Review: BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, Curve Leicester (UK tour)

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz

The inspiring true story of Carole King’s journey to stardom is one of the highly anticipated touring shows of 2022.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is making a triumphant comeback to the stage in five years, beginning at the Curve in Leicester. This new Made at Curve production, directed by Nikolai Foster, celebrates the ordinary girl with extraordinary talent that made her become a legend in the music industry. Foster has used his well grounded reputation for shows that are fresh and navigate new ways to engage audiences, this one is no different. 

Curve’s vast space is transformed largely into a recording studio. We witness how different people come through the doors and how all of their dreams of success are the main thread which ties them together. We start and end at New York’s Carnegie Hall in the wake of Carole King’s successful 1971 album, ‘Tapestry’, but this musical is centred on how she got there. Her story wasn’t plain sailing, often tragic incidents occurred and she had varying problematic marital and romantic relationships throughout her life. This book concretes solely on some very important relationships in her life which paved the way for her success as a solo act. There’s the relationship with Gerry Goffin (Tom Milner), a fellow songwriter. We see how this relationship impacts on her life, both professionally in music and in her personal life too. Another is the one she has with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. It is a really interesting foundation for a great story and audiences absorb every moment of it. 

This new production has some clear differences from the last West End and UK touring production but it definitely has the main threads still there, not forgetting the astounding musical score that definitely appeals to the audience. People couldn’t help themselves from singing along to familiar songs such as ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’, ‘Take Good Care of my Baby’ and ‘Up on the Roof’. Beautiful has an ebullient lighting design from Ben Cracknell which evaluates the entire finished product of this show. This Made at Curve production also has reconstructive staging which enables it to stay upbeat and at a pace which doesn’t stray from what is important about this musical. 

Integrating actor-musicians into the arrangement is really intriguing and works well with jukebox musicals, but in this case it feels a bit disjointed. There is definitely a little bit of work there and some polishing of the musical numbers that needs to be done in order for the production to feel more clean and concrete but this will definitely come in time and as the tour progresses. 

The exceptionally diverse cast in this production breathe new life into the story, many taking on different roles to capture the different influences and people in King’s life. They raise the roof on more than one occasion. This cast is led by their Carole King, the wonderful Molly-Grace Cutler. You are transfixed by her take on the quirky and compassionate King. Her entire presence is felt as soon as she first walks onto the stage and her voice takes the breath right out of the audience. She is phenomenal as the leading lady, as well as playing a huge part for the neurodiverse community who will be inspired by her in this role.

Beautiful is back and this new Made at Curve production is utterly charming. Make sure you get your hands one of the hottest tickets of this year in the UK touring circuit.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Emmie Newitt

For more information and to book tickets for select touring venues, please click here.

This review is also on Emmie’s personal blog, Theatre and Tonic.