By Katie Houston
Bringing East-coast energy and chart-topping music, Farmers Alley Theatre opened Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to a full and appreciative audience at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse at Kalamazoo College on Friday, July 11.
Set in New York, the musical tracks Carol Joan Klein’s metamorphosis into singer/songwriter Carole King, from selling her first song at age 16, to California and GrammyR-winning success in her solo career.
For the uninitiated, King, now 83, wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 in the 1960s and 1970s, songs performed by artists as varied as the Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack, Helen Reddy, Gloria Estefan, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Grand Funk Railroad, and of course, her own talented self.
Rachel Dudt excels as Carole, ably voicing a host of songs familiar to anyone over, say, the age of 40. Dudt’s wide smile and golden pipes support the character’s development from nascent songwriter to a young mother and burgeoning star at the ripe old age of 28.
The rich story – not always present in a so-called “jukebox” musical – moves briskly. Carole sold her first song to publisher/producer Don Kirshner in 1958, after being cautioned about “going into the city” by her mother. Perfectly played by Kalamazoo favorite Lori Moore, mom wants her girl to be a teacher, but later takes humorous credit for her success while backstage at Carnegie Hall.
King meets Gerry Goffin between classes at Queens College, a lanky cad who needs music for his lyrics, just as she’s in need of lyrics for her music. Played with lean sexiness by Los Angeles-based Brandon Ruiter (a Grand Rapids native), Goffin doesn’t hesitate to propose when King gets pregnant, just as the duo’s songwriting is taking off.
Showing up to bring the show humor are Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, songwriters who mesh on stage and off while nipping at the heels of Goffin and King’s success, the duos occasionally trading places at the top of the charts. The sassy and stylish Weil is played by Allison Masulis with sharp wit, delivering most of the show’s one-liners. Mann, a wiry hypochondriac, is played by New-York based Nick Anastasia with energy and attitude. Both bring the musical chops when called for.
Punctuating the goings-on at the Brill Bulding ‘music factory’ are performances by the rising groups of the day. The Drifters – in black satin suits and canary yellow shirts – deliver close harmonies and dance moves, while The Shirelles bring the big hair and big voices, sashays and circle skirts. Kudos to choreographer Leonard Sullivan for the smooth, sixties-era choreography for the two foursomes, who harmonize to “Some Kind of Wonderful,” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” The latter became the first number-one hit by a girl group. These eight talented performers do double duty throughout the show, and are always on point.
The set design is spare and effective – especially with what appear to be sound-studio baffles outlined in lights that change colors. The production makes great use of the broad stage, employing every corner and a full-width balcony to present nightclubs, studios, apartments and even a hospital bed when Goffin’s emotional demons get the best of him.
After a move to the suburbs, the couple’s new lifestyle inspires the sly and socially-conscious “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” which producer Kirshner – portrayed by Michael Morrison with ease and warmth – sends to the Monkees, a semi-fake TV group that turns it into a hit. Goffin and King eventually split, with King’s diffidence about performing finally giving way when friends talk her into singing in public at Greenwich Village’s Bitter End – a venerable club still in business.
“I’d be scared to sing in front of all these people,” she tells Weil and Mann. “All these people?” says Mann. “This room could share a cab!”
She sits down at yet another piano to deliver “It’s Too Late,” about her breakup. The rest is award-winning history, after King moves to Los Angeles and releases her breakout album Tapestry, which stays on the charts for over six years and wins four GrammysR. Listen for the ‘easter egg’ about the Laurel Canyon home she bought that features window seats, with promises to her daughters to get a cat – the setting and pet appear with her on the Tapestry album cover.
The arcs of success rise and fall, relationships strengthen and weaken, but Beautiful shows the beauty of creating music that remains, decades later. Directed by Kathy Mulay, Beautiful continues through July 20. Learn more at farmersalleytheatre.com.
