Review: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

In preparation for another story, I saw Beautiful: The Carole King Musical last night, and I have only one question: what took me so long?

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

In 2-1/2 hours, I learned so much about not only Carole King but also the history of rock and roll. Did you know that “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, penned with Gerry Goffin, was Carole’s first Number One hit, when she was just 17? I had no idea that she entered the music industry as a teenager after meeting the legendary songwriter Gerry Goffin and went on to produce hits like the Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion,” and the Drifters’ “Some King of Wonderful”. Even better, each hit is sung by an impeccably talented cast, which brought the reality of her own legendary status even more to light with me.

The two songwriters had a loving but tumultuous personal and professional relationship. Perhaps they met too young (she got pregnant with their first child while still quite young), perhaps they were two artists navigating careers that catapulted too quickly, or perhaps it was her humble and modest sense of herself (hence the title of the show- it’s not until the show culminates at Carnegie Hall with King’s performance celebrating the release of her first solo album Tapestry that she truly accepts who she is).

Or, of course, it’s named after her hit called Beautiful where King sings:

When people are gonna treat you better, you’ll find, yes you will, you’re beautiful as you feel.

The show will make you sing – it may make you cry. It will easily make you dance in your seat, and like me, you’ll go home and download and listen to everything King ever wrote. Kudos to Chillina Kennedy, Scott L. Campbell, Anika Larsen, Jarrod Spector, Paul Anthony Stewart, Liz Larsen and the rest of the phenomenal cast of Beautiful.

Head to the show’s web site for ticket information.

Disclosure: I was provided with complimentary tickets to facilitate this review and others. As usual, all opinions are my own.