BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical is Phenomenal!

The Opening Night re-opening of Beautiful at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre was just as phenomenal the second time as it was the first time I saw it on Broadway. Nostalgic, fun and exciting every second – all ages will enjoy the evening. A roar of applause after each song filled the packed house. The final standing ovation was well deserved. Produced by Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the Tony & Grammy Award-winning hit has a limited 3-week engagement from September 12-30, 2018 – so don’t miss the excitement!
Carole King is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999.
This was an outstanding production on all counts. The show opens with Carole King, played by the extremely talented Sarah Bockel , at the piano talking to the audience during her Carnegie Hall debut. The story flashes back to her beginnings as an ambitious 16-year old endowed with exceptional musical abilities. As fate would have it, she meets her songwriting partner and future husband, Gerry Goffin, played by Dylan S. Wallach in high school. The audience is mesmerized as the story unfolds revealing intimate personal as well as professional successes and failures.
The book, is brilliantly written with a smooth story line that portrays not only the triumphs, pain and joy of Carole King’s life, but a generation of the music industry that launched the girl group genre and the long-last American doo-wop R&B/soul vocal group era.
BEAUTIFUL features a stunning array of beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend” and the title song. The show takes us through the music industry in New York during the late 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Stunning performances by the ensemble who recreate legends such as The Drifters, The Shirelles, Neil Sedaka, and infamous music producer Lou Adler. Carole and Gerry had a long friendship and fierce professional competition to rise to the top of the music charts, with Cynthia Weil played by Alison Whitehurst and Barry Mann played by Jacob Heimer. Both music teams were under contract with Don Kirshner, played by James Clow.
Book by Tony and Academy Award-nominee Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni and choreography by Josh Prince. Other hits songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil such as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” was selected by Rolling Stone Magazine on its list of the greatest songs of all time. In the musical it is performed by the characters of Carole King and The Shirelles (Mckynleigh Alden Abraham, Marla Louissaint, DeAnne Stewart, Alexis Tidwell, Leandra Ellis-Gaston) with a beautiful reprise by Sarah Bockel in Act II.
“Carole King might be a native New Yorker, but her story of struggle and triumph is as universal as they come – and her music is loved the world over,” producer Paul Blake said. “I am thrilled that Beautiful continues to delight and entertain audiences around the globe, in England, Japan and Australia and that we are in our fourth amazing year on the road in the U.S. We are so grateful that close to four million audience members have fallen in love with Carole’s story and her indelible music.”

Tickets for BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical are on sale now, and available at www.HollywoodPantages.com/Beautiful and www.TicketMaster.com, by phone at (800) 982-2787 or in person at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre Box Office (Opens Daily at 10am PT).