REVIEW: “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical”

Kenny Smith reviews Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.

THE name “Carole King” is one that I’ve known for many years, but never really thought much about beyond that.

To my shame, I hadn’t really thought much about her life beyond being an accomplished singer-songwriter, but that has been put right thanks to Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, currently being performed at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.

Carole, of course, was responsible for classic hits of the sixties and seventies, including (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Take Good Care of My Baby, You’ve Got a Friend, Up on the Roof, and The Locomotion, songs that most of us will instantly recognise.

But long before she was Carole King, the chart-topping music legend, she was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent

Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of her remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit song-writing team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

When you have incredible songs before you even begin, you need a great cast to do them justice, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here. Molly-Grace Cutler plays Carole to perfection – her voice is powerful, emotive, vulnerable – everything that’s needed to capture the heart and soul of the songs. She’s a top-notch performer, whose talents deserve to be gracing the West End, such is her range. To a man and woman, everyone was raving about her performance afterwards.

Tom Milner – who some may recognise from his role in Waterloo Road a few years ago – is a great Gerry Goffin, capturing his tormented soul and frustrations, with a good voice.

Seren Sandham-Davies commands attention in her role as Cynthia, with a great vocal range, and Jos Slovick does wonders as Barry, singing – deliberately – badly at times, before giving brilliant vocal renditions of other songs. The chemistry between the four leads comes across well in the relationships between the characters, as they evidently get on well on and off stage.

What particularly impresses throughout are the performers are playing their instruments live on stage, in addition to singing, and that gives this show a real edge, because you know that what you’re hearing is coming directly from those in front of you, rather than the orchestra pit.

Beautiful is an incredible show, highlighting the amazing talents of not just Carole King as a musician, but also those of her ex-husband and her best friends – and I never knew that Little Eva, the original singer of The Locomotion, was Carole and Gerry’s babysitter!

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical is at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow until 17 September.

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