By TR Robertson Photos by Karli Cadel
Moonlight Stage Production’s fourth musical of their 43rd season takes everyone on a fun filled musical journey highlighting a number of hits written by songwriter Carole King and her collaborating partner Gerry Goffin and their friends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, mostly written in the 60’s and 70’s. The jukebox bio-musical also takes the audience through the beginning of the musical journey of one of the greatest female songwriters of this and any time period and her story up to her appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1971. Carole King wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits, made 25 solo albums, won four Grammy Awards, was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is the recipient of a Library of Congress Gershwin Prize, a Kennedy Center Honoree, in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a MusiCares Person of the Year, holds an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, just to name a few of her accomplishments. An amazing career for a woman who dropped out of college, was married and had her first daughter at age 17 and accomplished most of her success at a time and in a business dominated by men, both in her profession and as performers.
The world premiere of “Beautiful” was at the Curran Theatre in San Fransisco in 2013 and made its Broadway debut at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in 2014 where it ran for 2,418 performances. The musical won two Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. The musical also won two Laurence Olivier Awards in 2015 for the London production. “Beautiful” is from a book by Douglas McGrath, words and music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with music arrangement by Sony/ATV Music Publishing with Orchestrations, vocal and incidental music arrangements by Steve Sidwell.
Playing Carole King in the Moonlight production is Melissa Musial, making her Moonlight debut. Not only does Melissa look like Carole King, but she also sounds like Carole King. Her Brooklyn accent and enthusiasm as the young Carole King is trying to break into “the songwriting business” has you picturing what must have been really occurred in the late 1950’s in New York City. You empathize with her as she deals with the problems she and her husband Gerry Goffin deal with and cheer for her with the success of their songs, all of which are memorable and enjoyed still today. Her performances of “So Far Away”, “A Natural Woman”, and “Beautiful” are amazing. Returning to the Moonlight Stage, this time as Carole’s husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, is Brandon Keith Rogers. Brandon captures the angst the real Gerry Goffin must have been going through throughout his marriage and songwriting career. You want to feel sorry for him but find it difficult to give him much sympathy for his behavior during their marriage. In real life King divorced Goffin in 1968. The musical ends with a final meeting between King and Goffin in 1971. King also married three additional times and had four children all mentioned in her 2012 memoir.
Melissa Musial as Carole King and Brandon Keith Rogers as Gerry Goffin
Portraying the competing songwriting couple is Bryan Banville as Barry Mann and Allison Spratt Pearce as Cynthia Weil. Both are Moonlight veterans. Bryan is funny as the hypochondriac Mann and Allison is perfect as the sassy Weil. Both perform a number of songs in the musical trying to match the talent and success of King and Goffin. Along the way they develop a long-lasting friendship with Carole and Gerry through the good times and bad.
Dan Mason plays record producer Don Krishner of Dimension Records. As Krishner, you get the feeling this gentleman would produce almost anything that would be unique and different. He also showed a willingness to promote female groups as well as black performers. Moonlight veteran Sandy Campbell plays Carole’s mother Genie Klein. Carole’s real birthname was Carol Joan Klein. Carole had changed her name to Carole King when she was in James Madison High School in the 50’s while she formed a band called the Co-Sines. As Carole’s mother, Sandy was perfect as the opinionated Jewish mother, always offering some advice.
There were some outstanding dance and song numbers by a variety of performers for the musical as they brought back a number of memories of songs many in the audience either grew up with or had heard performed by numerous other singers. The Drifters performances brought out loud applause when they took the stage. Jarrett Anthony Bennett, Darrand Hall, Chase Lowary and Mario White had all the moves and an amazing sound as The Drifters when they sang “Up on the Roof” and “On Broadway”. Also, a standout performing group was The Shirelles, made up of Shirley Johnston, Janaya Mahealani Jones, Hayley Dorling and Brooke Henderson, singing the memorable song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”. Brooke Henderson also had the audience moving in their seats when she portrayed Little Eva and sang “The Loco-Motion”. Another audience favorite was Billy McGavin and Anthony Vacio’s performance as the Righteous Brothers singing “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”.
What an amazing songwriting and performing career Carole King has had. So many songs that are still sung today by numerous performers around the world. Many have been used in movies, television shows, commercials and so much more. James Taylor singing “You’ve Got a Friend”, Celine Dion singing “The Reason”, Barbara Streisand singing “Where You Lead”, Rod Stewart singing “So Far Away” and the list goes on and on of the performers who have sung songs written by Carole King. She also had a successful performing career both as the featured artist or touring with other performers.
The director of “Beautiful” is Moonlight veteran Director/Choreographer John Vaughan. The Musical Director/Conductor of the eleven piece “Beautiful” Orchestra is Elan McMahan. Assisting Vaughan is Sound Designer Jim Zadai, Lighting Designer Jennifer Edwards, Video Designer Blake McCarty, Hair & Wig Designer Peter Herman, Costume Coordinator Raven Winter, Properties Coordinator Bonnie Durben, Stage Manager Stanley D. Cohen and Assistant Stage Manager Patrick Bator.
This is a very entertaining musical for people of all ages that gives you a glimpse into the early beginning of one of the most prolific songwriters in the annals of American music. The performances are superb, the dance routines catchy, the staging well done (especially in the 1650 Broadway Medley by the Ensemble) and a musical well worth seeing. “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” will be on the Moonlight Stage until August 31st. Tickets can be purchased at www.moonlightstage.com or call 760-724-2110. The final musical for the season will be “Tootsie” beginning on September 11th.
