Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

 

I know you shouldn't always say 'This was the best day of my life' because sometimes you should have higher goals, like you know getting married or being able to eat a 12 inch subway, so I'll say this was the best day of my life so far. 

I'm a little bit obsessed with someone. That someone being Carole King. Who? did I just sense someone say? Who? Oh just Carole King who's written over 400 songs, had her first hit at 16, made an album which stayed in the charts for 17 weeks in the 1970's and you know, is a music ledgend. I get why you may not know her, she was more of a 40's/50's/60's/70's gal but just happened to dominate music with her amazing melodies and her raspy mellow voice. I could gush over Carole all day, but first let me tell you about a musical, which was made about her life. THANK YOU JESUS.

 This is Carole. Glorious Carole.

A brief synopsis for you all. Carole wants to write songs, not be overly famous, just write down all the beautiful things she has to say and for the world to hear them, not teach like her mother suggests. Lucky for Carole she plays a song for a record producer who tells her he'll buy her songs and give it to another band, such as The Drifters. Carole is okay with this because all she wants to do is write songs and that makes her happy. Enter Gerry Goffin, who she later marries, who just also happens to be a lyricist and can fit his words to match Carole's melodies. Perfect right? They marry, kids come along, they sell hit songs and live blissfully.

Ah...if only it was that easy. They go head to head with their best friends and lyricist partners Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, who are equally as good as Carole and Gerry. The pair's roll out songs for The Shirelles, Bobby Vee, The Righteous Brothers and later, Dolly Parton. It's all well and good until Gerry, Carole's beloved husband, doesn't want to live the comfy suburb life with Carole and wants more on his plate than he deserves. I won't give much away but you see Carole go through tough times but eventually she picks herself up and writes an record which captivates the world, Tapestry.

Again, I don't want to spoil it because it all has to be seen to be believed and enjoyed. To start, the sets, costumes, the music is something I can't even go into without sobbing and overall, the actors. King is played by Katie Brayben, who is a gift. She is the pure essence of Carole and when she took her bow at the end, I felt myself getting choked up because I felt I was watching the real Carole King. Goffin is played by Alan Morrissey, who made me hate him but love him so much (at one point I even mumbled, what a dickhead, in a quiet theatre...yeah) but he makes up the expection I had of the pair. 

I just loved this show. I left feeling as if I had been watching the real Carole King sing through her songbook history and better yet, it was so accurate to her book she wrote. Every song she sang and every word was meant and this show just, well, there are not enough words to describe this triumph of a musical.

King is a extraordinary woman. Her talent is everlasting and influential, she is the eptiome of a humble person with an amazing gift. As Carole says, and I now live by:

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes, you will
That you're beautiful as you feel 

Thank you Carole.

http://beautifulmusical.co.uk/