Carole King joins Beautiful cast for opening night

On the opening night of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, legendary singer/songwriter Carole King greets Katie Brayben, the actress who plays her in the show at the Aldwych Theatre. Picture: Dan Wooller

There were some special guests at the opening night of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at London’s Aldwych Theatre and they included legendary singer/songwriter Carole King herself, as well as songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical has a book by Douglas McGrath with words and music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and is directed by Marc Bruni. Katie Brayben plays the title role of Carole King, with Alan Morrissey as King’s husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, Lorna Want as Cynthia Weil, Ian McIntosh as Barry Mann, Glynis Barber as Genie Klein, King’s mother, and Gary Trainor as music publisher and producer Don Kirshner.

Vivien Carter, Ed Currie, Oliver Lidert, Fela Lufadeju, Tanya Nicole-Edwards, Terel Nugent , Jay Perry, Tanisha Spring, Lucy St. Louis, Danielle Steers, Dylan Turner and Joanna Woodwood will play iconic musical performers and band members of the era. Ensemble members are Andy Coxon, Jason Denton, Michael Anthony Duke, Joel Harper-Jackson, Rosie Heath, Aisha Jawando, Hannah Jay-Allan and Leigh Lothian.

Choreography is by Josh Prince with set designs by Derek McLane, costume designs by Alejo Viettii, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski and sound by Brian Ronan. Orchestrations and music arrangements are by Steve Sidwell. Beautiful – The Carole King Musical will be produced in London by Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Multi award-winning Carole King fought her way into the record industry as a teenager and sold her first hit, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’, when she was just 17. By the time she was 20 she was writing number ones for the biggest acts in rock‘n’roll, including The Drifters, The Shirelles, Aretha Franklin and The Monkees. In a first for a female singer/songwriter, King’s album Tapestry won all three of the 1971 key Grammy Awards – record, song and album of the year. The same year King also won the Grammy for Best Female Vocalist. With more than 25 million records sold, Tapestry remained the best-selling album by a female artist for a quarter of a century. More than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles and six Grammy awards.

The two-time Tony award-winning Beautiful – The Carole King Musical continues at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway where it opened on 12 January this year and has subsequently become one of Broadway’s top selling shows, playing to capacity houses. A US tour will commence in September 2015 in Rhode Island.

Pictures: Dan Wooller

www.beautifulinlondon.co.uk