“Beautiful-The Carole King Musical”

Highly Recommended **** Welcome back to Broadway In Chicago productions. While the pandemic is not over, we are at a point in our lives where the theaters can resume bringing us live theater. Yes, we wear masks and have to show  a vac card or a negative test, BUT , it is worth it. Tonight, we were witness to the marvelous biography of Carole King, “Beautiful” (the title also includes her story) as it begins its long road trip hitting all the markets where live theater has been lacking. On Sunday’s show, I spoke to the lovely Sara King, who does a masterful job of portraying Cynthia Weil, who with partner Barry Mann ( an impressive job by Ryan Farnsworth) were best friends and song writers.

While this is a biography of Ms King, who is played by the powerful Sara Sheperd, with a vocal range and a smile that will hypnotize you . The book by Douglas McGrath with songs by Gerry Goffin & Carole King and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, it is in fact a look at all of their lives. Yes, Gerry Goffin was married to Ms King and fathered their  two daughters. They were competitors with Weil and Mann, but also had a close relationship that made each pair better writers. What we see is the stories that helped create the music that they created. There are many who say that these four people are responsible for a decade of solid music.

The company that we are seeing on the stage of the  CIBC Theatre is small in numbers but huge in talent. There are six main characters: Ms. King, Mr. Goffen, Mr. Mann, Ms Weil, Carole’s mother, Genie Klein ( played to perfection by Rachel Coloff) and Don Kirshner ( deftly handled by Matt Loehr). Then we have an ensemble composed of  15 performers who will dazzle you as they change costumes and wigs and become recording stars of that era: The Temptations, The Righteeos Brothers, The drifters, “Uptown Singer” and The Shirelles”. The songs that made them famous were composed by these songwriters. Nick Moulton plays a multitude of parts, as does Sarah Sigman, Paul Scanlan ( a solid baritone ), Rosharra Francis, Jamary A. Gil, Danielle Herbert, Kaitlyn Davis, Edwin Bates, Isaiah Bailey, Kevin Hack, Terry Linder, Nurney, Teshomech Olenja, Monet Sabel, Paul Scanlon and Ben Toomer. They prove the power of a strong ensemble makes for a solid production.

As a touring company, the orchestra is reduced to  six musicians and some electronic specialties. For the most part the sound and lighting were as perfect as an opening night could be ( a few flaws, but not enough to dampen the responses from the packed house). They were in love with the music, the characters and the return of live theater.

Of special note are the costume designer ( Alejo Vietti) and wig designer (Charles G. LaPointe). Some of the costumes were designed to change right before our eyes and did so perfectly. The wigs made this small cast seem like a much larger one as they changed characters rapidly.

The problem with this production- you only have until November 7th to witness what we saw tonight.

Yes, it is here, at the CIBC Theater located at 18 West Monroe Street thru the 7th with performances as follows:

Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Thursday  7:30 p.m.

Friday  7:30 p.m.

Saturday  2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sunday 2 p.m.

Tickets range from $31 and up and can be purchased by calling  800-775-2000 or visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Beautiful- The Carole King Musical”.

Valet parking is available at The Italian Village Restaurant just west of the theater. They are the oldest Italian restaurant in the city and still one of the best. Makes for a perfect evening

For those of you who are unsure about who this woman is ( she was just inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame), here are some of her songs in the production:

“It Might As Well Rain Until September”

“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”

Chains”

“It’s Too Late”

“You’ve Got A Friend” ( written with Kirsner, Weil and Mann)

“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”

“Take Good Care of My Baby” ( with Goffin) and of course “Beautiful” and there are many more hits of the day that defined the era.