My husband would say that Carole King’s Beautiful is just an excuse to have a Broadway musical. And, to a certain extent he is right.
Beautiful is about a woman, Carole King, played by Chilina Kennedy, who gets pregnant at 16 and marries 
the boyfriend, Gerry Goffin, played by Scott J. Campbell. Gerry cheats on Carole multiple times. After they move to suburbs and have their second child, Gerry confesses that he wants to be with another woman. Gerry is also mentally unstable and at one point, he ends up in the hospital for psychiatric issues.
When Carole and Gerry are at the studio writing music, they befriend Barry Mann, played by Ben Jacoby and Cynthia Weill, played by Anika Larsen, who eventually get married. Mann and Weill write multiple songs during the show and throughout their career including You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling.
Throughout the show you hear songs like: The Locomotion, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, So Far Away, Up on the Roof, Beautiful and You’ve Got a Friend. At the conclusion of the show and after the audience applauds the last song, the cast says, let’s do one more and Kennedy sings: I Feel the Earth Move.
I was particularly impressed with Chilina Kennedy. She has an incredible voice and as I watched the show, I really felt as if I were seeing Carole King. Her expressions were spot on from being a nerdy young woman to when she sang, being a powerful singer.
The choreography was interesting. There were multiple sets and when the four were at the studio writing, there were two levels. This studio setting was used for recordings as well.
Although the show could have been the story of anyone’s life, the music was fun and kept you bopping in your seat all night long. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.
