Jun 10

Jun 10 Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Flat Rock Playhouse

The current production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Flat Rock Playhouse is the third iteration I’ve seen, after the original Broadway show and its national touring company, and it’s my favorite so far. It’s not just the talented ensemble, not a weak link among them, or the classy, energetic staging. It’s also the venue. While King’s music is certainly powerful enough to fill a huge auditorium, her songs typically conjure a certain depth of human experience. So enjoying Beautiful — undeniably Broadway’s best jukebox musical, perhaps tied with Mamma Mia! — in the homey, community atmosphere of Flat Rock Playhouse magnifies the show’s charms. It’s the difference between hearing a great story shouted from across the street and having the characters right in your own front yard. Kudos to director Amy E. Jones for emphasizing that intimacy throughout.

Unlike Mamma Mia!, with its bubbly fictional setup and creative invention of situations that more or less fit the tunes, Beautiful uses the songs of King (mostly written with her lyricist husband, Gerry Goffin) to illuminate a streamlined version of her life story — along with the songs and lives of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, fellow staffers in the pop-music songwriting mill that was New York City’s Brill Building in the early 1960s. Whether the tunes were actually inspired by the events the show depicts (King’s rocky marriage; Weil and Mann’s semi-comic courtship) doesn’t really matter. Many of them fit the moment so perfectly, it’s like hearing them for the first time.

The Drifters perform in *Beautiful: The Carole King Musical* at Flat Rock Playhouse. (Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)

The songs that aren’t so tied to emotional plot twists get full-throated, snappily choreographed performances by cast members recreating pop and R&B vocal groups of the ’60s: The Drifters, The Shirelles, and the Righteous Brothers (the expressive duo of Galloway Stevens and Brian Klimowski), and so on. Flat Rock’s Drifters — Dave J. Abrams, Berlin Lee Charles, Manny Houston, and Alfred Jackson — were so dynamic and mesmerizing that the audience responded to their “On Broadway” with one of the loudest and most-sustained ovations of the evening. The Shirelles — Maya J. Christian, Elise Frances Daniells, Sha’Leah Nikole Stubblefield, and Jahlaynia Winters — have their own marvelous moment with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”

Janelle (Elise Frances Daniels) and her backup singers perform “One Fine Day” in *Beautiful: The Carole King Musical* at Flat Rock Playhouse. (Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)

As Carole, Rachel Prather is near perfection. She has a wonderful, expressive voice to which she adds just enough Carole King inflections to sell the performance but not so much that it becomes a mere impression. She also navigates every emotional twist just right, whether it’s 16-year-old Carole’s excitement pitching her first song (“It Might as Well Rain Until September”) or 20-something Carole dealing with Gerry’s infidelity (a heartbreaking rendition of “One Fine Day”).

Barry (Conner John Gillooly) performs “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” in *Beautiful: The Carole King Musical* at Flat Rock Playhouse. Watching him are (from left) Carole (Rachel Prather), Cynthia (Emily Grace Tucker), and Don (Scott Treadway). (Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)

As Gerry, Matthew Christian hits the right balance of charm and self-absorption, while co-leads Connor John Gillooly (Barry) and Emily Grace Tucker (Cynthia) bring on the comedy while remaining richly human. (After years of enjoying the music-only cast recording, I had forgotten how witty the show’s book often is.) Barry and Cynthia’s musical numbers are also spot-on, with Gillooly’s authentically rocking rendition of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” a particular highlight.

Genie Klein (Callan White) and her daughter, Carole (Rachel Prather), in *Beautiful: The Carole King Musical* at Flat Rock Playhouse. (Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)

Fans of the WNC theater scene will be happy to see three local acting icons in the cast as well. Maddie Franke is in the ensemble with a few nice opportunities to share the spotlight (“Chains” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”) — and also created the snazzy, creative choreography. Callan White is sweet and silly as Carole’s mother, Genie, while Scott Treadway takes on a fabulous New Yawk attitude as the boisterous, bossy, and secretly kind Don Kirshner, the music publisher, producer, and impresario who signs the checks (and the contracts).

The sets, by Dennis C. Maulden with lighting by Todd Wren, combine a multi-purpose Mondrian-esque scrim backdrop with minimal furniture that zips on and off the stage as needed to set the scene. We always know exactly where we are, and Travis M. Grant’s many dozens of period-perfect costumes and Matt Oliver’s smile-inducing hair and makeup designs let us know when we are. Music director and assistant director Ethan Andersen and his eight hard-working fellow musicians in the band could give the Wrecking Crew a run for their money. (Google that one if you need to.)

Carole (far right) performs “Chains” with Betty (Amanda Tong) and Marilyn (Maddie Franke) and musicians in *Beautiful: The Carole King Musical* at Flat Rock Playhouse. (Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)

Beautiful may be a nostalgia trip for theatergoers of a certain age, but even some Boomers may be surprised. (Overheard from one gray-haired gentleman: “I had no idea Carole King wrote all those songs!”) Younger audience members will be easily entranced by the show’s bounty of heartfelt tunes, poignantly delivered at the service of a compelling, universal story of love, loss, and self-discovery. When the key players gather around the piano for “You’ve Got a Friend,” I challenge anyone not to tear up.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical runs through Saturday, July 5. For details and tickets, visit FlatRockPlayhouse.org.

(Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)