Few artists have had as tremendous an impact on American music as Carole King. Since the jukebox bio musical was welcomed on Broadway more than a decade ago, it was only a matter of time before enterprising producers ventured to bring her life and music to the stage. Upon seeing Beautiful on tour a couple of years ago, I immediately decided that I needed to see it again. It was different than I had expected and I needed to see it again through different eyes. And so it was that I found myself on a Sunday evening in New York City, in search of a show. After stage dooring the final performance of Kinky Boots for well over an hour, I practically sprinted from the Hirschfeld to the Sondheim to get to my seat before curtain. Beautiful is well-written and expertly designed and it pays, pun intended, beautiful tribute to Carole King and her contribution to American music.
Beautiful spans the early years in King’s career – which began with a hit song at 17 years old – and concludes with the release of her monumentally successful album Tapestry. Married as a teenager to chemist and aspiring lyricist Gerry Goffin, King and Goffin pumped out hit songs as frequently as the rest of us pour a bowl of cereal (by which I mean a lot, I eat a ton of cereal). Goffin, brooding and discontent, bristled at the prospect of settling into family life, while King dreamed of a sort of suburban utopia. The love they shared was not enough to sustain their marriage. During the early phases of Beautiful’s development, King admitted to having little interest in seeing a musical adaptation of her life and, watching her story unfold on stage, it is not hard to imagine that were we in her shoes we would feel similarly hesitant. A perfect hand King was not dealt. But from what I have gleaned about the actual King from watching many concerts and PBS specials (and speaking to her oh so briefly at a Get Out the Vote rally many moons ago) she has an enviable resilience, her dry humor a defense mechanism that, rather than close her off from experience and emotion, sustains her positivity. Book writer Douglas McGrath captures King’s innate sense of joy. Indeed, it's not hard to imagine King uttering some of his quick-witted dialogue.
If McGrath gives words to Carole King the character, it is up to the star to bring her to life. As Carole King, Chilina Kennedy, who has played the role extensively, has an assuredness that is in a class of its own. She imbues King with an inner strength that lies close to the surface, springing forward in the face of adversity. Importantly, Kennedy does a nice job of incorporating some of King's speech and singing patterns without simply seeming to mimic her. Evan Todd as Gerry Goffin, and Kara Lindsay and Ben Jacoby as fellow songwriters, friends and competitors Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann round out the leading cast. The talented ensemble of singers and dancers keep the show moving, playing multiple roles and inhabiting such famous singers as Neil Sedaka, The Drifters and The Shirelles.
The costumes, choreography and design of the show are superbly polished. Synchronized doo-wop dancing is irresistible and Beautiful has smooth moves to spare. Crisp, shiny suits catch the spotlight with every bend of the knee and flick of the wrist. The set is understated but not boring. Take, for example, the multi-level 1650 Broadway set, a Brill Building type complex in the songwriting "block" of Manhattan. With its’ spare feel and visible steel, the set reinforces the sort of industrialized production of hits that came to be known as the Brill Building sound.
The high quality of the music featured in Beautiful is, of course, a forgone conclusion. King truly wrote the music of a generation. The music credits in the Playbill read like a comprehensive history of the American song. Beautiful showcases upbeat hits such as “The Locomotion” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” and nimbly transitions to heavier emotion with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “One Fine Day.” The latter of which can be a fun, bouncy hit outside of the context of the scene. But here, when Gerry admits to having a relationship with singer Janelle Woods (who is on stage singing the song for a TV broadcast) and Carole takes over the song from Janelle, the song takes on a bittersweet note. The tone is perfect in that moment, the close of Act I. Note that as a Positive Patty I subscribe to the out of context version of the song when my alarm goes off at 7:00 in the morning.
I find myself at a loss for words to sum up the show. Maybe it's because Beautiful is just that. Beautiful. The conclusion of the show is perfect, ending with King's 1971 concert at Carnegie Hall and King, alone at the piano, belting the titular song. With humor, heart and a brilliant set of tunes, Beautiful will remind you of your youth or, if you're like me, make you wish you were growing up at a time when spunky girl from New York City was changing the music industry and paving the way for a generation of singers and songwriters.
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