Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Little Theatre Leicester Review
Natasha Carr in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Photo by Poyner & Mee.
Written by Sam for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a true story based on the inspiring young songwriter Carole King, originally Carole Klein born in 1943 in Brooklyn and focuses on her remarkable journey from being a teenager with dreams to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
This production is presented by arrangement with Musical Theatre International (MTI) and performed by Knighton Park Amateur Operatic Society (KPAOS) featuring hits such as “You’ve Got a Friend”, “One Fine Day”, “So Far Away”, “Take Good Care of My Baby”, “Up on the Roof”, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, and “Natural Woman”.
Carole King is portrayed by Natasha Carr and what an incredible and powerful voice she had. I had goosebumps whilst she was singing at times, and Carr’s performance felt effortless. I could see the hurt, excitement, innocence, love, betrayal and sadness in her body language and facial expressions. This was the perfect role for Carr, and I think this was her best performance at The Little Theatre yet.
Nick Wilkins plays Gerry Goffin and what a difficult character to portray. Gerry’s story is an exciting one to follow at the start as he begins his love story with Carole but then we see him battling depression, adultery and despair. Gerry loses himself and I think Wilkins went above and beyond to portray the struggles his character faced. It was almost as though he lived through Gerry’s experiences and knew exactly how the audience would need to see them in order to understand the character.
We all need a little humour in any show, and this is exactly what Cara Gibson (plays Cynthia Weil), and Alex Thompson (plays Barry Mann) bring to the stage. They are a comedic dynamic duo and represent your normal couple who have petty arguments with one another to get one another’s attention. I liked their chemistry, their story and how both characters grew together to become a number one sensation like Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
There were several standout singing performances from members of the cast including Kerry Smith as Marilyn Wald, Adele Watts as Lead Shirelle and Lewis Shaw as Lead Drifter. Their vocals were stunning, and it felt like I was taken back in time and watching a live performance of the artists from that era. I thoroughly enjoyed their charisma and portrayal of their characters. Watts is a graceful dancer and a gentle singer; she’s got a bright future ahead of her. I hope to see all three of these actors play main parts in future shows because they absolutely deserve the spotlight and to show off their vocals. On that note, I would not have guessed it was Shaw’s first performance with KPAOS. He has one of the strongest male voices within the group and he looked like he was living his dream and I’m glad I saw that.
The staging is quite simple, but the cast make good use of the props and space. One thing that I did find a little disappointing was the fact that the cast weren’t playing the piano and it was quite obvious when the pianos keys are positioned in view of the audience. Personally, I think the piano needs positioning slightly away from the audience’s view so it’s less of a distraction. You can also see the orchestra in the background so it kind of takes away the magic of the cst pretending to play.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show and the storyline, however, I don’t think I connected with it overall because I don’t feel I am the intended target audience. There were many older members of the audience singing along to songs from the 1960s and I wasn’t familiar with the artists mentioned or some of the songs. I would highly recommend this show if you were born before the 1970s as it’ll really trigger some incredible memories for you.
At times, some members of the cast were out of tune or sang too quietly, but I do think this may have been because of nerves with it being opening night. The songs in the show are quite powerful and relatively high, making them a challenge to sing anyway but the cast certainly put their all into the numbers.
If you would like to be taken back in time and remember the whoa, whoa whoas from the 60s, this show is running until Saturday 23 November with tickets still available to purchase here.
★★★★
