- BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
- Starlight Theater, Kansas City, Missouri
- June 24, 2019
REVIEW BY J.R. DEETER
An amazing thing happened as I watched “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” this past Tuesday evening at Starlight. I realized that the songs being played had been some of my favorites, starting from childhood.
Opening at Carnegie Hall, circa 1971, King (played beautifully by Sarah Bockel) sings “So Far Away,” which takes us back to the beginning of the story of the rise of one of pop music’s icons. It’s 1958 and 16-year old Carole has found her way to the offices of one “Donnie” Kirshner hoping to sell him a song she has written. Kirshner likes what he hears and signs her up. He teams her with an aspiring lyricist named Gerry Goffin and soon the hits begin to flow. Songs like “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Up on the Roof” and “The Locomotion” are soon climbing the charts. The partnership soon becomes much more and King and Goffin marry.
But they weren’t the only ones toiling in the Brill Building. We also meet Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who created such hits as “Walking in the Rain,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.” Eventually, Carole and Gerry’s love fades and, when she discovers Goffin is cheating on her, King and her children leave New York for California. She begins writing new songs, using the highs and lows of her own life as inspiration. History is made when King, now singing her own songs, releases the album “Tapestry,” still one of the biggest selling albums of all time.
The performances across the board were excellent, with stand-out work delivered by Dylan S. Wallach (Goffin), Alison Whitehurst as Ms. Weil and Jacob Heimer as Barry Mann. The musical ensemble was also quite entertaining, portraying such 60’s performers and groups like The Drifters, The Shirelles, Little Eva and The Righteous Brothers. “Beaufiul” runs at Starlight through Sunday, June 30th. For information and tickets for these shows, or future performances, please click HERE.
