A FITTING TRIBUTE

Beautiful: The Carole King

Musical, which closed at The Bord Gáis Theatre yesterday, was a very enjoyable show, containing many of her greatest songs along with others by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was brilliantly sung and stylishly danced and staged, although as usual, the songs, the voices and the musical accompaniment were too often distorted by the amplification. It doesn’t happen in vintage classic musicals or in opera. My other uneasiness is with the format of bio-musicals, especially those where the subject is still alive and always face the possibility of law suits for libel. The songs never grow organically out of the play as they do in the best musicals; the scenes are often a patchwork of cute comedy and dire dialogue used to fill up the gap between songs. On stage, I’d happily settle for the songs and routines accompanied by a performing narrator integrated into the show with a good script.