Beck Center’s ‘Beautiful - The Carole King Musical' is some kind of wonderful

Musically speaking, 1971 was a great year for music. Hitting the charts were Led Zepp’s “IV”, Joni Mitchell “Blue”, The Who’s “Who’s Next”, David Bowie’s “Hunky Dory”, Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells A Story”, T-Rex’s “Electric Warrior”, Harry Nilsson’s “Nilsson Schmilsson”, The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers”,Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” and Carole King’s “Tapestry.”

Carole King’s “Tapestry” claimed #1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for 15 weeks. Grammywise it won Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Performance, Record of the Year (“It’s Too Late”) and Song of the Year (“You’ve Got A Friend”). Being into all kinds of music I purchased the album on the recommendation of a friend. I still own that vinyl. Every song was a story that the listener could fill in their own experiences. It was in a word...mesmerizing.

Forty two years later Broadway finally got around to recognizing this most amazing talent as “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in October of 2013. It went on to Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in January of 2014. Predictably, it was a huge success with 60 previews and 2,418 performances making it the 27th longest running musical in Broadway history. Carol King herself even attend some of the performances and participated in the audience sing along.

It has been a very popular show for community theaters across the country and around the world. It is now on stage in the Senney Theater at The Beck Center For The Arts in Lakewood, Ohio being directed by Scott Spence with musical direction by Larry Goodpaster and choreography by Lauren Tidmore Marousek.

Termed a “Juke Box Musical” It is the creative life of Carole King (aka Carole Joan Klein) and tells the story of a shy 18 year old who became one of the most sought after composers during the 50’s Tin Pan Alley days. It is entirely appropriate that the stage set is in fact a giant Juke Box as King’s penned hits are performed by representations of famous groups of the day including The Drifters, The Shirelles, Little Eva and The Righteous Brothers. Along with the jam packed collection of 28 songs 7 of them are from the “Tapestry” album.

As in most shows of this genre, it is long on music and short on script. It tells of Carole’s attending Queen’s College in New York where she met Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin whom lastly she had a songwriting partnership and romantic relationship. She found her self pregnant at the age of 17 and they quickly married in 1960. The writing duo then began to write for Don Kirshner who owned and ran Aldon Music and soon such hits as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” for the Shirelles, “Take Good Care of My Baby” for Bobby Vee and “Up On The Roof” for the Drifters. Their string of top hits were spurred on by writing team Cynthia Wells and Barry Mann who also worked for Kirshner and of which a friendly rivalry was set in place.

The show is an uplifting account of a socially awkward teen with a dominating divorced mother who with shear talent and hard work makes her way in the tough pressure packed music business. She grows from the writer’s of “other people’s hits” to after her divorce to Goffin, leaving New York for California to begin her performing and recording career.

So how does this show stack up? Well, it ain’t Shakespeare but judging by the audience reaction it is pretty darn good. Elsie Carlisle as Carole King is fantastic. She has a very relaxed manner of performing the various songs and does her own piano work. Her interaction with husband Gerry is believable. Mikhail Roberts as Gerry Goffin does a fine turn as the mentally troubled lyricist taking us along for a troubled but educational ride. Reese Henrick as Cynthia Well and Jordan Potter as Barry Mann are perfectly matched as the overly amorous couple and Reese gets the best lines of the show which she delivers. Chris Richards as Donny Kirshner is superb as the cooler than cool hit maker. Susan Stein as Carole’s mother Genie nails the part of overly protective head of the household.

The 14 person ensemble does a great job imitating the various 50s do-wop groups doing justice to these well known songs that we all know and love. Special mention must also be made of Inda Blatch Geib who came up with some stunning costumes for the performers. Carlton Guc’s sound design works well for the theater and Emma Bayless’s lighting design expands the stage into various sections.

While short on story and drama, in the end, the sold out audience was on its feet for the last two numbers “Beautiful” and “I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet” and everyone left “...with a smile on their face.” and you will to. Snatch up a ticket before they are all gone!

The Beck Center production of “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” will be on stage in the Senney Theater at The Beck Center For The Arts, 17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio through August 11, 2024. For more information and to purchase tickets go to www.beckcenter.org or call (216) 521-2540.