Carol and I went to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Tuesday evening. It was opening night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. We usually go to the Sunday Matineee but lucky Carol is going to Tucson to have Thanksgiving with her brother Ken, so we exchanged our tickets for Tuesday night. My UK cousin Jean saw it in the West End and loved it. It was a very wet miserable night but the play brightened our evening.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a jukebox musical with a book by Douglas McGrath that tells the story of the early life and career of Carole King using songs that she wrote, often together with Gerry Goffin and other contemporary songs by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Phil Spector and others.
Carole has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for the Popular Song, the first woman to be honoured. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree. When I watched the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors show on TV, I didn't realize all the songs she had written. I was only familiar with her work when she started singing her own songs. The play really detailed her early life. She skipped two grades in school and at 16 was in College and writing songs! She is brilliant!
Some of the songs she wrote for other entertainers:
Will You Love Me Tomorrow; The Shirrelles, 1960
Take Good Care of My Baby; Bobby Vee, 1961
Go Away Little Girl; Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme, 1962; also Donny Osmond, 1971
Go Away Little Girl; Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme, 1962; also Donny Osmond, 1971
It Might as Well Rain Until September; Bobby Vee, 1962
The play featured groups that sang some of her early songs. The costumes and arrangements were excellent. It was a "feel good" play and Carol and I really enjoyed it.
The Loco-motion; Little Eva, 1962
One Fine Day; The Chiffons, 1963
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling; Johnny Rivers, 1966; Elvis Presley 1970 & The Righteous Bros. 1986
The play featured groups that sang some of her early songs. The costumes and arrangements were excellent. It was a "feel good" play and Carol and I really enjoyed it.
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| They received a well deserved standing ovation. |
