The National Tour of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical"
The 2017/2018 Broadway in El Paso season got off to a great start when the national tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical began it's week long engagement at the Plaza Theatre. As implied by the show's title, the show tells the story of Carole King from the time she was a young songwriter getting her start in the business, all they way up until her first concert at Carnegie Hall. A large plot point in the musical is her relationship with her first husband, Gerry Goffin, and her friendship with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The show is a jukebox musical that features the music written by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, with a book by Douglas McGrath.
The show is extremely entertaining and it's hard not to become invested in the story and all of "the characters". In quite a few jukebox musicals, you could really tell that they are trying too hard to fit as many songs as they can in the show, but in this show all of the songs are strategically placed and nothing feels like it was shoved into the show. At times throughout the show, McGrath's cinematic book became a little bit unfocused and rushed, but the pace picked up and the show was quite enjoyable. As many people have noted, Beautiful is very reminiscent of Jersey Boys. I would agree with that assessment, as many times throughout the show, I noticed the show was following the Jersey Boys formula, which is not a bad one to follow, as long as you do it right. Beautiful does it right. The one difference between the two shows, however, is that Beautiful doesn't really use Carole King's music to tell her story. Her music is vital to this show, what I mean is that her music isn't used to delve into her mind and they sing the songs as a part of performances, auditions, etc. Nobody busts into songs to express their feelings as they do in a more traditional musical. So, this might be a perfect show for your misguided friend who doesn't like musicals "because nobody ever just starts singing like that."
This production's cast was maybe one of the best overall touring companies that I have seen. Sarah Bockel gives a stunning performance as Carole King. The role of Carole is an amazing and emotional musical theatre role, and Bockel absolutely knocks it out of the park and gives a winning performance. At her side was Andrew Brewer who nailed his performance as Carole's garbage husband, Gerry Goffin. Other lovable performances came from Jacob Heimer and Sarah Goeke who had excellent chemistry as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was also so hard not to love James Clowe as Carole's record producer, Don Kirshner, and Suzanne Grodner as Carole's mother.
The set design and direction was also very impressive. Derek McLane's scenic design fit the show perfectly and helped to create that cinematic feel to the show that I mentioned earlier. The set also did an amazing job complementing Marc Bruni's direction. Also standing out was the costume and wig design by Alejo Vietti and Charles G. LaPointe.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical was an enjoyable show that I would recommend to anyone. This is such a well done jukebox musical. It was engaging, fun, and it did everything a good musical is supposed to do. I'd see it again and I think that this is a fantastic show that anyone looking for a fun night out should see. The show has been running on Broadway since 2014 and on tour since 2015 and it is so easy to see why it has become a Broadway mainstay. As I said at the beginning of the review, this show as a remarkable way to kick off the Broadway in El Paso season. Let's hope that the rest of the shows coming this season are able to do just as well as this show, if not better.
The national tour of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is playing at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas from September 19-23 2017. For more information, please visit https://beautifulonbroadway.com/
The current touring cast of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL consists of:
Carole King- SARAH BOCKEL
Gerry Goffin- ANDREW BREWER
Cynthia Weil- SARAH GOEKE
Barry Mann- JACOB HEIMER
Don Kirshner- JAMES CLOWE
Genie- SUZANNE GRODNER
The show is extremely entertaining and it's hard not to become invested in the story and all of "the characters". In quite a few jukebox musicals, you could really tell that they are trying too hard to fit as many songs as they can in the show, but in this show all of the songs are strategically placed and nothing feels like it was shoved into the show. At times throughout the show, McGrath's cinematic book became a little bit unfocused and rushed, but the pace picked up and the show was quite enjoyable. As many people have noted, Beautiful is very reminiscent of Jersey Boys. I would agree with that assessment, as many times throughout the show, I noticed the show was following the Jersey Boys formula, which is not a bad one to follow, as long as you do it right. Beautiful does it right. The one difference between the two shows, however, is that Beautiful doesn't really use Carole King's music to tell her story. Her music is vital to this show, what I mean is that her music isn't used to delve into her mind and they sing the songs as a part of performances, auditions, etc. Nobody busts into songs to express their feelings as they do in a more traditional musical. So, this might be a perfect show for your misguided friend who doesn't like musicals "because nobody ever just starts singing like that."
This production's cast was maybe one of the best overall touring companies that I have seen. Sarah Bockel gives a stunning performance as Carole King. The role of Carole is an amazing and emotional musical theatre role, and Bockel absolutely knocks it out of the park and gives a winning performance. At her side was Andrew Brewer who nailed his performance as Carole's garbage husband, Gerry Goffin. Other lovable performances came from Jacob Heimer and Sarah Goeke who had excellent chemistry as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was also so hard not to love James Clowe as Carole's record producer, Don Kirshner, and Suzanne Grodner as Carole's mother.
The set design and direction was also very impressive. Derek McLane's scenic design fit the show perfectly and helped to create that cinematic feel to the show that I mentioned earlier. The set also did an amazing job complementing Marc Bruni's direction. Also standing out was the costume and wig design by Alejo Vietti and Charles G. LaPointe.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical was an enjoyable show that I would recommend to anyone. This is such a well done jukebox musical. It was engaging, fun, and it did everything a good musical is supposed to do. I'd see it again and I think that this is a fantastic show that anyone looking for a fun night out should see. The show has been running on Broadway since 2014 and on tour since 2015 and it is so easy to see why it has become a Broadway mainstay. As I said at the beginning of the review, this show as a remarkable way to kick off the Broadway in El Paso season. Let's hope that the rest of the shows coming this season are able to do just as well as this show, if not better.
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The national tour of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is playing at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas from September 19-23 2017. For more information, please visit https://beautifulonbroadway.com/
The current touring cast of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL consists of:
Carole King- SARAH BOCKEL
Gerry Goffin- ANDREW BREWER
Cynthia Weil- SARAH GOEKE
Barry Mann- JACOB HEIMER
Don Kirshner- JAMES CLOWE
Genie- SUZANNE GRODNER
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