I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet

It's been a long time since I've been to a jukebox musical. On Tuesday, I caught Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on its opening night for the Manchester leg of its UK tour, currently playing the Palace Theatre as its Christmas musical (their sister venue, The Opera House is holding Dick Whittington starring John Barrowman).
As you may have guessed, the show is based on the rise to fame of singer/songwriter Carole King, from meeting her future husband and collaborator Gerry Goffin aged just 16, to just after her release of the Grammy-winning Tapestry.

The show premiered in 2014 on Broadway, winning 2 Tonys (with 5 further nominations), including a win for its star Jessie Mueller. The London production opened the following year winning 2 Oliviers, including one for its star Katie Brayben as well as for Lorna Want, who played Cynthia Weil, and 6 other nominations. It has received much critical acclaim on boh sides of the pond.

Starring in the title role this time is Bronte Barbe, whom I last saw as Princess Fiona in Shrek - and Carole King is a very different part; though Barbe rises to the challenge magnificently! You really get behind her, whether its the elation of a song making No. 1 or seeing her relationship with Goffin fall apart. Though it is definitely King's/Barbe's show, I must also give a mention to Amy Ellen Richardson (Into The Woods), who played Cynthia Weil, and the chemistry she plays off with her writing partner Barry Mann (Matthew Gonsalves).

The plot, especially when you get to the final song (Beautiful itself) is pretty feel-good, with some poignancy, but the thing you really take from it is how good of a songwriter King is. I went along with my mum, and she is of a certain generation (shall we say) who grew up listening to King's music - although she didn't know it was her! Her songs in those days were covered by artists such as The Shirelles and The Drifters. I said to Mum before the show started we should count the ones we could recognise. And while I mainly stuck to that rule, for Mum, she only ended up counting the ones she didn't know. It was pretty much exactly the same as when we saw Jersey Boys a few years ago - and while I am on the subject, this is definitely one to watch if you are a Jersey Boys fan. The whole show was a case of "She wrote THAT?!".

I must say that as well that this was the first time I had a girly theatre trip with my mum since Grease, and this time was definitely a much better experience than the latter, despite being a bit cramped in our seats and picking the wrong ice cream in the interval - don't go for mint stracciatella, it has an aftertaste that reminds you of toothpaste. 

Also, talking about Grease reminded me - there was no-one singing along on the top of their lungs thoughout the show while seeing Beautiful like there was with Grease - this is how it is meant to be done. After an amazing show (and Barbe getting a near-standing ovation), the company breaks into I Feel The Earth Move for their encore - THEN we got to sing along and have a boogie in (or out) of our seats.

To end this, I'd like to leave you with one of King's lyrics, which became especially poignant after seeing her story unfold onstage:
You've got to get up every morning, with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart... that you're Beautiful as you feel