CVLT’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is some kind of wonderful

The Brill Building located at 1650 Broadway Avenue in New York City, New York was the epicenter of the 50s and 60s music revolution. This unassuming structure built in 1931 housed the top music publishers, recording studios and composers of the early rock and roll era. Among the writers were the teams of Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann who crafted songs that are remembered to this day: “It Might As Well Rain Until September”, “Be-Bop-A-Lula”, “Some Kind Of Wonderful”, “Take Good Care Of My Baby”, “Who Put The Bomp”, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, “Up On The Roof”, “On Broadway” and much much more.

With book by Douglas McGrath and words and music by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is a complex show that features 26 songs (most of them performed in their entirety) by an ensemble cast representing half a dozen popular groups and artists of the day. This included The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Righteous Brothers, Little Eva and Janelle and more. On top of that there needs to be a real chemistry between the actors playing Carole King and Gerry Goffin as well as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. You also need a great orchestra capable of recreating “The Brill Building Sound” that we all know by heart.

Currently, Chagrin Valley Little Theatre is producing “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”. They manage to use every available inch of the stage to make this show believable. Leah Saltzer as Carole King is fantastic, looking and sounding like the original. Sam Bartlett as Gerry Goffin brings fantastic acting and vocal harmony to the duo. Likewise Alex Petsche as Cynthia Weil and James Johnston as Barry Mann bring an extra spark to the show. William Bennett as Don Kirschner plays the role of producer to a “T”.

The rest of the cast making up The Drifters: Joel J. Espérance, Jr., Justin Pope, David “Trey” Range III and Kymistry and the The Shirelles: Indi Dobbs, Martinique Mims, Roberta Davenport Robinson and Carla Walker are all equal to the task. The remaining ensemble members of Katie Koballa, Kameryn, Roubanes, Liv Henry, Paige Schiller, Brenda Willis, Angela Warholic and Emma Young are all fantastic filling in as back-up singers and etc. and all doing it great.

The accomplished orchestra is made up of David W. Coxe (music director/keyboard), Kristen Johnson (asst. music director/keyboard), Jennifer Harmon Wright (keyboard), Kimberly Coxe (woodwinds), Tonya Duus (woodwinds), Alex McPherson (trumpet), David Betts (trombone), Jessica Jonczyk (bass), Kris Downs and Art Mason (guitars) and Jim Tomsick (drums).

The show is brightly directed by Molly Cornwell. Music director is David W. Coxe with Kenya R. Woods as choreographer. Rob Peck designed the stage set with lightning fast scene changes. Alison and Marina Arko designed the 60s period costuming with alterations and tailoring by Andy Platko. Both lighting and sound design is by Bob Wachsberger. The all important wigs come from Winn Douglas. Tara Corkery serves as intimacy coordinator.

The show is the musical journey of Carole King (aka Carole Klein) who at sixteen years old sold her first song to Don Kirschner and became half of one of the most famous song writing duos in history with Gerry Goffin. There is an intense but friendly rivalry with the Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann team as Kirschner pits the two teams against each other to produce more and more songs. There is reference to Gerry Goffin’s struggle with mental issues as well as his inability to remain faithful to his marriage. Eventually, Carole is forced to divorce Gerry and while they still work together from time to time she is able to find her own voice and develop a recording and performing career on her own in spite of her problems with stage fright.

For a small non-equity community theater this show poses a lot of problems to produce but with careful selection of the various actors and a lot of hard work and practice they pull it off stupendously. This is one of the better productions of this work that you will find.

The Chagrin Valley Little Theatre production of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” will be on stage at 40 River Street, Chagrin Falls, Ohio through April 19, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets go to http://www.CVLT.org or call (440) 247-8955.