BEAUTIFUL – THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL

THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH UNTIL 24 SEPTEMBER 2022

BOX OFFICE 01752 267222

WWW.THEATREROYAL.COM

RUNNING TIME – 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES (INCLUDING INTERVAL)

3***

20 SEPTEMBER 2022

CORMAC RICHARDS

WWW.REVIEWSGATE.COM

To popular music devotees, the very name Carole King sparks delight and admiration; her list of song hits is long and impressive and in her collaboration with Gerry Goffin achieved great fame and a place in history. Her name is much less widely known than her songs, which are still regularly heard today; ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’, ‘The Loco-Motion’, ‘Take Good Care of My Baby’ to name but a few.

The success of the musical ‘Beautiful’ – first performed in 2013 is, therefore, something of a surprise; but a hit it has been. A retrospective telling of the singer/songwriter’s story – her stormy relationship with husband Goffin and the friendly rivalry with fellow artists Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann – is jam-packed with songs from the 1960s and 1970s.

This new production directed by Nikolai Foster, incorporates a cast who multi-task – all performing the music as part of the action. Though this is admirable and impressive, it also makes the stage very busy; every number seems to become slightly overblown. As such, the story of King becomes subsumed by the music and telescoped into a limited precis. Something is lacking. Emotional depth in the writing is scant and it is difficult to really connect with the characters; the music can’t do all the work. Too much of the real story is ditched in order to shoehorn in more music.

The utilitarian design – a very basic recording studio – is just that – it’s simplistic and rather reminds me of sets we built at school. Sound issues were particularly prevalent with backing singers overwhelming the lead vocalists. Presentation-wise, I was underwhelmed.

The one aspect of the show which really does stand out is the performance of Molly-Grace Cutler as King. Vocally wonderful, she brings great passion and the distinctive nuances of Carole King’s voice incredibly effectively to the songs. Tom Milner is impressive as the talented, but disturbed Goffin and Seren Sandham-Davies and Jos Slovick bring humour to their roles as Weil and Mann.

Alexander Zane has a titanic task as musical director with musicans all over the stage and effortlessly combines this with spots as Neil Sedaka and one of the Righteous Brothers.

‘Beautiful’ is a perfectly entertaining piece of work, but I believe there is a stronger story trying to break out of it and this current production seems to stifle it.

CAST & CREATIVES

NAOMI ALADE – THE SHIRELLES

KEMI CLARKE – THE DRIFTERS

CHRIS COXON – SWING

MOLLY-GRACE CUTLER – CAROLE KING

AMENA EL-KINDY – THE SHIRELLES

LOUISE FRANCIS – THE SHIRELLES

CLAIRE GREENWAY – GENIE

JESSICA JOLLEYS – SWING

SORRELL JORDAN – BETTY & MARILYN WALD

JORDAN LOUIS-FERNAND – DRIFTER

MYLES MILLER – THE DRIFTERS

TOM MILNER – GERRY GOFFIN

PETER MOONEY – NICK & RIGHTEOUS BROTHER

GARRY ROBSON – DONNIE KIRSHNER

SEREN SANDHAM-DAVIES – CYNTHIA WEIL

JOS SLOVICK – BARRY MANN

ADRIEN SPENCER – SWING

KEVIN YATES – THE DRIFTERS & LOU ADLER

ARAYA PHILLIPS – VOICE OF YOUNG CAROLE

BOOK – DOUGLAS MCGRATH

WORDS & MUSIC – GERRY GOFFIN & CAROLE KING & BARRY MANN & CYNTHIA WEIL

DIRECTOR – NIKOLAI FOSTER

SET DESIGN – FRANKIE BRADSHAW

CHOREOGRAPHER – LEAH HILL

COSTUME DESIGN – EDD LINDLEY

LIGHTING DESIGN – BEN CRACKNELL

SOUND DESIGN – TOM MARSHALL

MUSICAL DIRECTOR – ALEXANDER ZANE