Review: Orpheus Musical Theatre's Production of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL

After a bit of a miss last season, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a return to form for Orpheus Musical Theatre. Beautiful highlights all the things that Orpheus can do really well: quality vocals, simple, yet effective sets, and great chemistry among the cast that keeps the audience invested in the characters and the story. 

Beautiful, directed by Derek Eyamie, is based on singer-songwriter Carole King’s (Molly McGuire, alternating with Julie Séguin) journey from a sixteen year old aspiring songwriter to her successful career as a singer-songwriter, culminating with her 1971 performance at Carnegie Hall.  The bulk of the show focuses on King’s songwriting success with her partner-husband Gerry Goffin (Jesse Gervais-Weedmark), and friends/competitors, Cythia Weil (Melissa Lyons) and Barry Mann (Kyle Thompson). These two songwriting teams created some of the most recognizable and successful songs of the 1960s and 1970s, including “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, performed by the Shirelles (Patrice Xavier, Canda Habonimana, Naomi Miller, Meydge Xavier), Little Eva’s (Patrice Xavier) “The Loco-Motion”, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'” by the Righteous Brothers (Zach Betts, Mathieu Charlebois), the Drifters’ (Stefan Keyes, Mercy Bueya, ChristJay Ugomgbemene) "Up on the Roof", Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, and "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by the Animals, among many others. As a singer-songwriter, King’s album, Tapestry, was woven from her own personal experiences and include songs like “You’ve Got a Friend”, “I Feel the Earth Move”, and “It’s Too Late”. Suffice it to say that audiences will toe-tap their way through the show.

While King’s personal journey is not as tumultuous as, say, Tina Turner’s or Cher’s, and she never really struggled with success, King’s story has just enough drama to ensure the show’s two and a half hour run time doesn’t become boring. But the reason that Beautiful is worth seeing on stage is the music, and this is where Orpheus’ cast shines with outstanding vocals and unlimited enthusiasm. McGuire, Gervais-Weedmark, Lyons, Thompson, Xavier, Keyes, and Danica Coote gave stellar opening night performances and, although Stephen Beneteau seemed to struggle with his lines a bit, his portrayal of Don Kirschner was memorable, perfectly embodying the look and spirit of the music producer.

Over the last few shows, Orpheus has relied heavily on projected backgrounds to the overall detriment of its shows, but with Beautiful, the company makes a return to old fashioned physical set pieces and the limited use of projections, which rightfully keeps the focus on the actors and story. Set pieces (designed by Steve Jones) that are minimalist, moveable, and multi-purpose allow quick scene changes and enough space on stage to enable the to move about freely and not appear overcrowded. The choreography (Deborah Quaicoe) could have used a little more rehearsal time, and there were some mic issues that affected the sound quality on opening night but, hopefully, these issues will be swiftly resolved.

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