Weathervane Playhouse's ‘Beautiful’ is some kind of wonderful

Photo By Dale Dong Photography

With the Broadway show “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” casting is the initial major step in staging a successful production. First and foremost is the lead, Carole King but great care must be made with choosing the array of other characters as well. In the course of the show various groups from King’s song writing career (when she was teamed up with Gerry Goffin by Don Kirshner) perform their hit tunes.

This list includes The Drifters, The Shirelles, Little Eva, The Righteous Brothers, Neil Sedaka, Connie Francis, Bobby Darrin and on and on. What you end up with is a cast of over 30 actors specifically chosen for their singing, dancing and acting abilities.

Next is forming a band able to recreate the early rock and roll sound that has echoed across the years. At its beginning, rock and roll was known for its seemingly simple lyrics and tunes but under the surface was a far more sophisticated instrumentation. Costuming is next on the list as a particular look has to be achieved in order to sell the show. Lastly, the stage set must be accessible and open for the various dance numbers as well as the many scene changes done with the bare minimum of props.

All of these requirements are an especially daunting task faced by various community theaters. The Weathervane Playhouse production of “Beautiful” not only fills each requirement, they excel at it. The show is scheduled to run through July 13, 2025 with each show pretty much a sell out due to the word of mouth promotion that it has had.

The show features 27 hits both by Carole King (Jordan Benjamin) and Gerry Goffin (Aiden Timothy Brueck) as well as their writing competition in the form of Cynthia Weil (Rachael Armbruster) and Barry Mann (Noah Casino) along with King’s solo numbers from her album “Tapestry”. The guiding force of their success was of course, Don Kirshner (Patrick Michael Dukeman). The show also touches on the mental illness struggles that Gerry Goffin struggled with throughout his career. Each song is done in its entirety thus the show last two and a half hours plus an intermission but the entertainment value is so high that time flashes by. The powerful singing of the ensemble at full voice is a harmonic force to behold.

Featured in the show are such hits as “It Might as Well Rain until September”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Take Good Care of My Baby”, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, “The Locomotion”, “(You Make me Feel) Like A Natural Woman” and “You’ve Got a Friend” among many others.

The stage set design by Richard Morris, Jr. is totally functional giving the appearance of Kirshner’s office, the Klein’s (Kings) living room, The Bitter End, various studios, a suburban living room, a Vermont skiing lodge and the dressing room at Carnegie Hall with the addition of a minimum of props supplied by Joie Boughner and Jordan Boughner. Kevin Lambes sound design has every singer mic’d to perfection and Jasen J. Smith’s costuming reflects the bygone era of style both casual and onstage costumes. Jack-Anthony Ina’s lighting design focuses on various parts of the stage for added emphasis. Steven A. Miller does a superb job as music director bringing the tunes to life. Kylie Casino choreography is also quite notable. The show is directed by Joshua Larkin who manages the large cast with care.

For the older crowd, this is music we all grew up with and learned to love but will also be appreciated by today’s youngsters. Each performance shines with brilliance. Comments from those exiting the theater were 100% positive.

The Weathervane Playhouse production of “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” will be on stage at 1301 Weathervane Lane, Akron, Ohio through July 13, 2025. For more information and tickets go to http://www.weathervaneplayhouse.com or call (330) 836-2626.