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SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL NEWS!! After over 600 days dark, the National Tour of the Tony and Grammy winning smash hit Beautiful – The Carole King Musical will once again FEEL THE EARTH MOVE this Fall.
Featuring its original creative team consisting of direction by Marc Bruni and choreography by Josh Prince, the tour will relaunch in the Windy City of Chicago, IL starting November 2nd, 2021 before traveling to the following cities…..
Greensboro, NC,
Red Bank, NJ,
Waterbury, CT,
Easton, PA.
Sioux Falls, SD,
Mason City, IA,
Bloomington, IN,
our Nation’s capitol in Washington D.C.,
Detroit, MI,
New Heaven, CT,
Lubbock, TX,
Morristown, NJ,
Philedelphia, PA,
Palm Desert City, CA,
Seattle, WA,
Orlando, FL,
Houston, TX,
Baton Rouge, LA,
Fort Lauderdale, FL,
and
so much more.
For those who may not know, BEAUTIFUL is the story of the rise to fame of legendary singer-songwriter Carole King. It follows mainly her early journey in Brooklyn, NY during the 1950’s writing many of her legendary songs for singers, her relationship with Gerry Goffin, the emotional divorce, and all up to winning the Grammy for her iconic album TAPESTRY. Notable songs include YOU’RE SO FAR AWAY, WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW, UP ON THE ROOF, ONE FINE DAY, IT’S TOO LATE, the title song, I FEEL THE MOVE, and the powerful YOU MAKE ME FEEL (LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN).
BEAUTIFUL was developed within the early 2010 era under the original title NATURAL WOMAN. Carole King initially did NOT approve of the idea of a musical on her own life being told on stage due to re-experiencing many of her personal situations on stage. However, she still got involved knowing what it’s all about. Without being noticed, King took part experiencing the early development readings and workshops in disguise. The show still got the green light to go. The show had its world premiere out-of-town tryout in San Francisco, CA at the Curran Theatre in the Fall of 2013.
In early 2014, BEAUTIFUL made its debut ON BROADWAY at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. It became an instant smash hit running for 6 years playing 60 previews and 2,418 regular performances. It holds the record as THE 2ND LONGEST RUNNING JUKEBOX MUSICAL IN BROADWAY HISTORY and the 27TH LONGEST RUNNING SHOW IN BROADWAY HISTORY. Under the direction of Marc Bruni and choreography by Josh Prince, the cast was led by….
Jessie Mueller (later Chilina Kennedy, Abby Mueller, Melissa Benoist, Vanessa Carlton, and Sarah Bockel) as “Carole King”,
Jake Epstein (later Scott J. Campbell, Evan Todd, and Cory Jeacoma) as “Gerry Goffin“,
Anika Larsen (later Jessica Keenan Wynn, Kara Lindsay, and Kate Reinders) as “Cynthia Weil“,
Jarrod Spector (later Ben Jacoby and Jacob Heimer) as “Barry Mann”,
Liz Larsen (later Nancy Opel, and Michelle Pawk) as “Genie Klein”,
Jeb Brown (later Paul Anthony Stewart and Andrew Kober) as “Don Kirshner”,
and more.
The show went on to be nominated for 7 Tony Awards that same year winning 2 for BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (for Jessie Mueller) and BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL (for Brian Ronan). The show’s original Broadway cast record also went on to top the charts and win a Grammy Award in 2015 for BEST MUSICAL THEATRE ALBUM.
Carole King herself would see the show in its entirety but NOT for another 4 months after it opened on Broadway. On the day she did appear, the legendary singer-songwriter planned to appear at the show as a surprise for both the company and the audience. She originally showed up incognito wearing a wig, glasses, and full attire without getting noticed. At one point following the finale, King was escorted through a backdoor that led from the house to backstage. Following a brief quick change into herself, King walked onto the stage at the start of Jarrod Spector’s RED BUCKETS fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS speech. Everyone in the sold out room at the Sondheim Theatre roared to their feet. She made a speech before briefly surprising the audience with an impromptu performance of YOU GOT A FRIEND with the cast and the audience singing along.
King would make surprise appearances at the show multiple times with all the major companies including during the 5th Anniversary performance. During that show on Broadway, Chilina Kennedy did NOT perform the final scene where “Carole” sings at Carnegie Hall. Instead, the audience got the REAL DEAL sitting at the piano playing the title song LIVE!!!!! She would join Kennedy and the full cast for the curtain call singing I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE.
Along with its success here in New York, BEAUTIFUL went on to become an International smash hit with various companies around the world. It has been performed in London’s West End (where it won 2 ACTING Olivier Awards), in Australia, and several touring productions both here in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Today, BEAUTIFUL is also available for licensing to be performed in a Theater near you via Music Theatre International.
At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, BEAUTIFUL had just relaunched this brand new touring company after the Broadway production closed. It originally began 2 years ago traveling across North America before abruptly getting shutdown on March 12th, 2020 in Lafayette, LA.
The casting from that touring company consisted of….
Kennedy Caughell as “Carole King”,
James D Gish as “Gerry Goffin”,
Kathryn Boswell as “Cynthia Weil”,
James Michael Lambert as “Barry Mann”,
Matt Loehr as “Don Kirshner”,
Rachel Coloff as “Genie Klein”,
and more.
No word has been said on the new cast that will relaunch the tour.
Who is ready to once again FEEL LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN?!!!
Mike Haber
Author: Mike Haber