautiful as the music she has made.