Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

There can’t be anyone in the Western World who doesn’t know a Carole King song, even if they don’t know that Carole King wrote it. Songs like “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, “You’ve Got A Friend” and “It Might As Well Rain Until September” were the soundtrack of our lives from the end of the 1950s through to the late 70s and are now considered standards. The music was fabulous, even if its creator wasn’t half as interesting. King’s major ambition was to have children and live in the suburbs. Nothing wrong with that, but it does mean that Douglas McGrath’s book struggles with the personal elements of the characters.

Fortunately, uber talented director Johanna Allen (who also choreographed the production) is an acclaimed performer in her own right and understands that the music is where the focus needs to be. It’s the right choice, and what a sparkling, bubbling, glorious musical she gives us, more enjoyable (to me at least) than the original production here in Australia.

The music is authentic to the era, beautifully played by excellent musicians - wonderfully directed by MD David Piper - with stunning vocals throughout, clever use of the multi-dimensional set by Josh McIntosh, and effective dance routines that make every song a winner. It’s a triumph for Allen and her cast and crew and for producers Matt Ward and Mat Sinclair.

Allen’s blocking is super intelligent – every move has a reason. She keeps the “drama” tight, but ups the energy on the lighter comic moments and builds a sense of anticipation for every song.

Julia Dray wears King’s mantle like a second skin. She looks and sounds like her and gives us more insight into King’s emotions than the book offers. Dray is a much better singer than this role allows, but then King was never a great singer, and Julia IS King. It’s a skilful and beautifully measured performance. Stephen Mahy is always impressive and manages to win our sympathy in the somewhat thankless role of Gerry Goffin. While Goffin was super-talented he was also selfish, indulgent, a drug addict and could easily be a one dimensional villain. Fortunately Mahy and Allen have worked on making him far more rounded and accessible.

The breakout performance however, for me, is that of Tim Carroll as Barry Mann, the super talented, hypochondrial rival (with wife Cynthia Weil) of Goffin and King. Carroll is endearing, comic, full of warmth and general chutzpah, and is beautifully cast for the role. He is a delight in every scene.

Elenoa Rokobaro’s vocals as Cynthia Weil are amazing, as is her stage presence, though I missed the acerbic Yiddish wit and schtick which Weil publicly revelled in.

As is always the case in Matt Ward productions, the ensemble is outstanding - every one of them a genuine triple threat – all of them doubling as artists of the era, so we are treated to The Shirelles, The Drifters, even Neil Sedaka. Special kudos to the two local artists who gave us a wonderfully amusing – though played straight – version of The Righteous Brothers. Elliot Baker is just fabulous as Bill Medley and Gabriel Teller complements him perfectly as Bobby Hatfield. The two drew both laughter and applause for their version of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”.

With fabulous costumes, hair and makeup by Jess Hansen, Beautiful is everything and more than you could hope for, and I, for one ,would love to see this production touring nationally. If it does, be sure to catch it.

Coral Drouyn

BUY TICKETS HERE.

NB Apologies for the delay in this review…unfortunately Covid prevented me thinking clearly for a week.

Images: Kyle Head Photography.