Carole King musical show coming to Segerstrom Hall in October
The music of legendary singer-songwriter Carole King is coming to the Segerstrom Hall next month with “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” a Tony and Grammy Award-winning show that traces the pop icon’s early career and relationship with first husband and musical collaborator Gerry Goffin.
The jukebox musical, which director Marc Bruni called “an embarrassment of riches in terms of the song catalog,” features hits such as “So Far Away,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Beautiful” and “I Feel the Earth Move.”
But as Bruni also pointed out: “The show isn’t just a parade of songs — it’s a real story.”
“The smartest thing about the way [‘Beautiful’ writer] Doug McGrath created the books for this show is that it doesn’t try to shoehorn the songs into a plot, but uses the lyrics to reflect back on the circumstances of when the songs were written,” he said. “So, for example, Carole goes through a tumultuous breakup with Gerry, and comes out of it on the other side with ‘It’s Too Late,’ which is the ultimate breakup song.
“Although you come in with an understanding and a knowledge of these songs, you’ll see them through a new lens and a new context and understand what the circumstance of writing the songs were.”
The show made its Broadway debut in 2014 and since then has been nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won two, including Best Leading Actress in a Musical. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
The national tour began last year.
Although King is best known for her 1971 Grammy Award-winning album Tapestry, which features many of the hits included in “Beautiful,” Bruni said the musical also appeals to younger generations.
“When I was first approached with this material, since Carole King isn’t my generation, I thought I wasn’t as familiar with her song catalog,” he said. “And then I saw an early reading of the show and had the experience that I think a lot of people have, saying, ‘I can’t believe she wrote that and that,’ and it turns out I know a lot of her songs and a huge swath of her music that’s been recorded by other artists.”
“The Loco-Motion,” for instance, has hit the Top 5 in American charts three different times by three different artists in three different decades: In 1962 with singer Little Eva, in 1974 with the band Grand Funk Railroad, and in 1988 with singer Kylie Minogue.
“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” has seen similar success across the decades. Originally performed by Aretha Franklin in 1967, the song was later recorded by King herself for her album Tapestry in 1971, and by Celine Dion in 1995.
“Because these songs have permeated the musical landscape of America and have been recorded over and over and over by so many artists and played on the radio,” said Bruni, “there’s a whole number of generations that are very familiar with her music.”
Julia Knitel, who plays the role of King in the national tour, said it’s been a challenge to portray someone of such iconic status in the American musical landscape.
“I bought every book I could find on Carole King, I listened to her music morning, noon and night, and found anything of hers I could watch,” Knitel said of her preparations. “Our directors do not want anyone doing an impersonation of Carole, so it was sort of finding the things about you that are similar to her and being able to give a performance that’s honest and you, and also the essence of Carole.”
Though she grew up listening to King’s songs with her parents, Knitel said that immersing herself in King’s life and music has given her new insights into the legendary songwriter’s legacy.
“One of my favorite things I learned was that she was a product of her time and was simultaneously a trailblazer,” she said. “She was pregnant at 16, married to a man who was only two years older. She had a life that was really common aside from the fact that she was an incredible songwriter writing platinum albums at 16 years old. She was in a situation that so many people were in, but she just happened to have a ticket out because of her talent as a songwriter.”
“She was at the forefront of the women’s revolution of the 1970s,” Knitel said. “We all, as women, come out of this show with a different respect for our mothers and grandmothers, and it’s a new spark of ambition because you see how much one woman can do if she puts her mind to it.”
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IF YOU GO:
What: “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”
Where: Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
When: Oct. 4 to 16. Performances Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Cost: Tickets start at $29
Information: (714) 556-2787
