‘Beautiful’ – Book by Douglas McGrath. Words and Music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. David Ruttura, Director. Joyce Chittick, Choreographer/Associate Director. Nick Williams, Music Director. Derek McLane, Scenic Design. Alejo Vieti, Costume Design. Richard Latta, Lighting Design. Kevin Heard, Sound Design. Roxanne De Luna, Wig Design. At Ogunquit Playhouse through June 10
by Mike Hoban
One of the good things about the plethora of jukebox musicals that have dominated the theater scene in recent years (as well as tribute bands in music venues) is that if you’re a fan of the artist, you can pretty much bank on having a reasonably good time. But if it’s the Ogunquit Playhouse’s spectacular production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, then you can count on having a GREAT time. Ogunquit has brought back the show barely six months after its run last fall (which I also saw), and if anything, the show feels even more energized in this restaging.
Those who only know King from her hits from the Tapestry album and beyond (“So Far Away,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” and a ton more) are in for an illuminating experience. King, along with husband Gerry Goffin, was one of the premier hitmakers of the 1960s, composing chart-topping songs like “Take Good Care of My Baby” for Bobby Vee, “Up on the Roof” by the Drifters, and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” for the Shirelles. The book for this terrific musical takes a lot of liberties with actual timelines and combines/ invents characters (like fictional singer Janelle Woods, with whom Gerry has an affair in this story and was not actually the singer of “One Fine Day”), but hey, this isn’t a documentary, it’s a musical, and the story is just a serving tray for this feast of amazing songs by the iconic singer-songwriter.
Which doesn’t mean the story isn’t good. In this fictionalized/Cliff Notes version of King’s life, she begins songwriting as a teen and sells her first song, “It Might as Well Rain Until September,” to hit record producer Don Kirschner (whom boomers may remember from “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” fame). She enrolls at Queens College and meets heartthrob/flirt Gerry Goffin, gets pregnant and then married at 17. Soon the pair is churning out hits for Kirschner, including “Under the Boardwalk” for the Drifters and “The Loco-Motion” for Little Eva, who had been their babysitter. Carole and Gerry also form a relationship with Kirschner’s other hitmaking couple, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann (“Walking in the Rain” by the Ronettes and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers as well as a slew of other hits).
But like most show biz stories in movies and musicals, the success brings its own problems, and Gerry’s bipolar disorder and serial philandering begin to take their toll on the marriage. They continue to write together (still turning out hits like Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by the Monkees) and try and work on the marriage, but it falls apart as Gerry keeps cheating. Devastated, Carole picks herself up and moves to L.A., where she connects with the legendary Lou Adler to record Tapestry, which becomes one of the greatest-selling albums of all time (25 million copies) and launches her solo career.
The story keeps its focus on the two couples, but for music fans, there’s a lot to think about between numbers as both the world and the music business undergo radical change. It’s mind-blowing to think of how many hit songs came from not only King/Goffin and Weil/Mann but songwriters like Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, and of course, Motown’s Berry Gordy – all of whom wrote for other artists. We see the demise of the songwriting factories like Kirschner’s as artists like Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones begin to write and record their own material. We also see the shift from two-and-a-half minute bubble gum pop songs to longer tracks with more profound lyrics that spawned AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio, for which Tapestry would be tailor-made. As King, Sarah Bockel gives a brilliant performance, capturing the essence of the singer-songwriter vocally – especially on the ballads – and convincingly conveying the deep hurt as her marriage falls apart. There’s also a lot of humor in the story. The solid cast (Matthew Amira as Gerry Goffin, Taylor Aronson as Cynthia Weil, Ryan Farnsworth as Barry Mann, Matt Loehr as Kirschner, and Suzanne Grodner as Carole’s mother) delivers the material like a well-oiled sitcom team (although the repetitive bit about Barry Mann’s hypochondria doesn’t seem to serve any purpose in the show).
But it’s the music that brings people in the door, and this is where Beautiful excels. As in real life, King, Goffin, Weil, and Mann are supplying the material (and singing mostly demo versions of songs, except King), but it’s the (mostly black) singers that are delivering the finished goods, and man, do they ever. The players making up the Drifters and Shirelles, as well as the individual singers (D’Marreon Alexander, Tyler Michael Breeding, Briana Brooks, Anthony Cataldo, J. Daughtry, Cedrick Ekra, Rosharra Francis, Jacquez Linder-Long, Jazz Madison, Jack Mastrianni, Lauren Mary Moore, Nigel Richards, Chandler Reeves, Paris Porché Richardson, and Amaya White) are stellar. They supercharge the numbers by employing the original choreography of Joyce Chittick, and it’s executed with boundless energy.
At the opening of the show, Carole King’s character recreates her performance for a sold-out audience At Carnegie Hall and tells them, “You know what’s so funny about life? Sometimes it goes the way you want, and sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes, when it doesn’t, you find something beautiful.” It accurately sums up her career in three lines, and it’s a story worth retelling (with its incredible music). See it. For tickets and information, go to: http://www.ogunquitplayhouse.org/2023-beautiful.
