New Yorker Review of Beautiful the Carole King Musical
Jessie Mueller in Beautiful — The Carole Male monarch Musical at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, New York. Moving-picture show: Joan Marcus
Beautiful – The Carole Rex Musical continues at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, New York, in an open-ended run.
According to the programme for Cute – The Carole King Musical , the songwriter has had more than 400 of her compositions recorded by more than 1,000 artists, generating 100 hit singles. And many of those tunes, which helped define American popular music in the 1960s, remain beloved today, judging past the reaction of the audition at the operation reviewed of this new Broadway musical. Just the mention of a phrase from a song in the show'south dialogue seemed to ignite recognition and anticipation from the onlookers. Attention the prove is something akin to participating in a love fest, while it provides a simplified rendering of the early part of King's life and career (she wrote her first hit while notwithstanding a teenager) upward to her blossoming equally a performer besides equally a composer with her landmark 1971 album Tapestry .
The book by filmmaker and playwright Douglas McGrath is a mild-mannered affair, studded with enough laugh lines to keep lassitude away, even as it portrays the popular music earth rather blandly as beingness populated by some of the nicest people y'all could ever imagine. Much of the story centres on King's first and youthful marriage to Gerry Goffin, who wrote lyrics for her melodies until their marriage fell apart at the terminate of the 1960s. Also of import in the story is the couple's shut friendship with another songwriting team, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.
The ii couples compete in good spirit through Act I to churn out chart-making songs for pop groups of the day under the jocular but avuncular guidance of publisher and music producer Don Kirshner; the songs are then performed in showstopping style by such groups as The Shirelles and The Drifters, Every bit this cycle goes on and on, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical begins to deport an most uncomfortable resemblance to Motown the Musical , the Broadway striking which celebrates another music-producing titan of the era, Drupe Gordy, the founder of and force behind Motown Records. Even though the numbers performed in Act I of Beautiful , such every bit 'Will Y'all Love Me Tomorrow' and 'On Broadway' are done in great fashion, it'due south Motown that wins this item contest. The ranks of Gordy's artists had more variety, their performance style more than sizzle and their personas more drama. Yet, it should exist noted that Beautiful – The Carole King Musical stands head and shoulders in a higher place the terribly tepid 2011 Broadway musical, Baby It's Y'all , which dealt with the same milieu.
Beautiful also gains in distinction in Act II, when King finds her own vox as a performer as well every bit a writer, and the rendering of such signature songs as 'You've Got a Friend' and '(Y'all Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman' resonate with more dramatic heft. It'south likewise in Act II, that Jessie Mueller's ever engagingly believable portrayal of King is allowed to have on greater depth, and she scores grandly, giving Beautiful – The Carole King Musical a beautiful centre. She captures King'south serenity charisma and vulnerability, and she makes the musical numbers her own.
The other principles in the cast – including Jake Epstein as the troubled Goffin and Anika Larsen and Jarrod Spector as the bubbly Weil and Mann – are too impressive in demonstrating both musical and thesping skills. Marc Bruni's direction gives the straightforward narrative of the script admirable pacing. His work, aided by Josh Prince'southward slight but jaunty choreography, Derek McLane'southward imaginative and eye-grabbing sets and Peter Kaczorowski'due south lighting, is particularly noteworthy in depicting the hive of music-making in the Times Foursquare building that housed Kirschner's songwriters.
For dyed-in-the-wool Carole Male monarch fans, Cute – The Carole King Musical may indeed be orgasmic. For others, information technology still provides the opportunity to appreciate the work of defended Broadway pros assembling a jukebox musical successfully if not triumphantly.
Ron Cohen
Read Ron Cohen's latest update on the Broadway and Off-Broadway scene in effect five of Musical Theatre Review, out on 30 January.
www.beautifulonbroadway.com
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