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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
The slightly long but fast-paced biographical show is punctuated with lots of honest heartbreak and bright comedy in the dialog scenes, thanks to Ms. Barnes and the very impressive Sean McGee as Gerry Goffin, King's lyricist partner, at 1650 Broadway in New York. Their close association leads to marriage. And (probably accurately) Carole King is frequently depicted here as an underdog, timidly marketing her greatest songs for two and a half hours including intermission. In fact, no matter how many hits she racks up, she always seems to be abased and abashed before authority figures as she offers up her next chart-topping smash (I gasped three different times, going through her catalog of great music). But in her endless meekness (in the non-singing scenes), it seems like the opposite of another show that covers the same epoch, Jersey Boys, about the Four Seasons: full of its own masculine swagger and swinging hips. While possessing many lovable traits, this Carole King goes blissfully in the opposite direction. Beautiful first appeared at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in 2013, moving to Broadway the following year where it ran for more than 2,400 performances at the Sondheim Theatre. The fantastic libretto is by Douglas McGrath, glittering with the songs of Ms. King and Mr. Goffin, and featuring songs by a friendly competing team of songwriters in the same music factory, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (played here by the delightfully funny David Socolar and the wonderfully acerbic Kailey Boyle). Their pop music will surprise you almost as often as you bask in the glory of the title character's own famous portfolio. Director Jennifer Werner frames a hundred moments of grief and joy with perfect clarity. Super-professional Jeff Cummings plays another music impresario here, King's brash and comical producer Don Kirshner (he was Sam Phillips of Sun Records last year in Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, co-produced by Stages and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). And Amy Loui is excellent as always as Carole King's hard-nosed, Thelma Ritter-type mother from Brooklyn. The music direction is by David Nehls, whose live band adds true richness to dozens of old A.M. radio standards. The strangely fresh (and surprisingly varied) choreography is by the director, assisted by Leonard Sullivan and Nat Harper with dance captain Ian Coulter-Buford (I mention them all because there's so much teeny-bopper dance going on in act one, with no obvious redundancies). The dazzling costumes are by Cat Lovejoy, with top-flight lighting by Sean M. Savoie. The whole thing just fits together, well, beautifully. The placement of the songs often takes us by surprise. There's lovely singing and acting onstage by supporting actors Sydney Quildon, Tatiana Bahoque, RJ Woessner, and Hugh Entrekin. And, happily returning our attention once more to our leading lady, Brianna Kothari Barnes gently layers-on new vocal tonalities throughout her performance, elegantly. Over and over, each one becomes a new counsel on the great Ms. King. She's continuously adding fresh vocal richness to her character, in almost every scene–which I almost feel is the greatest success of act two here. Narratively, that second act slows down, compared to the breathless barrage of song and dance in Act One. (I was breathless, the cast was not.) But that's just what biographies do on side B, they slow down. And the 1970s were sometimes just not as carefree for this generation. In the second act, the mood becomes almost shockingly sophisticated (with plenty more great music) after all the great juvenile '60s fun in the first. Through it all, Beautiful never loses its title. Its sleek song and dance, and relentless sense of humor and humanity, are all perfectly partnered together. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, produced by Stages St. Louis, continues through October 19, 2025, at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 East Monroe, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.stagesstlouis.org. Cast (in order of appearance): Stages Band: Production Staff: Additional Production Staff: Electrician/Board Operator: Addison Stafford Consulting Production Director: Josh Aune * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
