Displaying items by tag: Beautiful

Growing up our radio dial was tuned to one channel, K-Earth 101. In Southern California that station was the oldies, the classics, belting out hits from the 1950s and 60s; Sam Cooke, Buddy Hall, Mel Carter, Peggy Lee, The Ronettes, and so many more artists’ melodies and lyrics that are permanently tattooed on my brain. That music knowledge didn’t particularly help during middle school dances where 13 years olds grinded to The Bad Touch by The Bloodhound Gang but it did provide a solid foundation for an eclectic music playlist I continue to grow and curate today. Thanks to modern music apps we can now not only know the song but who sang it, and more astonishingly who wrote the music and lyrics. It is fascinating to find your favorite artists often wrote and composed songs for other artists, or your favorite songs are written by the same composer or produced by the same producer. It’s another level to musical appreciation that gets to the very heart and soul of the music. Music afficiandos loving to discover the artists behind the music will simply love Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, now playing at The Paramount Theatre. 

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical tells the story of Carole King, played by Tiffany Topol, and her musical journey and career. Starting out in Brookly we meet a 16-year-old aspiring songwriter in Carolee and journey through her early career composing music at 1650 Broadway for music publisher Donnie Kirshner, played by Ian Paul Custer. When she meets her future husband and lyricist Gerry Goffin, played by C.J. Blaine Eldred, we follow their early marriage and burgeoning careers as they team up to write some of the most iconic and lasting melodies and lyrics from huge 1960s artists like The Drifters and The Shirelles. Carole King’s career was filled with playful rivalries, endearing classics and emotional heartbreak but through it all she managed to see the beauty around her and become an era defining musician and artist and go on to become one of the most successful singer, songwriter and musicians in popular music history. 

First premiering in 2013, this modern musical is unlike any that you have ever seen. Synopsis and summaries about the play and captured in reviews are, in my humble opinion, purposely vague. The beauty of this musical is that it doesn’t have any original numbers nor does it sing-tell the story. Instead the writer Douglas McGrath uses King’s life story along with the music she wrote to show us her life, not tell us. He cleverly teases the music out, not immediately revealing the song, but having King or Goffin's characters slowly unveil the song to us. More satisfying than an unboxing video, the moment the first lyrics are sung or the melody tinkled on the piano keys, there is a collective and satisfying flutter of your heart, a spark in your brain at the recollection of the familiar song. It is made only more incredible as mini concerts within the play are performed by an incredible ensemble cast; The Righteous Brothers, performed by Luke Nowakowski, Matt Thinnes, The Shirelles performed by Marta Bady, Lydia Burke, Ariana Burks, Shelbi Voss, The Drifters, performed by Averis I. Anderson, Corey Barrow, Jared David Michael Grant, Calvin Scott Roberts, the incredibly talented ensemble cast embody the musical legends and perform just as they would have in the 1960s, fully immersing you into the heart and soul of King’s craft and talent. There is also a deep appreciation and respect for Carole King and how much influence she truly had on an entire generation of music, not counting her residual influence throughout her career with other artists. The satisfying, gratifying, and inspiring aspects of King’s life and influence is slowly unveiled to you as the audience and at times you’ll hardly be able to stay seated you’ll want to sing and dance along with the cast. The story telling is superb. It’s a love letter not only to King’s contribution to music but her rivals as well, Cythnia Weil and Barry Mann, played by Rebecca Hurd and Christopher Kale Jones respectively, and the music they all wrote that defined an era. You’ve never seen anything quite like Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. 

Going into this show I did not research Carole King's life story nor her songbook collection. I wanted to go in blind, knowing of the singer-songwriter but not being able to name many of her songs from memory. I had many people tell me what the musical was about and provide a brief summary of what it was about. All of their words failed to truly capture the magic and beauty of this show. I’m afraid my review will also fail to articulate and capture the true essence of the story. This Musical is like a song I must share with you but like a good song you cannot appreciate it until you hear it for yourself, experience it for yourself. If you see one show this summer, take a drive and enjoy the charming city of Aurora. Paramount Theatre is a gorgeous hidden gem nestled within the walkable and charming downtown community. It’s a perfect date night opportunity complete with theatre and live concerts mixed in. Theatre lovers will love the storytelling of the musical and music lovers will rejoice at the familiar melodies, only needing to resist singing along with the timeless classics. One fine day you’re gonna want to check off this musical from your list, don’t miss your chance to do so in 2024.

 Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is now playing at The Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Illinois and runs through June 16^th. Tickets are available at www.paramountaurora.com.

There are two moments I love most when I’ve seen productions of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

First, the audience usually contains a fair number of people who grew up with Ms. King’s songs as the soundtrack to their younger years. And when those songs start being performed during the show, the years since those youthful days disappear and folks start singing along, tapping along, smiling along. The room lightens and brightens somehow.

The second moment happens at intermission. Many of those same people who’d just been transported to their youths declare, “I didn’t know she wrote that song” or “She wrote that song?”

To me, those are two of Carole King’s superpowers—and the reason she’s always been the perfect and most deserving subject of a Broadway jukebox musical. She’s not only the soundtrack to millions of adolescences, to happier days, to young love, to better times (I’ve made the case before that she’s the American Lennon and McCartney, all in one package), but she did it (and still does it, per those surprised comments at intermission) on the sly.

And that—both King’s genius, and the path that genius took to being recognized—is the magic of the current production of Beautiful at the Marriott Theatre, directed by Jessica Fisch.

First off, the production has a wonderful Carole King. Kaitlyn Davis certainly knows the role, having played King in productions both nationally and regionally. But it’s not just that Davis plays Carole King. She really becomes Carole King. I’m a big fan of Ms. King, and Davis’ portrayal—throughout King’s career—is spot-on. Like King, Davis is an accomplished pianist, accompanying herself throughout the show—while also nailing the timbre and tone of King’s voice; seriously, this isn’t a theater person approximating a songwriter’s voice, it’s someone with a warm singer/songwriter’s voice who’s also got Broadway chops.

And Davis does more than just sound like Carole King. She looks like her. As King, she transforms throughout the show, as King ages and lives her life—going from a 16-year-old girl in Brooklyn to a wife and mother who also happens to live at the top of the Billboard charts. And she has real chemistry with Andrew Mueller, who plays husband and writing partner Gerry Goffin. Mueller’s Goffin, Janet Ulrich Brooks’ Genie Klein (Carole’s mother), and Lawrence Grimm’s record producing Don Kirshner (who could’ve easily been overplayed as just a stereotypical music biz exec, but who Grimm gives some nice humanity) all connect emotionally with Davis and make this more than just a jukebox, but a biography.

But, like every Marriott production I’ve seen, the rest of the cast is what takes this show to a whole other level. Stacked with talented actors, the cast transports us back to a certain time and place both sonically and visually. Erica Stephan, always a pro in any productions she’s in, is mid-century elegance as rival songwriter and friend, Cynthia Weil. Weil’s partner in music and love, Barry Mann, provides the show’s comic relief, but Justin Albinder does more than just get laughs—his musical numbers are among the show’s highlights—especially his duet with Stephan on “Walking in the Rain” and his solo electric performance of what would become an Animals hit, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

And that right there is what I was talking about up at the top…

Everyone knows that song. Or, when it comes on oldies radio or a commercial, they remember that they once knew that song. But folks don’t often realize that that song, and so many other hit songs from that era, didn’t just magically appear on vinyl or on the radio waves. No, people wrote those songs. And that’s what this show explores—making people of Mann and Weil and Goffin and, especially, King.

But it then, again thanks to the Marriott production’s wonderful ensemble, puts those songs back into their natural habitat, as hit songs on the charts of a particular era. Songs performed by girl groups and vocal groups and people other than songwriters grinding—albeit beautifully—at an old upright piano.

The group who really brings the King/Goffin and Weil/Mann compositions to life throughout the show is the production's Drifters—Christian Denzel Bufford, Naiqui Macabroad, Yasir Muhammad, and Juwon Tyrel Perry. Each of The Drifters provide lead vocals when it’s his turn, but they all also act as a musical time machine, with their smooth 60s dance moves (choreographed by Christopher Windom), their stunningly coordinated outfits, and their beautifully blended vocal harmonies. These four turn what are great songs into hits.

And so do the rest of the ensemble. Daryn Whitney Harrell stuns the audience (and, spoiler alert, a heartbroken King) with her “One Fine Day.” Ariana Burks does the same with Mann and Weil’s “Uptown.” We see a song go from good idea to great piece of art when that same songwriting duo’s “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” goes from Mann plunking around on it himself to Adam LaSalle and Ben Mayne as The Righteous Brothers making it one of the biggest hits ever. And near the end, this comes full circle, as Melanie Brezill, Alexis J. Roston, and Alina Taber provide the soulful backing vocals the audience knows and expects on a showstopping version of Goffin and King’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

And while Kaitlyn Davis’ Carole King reclaims that song and makes it King’s own, just as she makes this role her own, it is also thanks to the entire cast and crew of Marriott’s production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical—running now through December 31—that until the end of the year audiences will be transported back to their younger years. And that—the ability to bend time, to break hearts, and to buoy spirits, all through song—shows the beautiful brilliance of Carole King.

Everyone's mom has a copy of "Tapestry," and by now the songs are almost as familiar as the Star Bangled Banner. What many may not know is that composer Carole King and lyricist Gerry Goffin literally shaped the sound of early rock 'n roll with their songs made popular by The Drifters, The Shirelles and Little Eva. 

"Beautiful" is a musical based on Carole King's incredible rise in the music business as a teenager. While the show is a fairly succinct tale, it does neglect that Miss King ran in the same circles as many other music heavy weights such as Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon. Impressive even still is that she sold her first hit song when she was sixteen years old. In an age when many careers were off limits to women. 

Douglas McGrath's book is charming and witty. It begins with Carole (Abby Mueller) playing "So Far Away," at a piano, her long frizzy hair moves along with King's signature playing mannerisms. From there it revolves back in time to a less sure of herself King, telling her story through her own songs. McGrath's book has a sincerity not often found these days in blockbuster Broadway shows. He provides heartbreaking context for all the well-known hits written by not just King and Goffin, but also their close friends and competition, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. 

The numbers are somewhat formulaic in their presentation, moving from real life story to full-scale performances (as they would have appeared on American Band Stand) but the songs are incredibly well sung and choreographed by the ensemble. It's nearly impossible not to sing along under your breath, or in full-voice as some audience members were. Mcgrath and director Marc Bruni have struck a perfect balance that both tickles and leaves the audience feeling an emotional attachment to the characters, so that in the end, "Beautiful" isn't just about Carole King and it's also not just about the music industry. 

Local actress Abby Mueller does an impeccable job filling the shoes of Carole King. If you close your eyes, you wouldn't know you're not actually listening to "Tapestry." Mueller's performance pushes past the gimmick of imitation. She connects to the audience and makes the familiar story of a bad marriage very real. When she turns from frumpy housewife into the bohemian California-chic (the Tapestry look) it feels very cathartic, which makes her success as a solo singer all the more triumphant. 

Through February 21st at The Oriental Theatre. Broadway in Chicago. 800-775-2000