Molly-Grace Cutler in rehearsal for a major new touring production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. Pictures: Ellie Kurttz
MOLLY-GRACE CUTLER (The Worst Witch, Girls Don’t Play Guitars, We’ll Live and Die in these Towns) plays singer/songwriter Carole King in the major new touring production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical in 2022, opening this week at Leicester Curve.
Based on the early life and career of legendary singer/songwriter Carole King, 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.
Directed by Curve’s artistic director Nikolai Foster, the show features the enduringly popular songwriter’s classic hits including ‘So Far Away’, ‘It Might as Well Rain Until September’, ‘Take Good Care of My Baby’, and ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ along with hits like ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’, ‘On Broadway’ and ‘Uptown’ from songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
Here Molly-Grace continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…
Congratulations on being cast as Carole King in the brand new UK tour of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. What was it like being in the rehearsal room after such a challenging time for live theatre?
It’s was a very opposite environment compared to what we’ve all been used to recently and quite a bit of a shock to the system – I don’t think I had moved that much in two years!
I think everyone’s so grateful and happy to be a part of this production and to be allowed to do this again because we all missed it – especially for the arts community as there didn’t seem like there was a lot of hope in the pandemic for it ever coming back. It’s was just electric in the room when we got to do all the music together.
The cast and crew become your family away from home. I’ve never done a job that’s lasted so long, so it’s nice to have an extended family around you for such a period of time.
Molly-Grace Cutler (Carole King) and Tom Milner (Gerry Goffin) in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Carole King’s songs seem to be timeless, with new generations discovering her music all the time. Were you already a fan and what has it been like to delve into her life for what must be an exciting but demanding role?
Yes, I’ve always been a fan of Carole King. Subconsciously you’re always aware of her music because she has these timeless songs.
As a kid, I definitely knew Carole King’s music. I had Tapestry on vinyl and would play it but I don’t think I realised at such a young age how much of a legend she is and how much she wrote for other people. You discover all that music as well and go, “this woman is incredible”.
In terms of her life and being able to become and delve into her story, it’s intense. She lives such a rollercoaster of a life really. She’s just so resilient through everything she goes through, she’s so strong. Nothing is going to knock her back, she’s just always looking for the good in people and relates to people through music.
How does the production compare to previous incarnations (I know there is a cast of actor-musicians) and what is it like to work with Curve’s artistic director Nikolai Foster?
It’s a cast of actor-musos, which is obviously very different from the original. I think we’ve stripped it back and built it all up from the beginning. It’s amazing to work with Nikolai and he’s really getting to the heart of who she is, her life and the people that she knew. You really get to see the emotion that’s in everything and understand the tragedy in her life as well.
I think sometimes, in our industry in general, shows tend to lose that a bit because there an expectation that everything should be perfect. I love that in this show we’re taking the perfect away, we’re taking the gloss off and showing you what this woman was about… and there are actor-musos! It’s all live on stage. For me, as an actor-muso, when I go and see shows now, if there’s music in it and it’s a pit orchestra, I get really sad that I can’t see them. The energy musicians bring to a room is just amazing and I think “why can’t I see that?” I think it’s going to amaze audiences to really experience all that music and see everyone feel the song, not just the one person singing the song – it’s a whole community of people being part of a feeling.
You obviously have appeared in straight dramas and musicals, what do you like in particular about being part of a musical?
You connect on a different level with music in a show. Yes, there is such a fantastic story with dialogue and you can go “oh that’s the feeling of the scene”, but there’s so much more expressed through music. I think it subconsciously connects people to things without them trying to understand anything. Everything can be in the music, it just expresses the different emotions of the story perfectly.
Impossible question, but can you pick out a special highlight from your career so far?
It’s gotta be this one, hasn’t it?!
- Beautiful – The Carole King continues at Leicester Curve until 12 March 2022, then tours to Bath, Brighton, Edinburgh, Southampton, Newcastle, Dartford, Malvern, Cambridge and Cardiff.
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Watch our brand new trailer for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, including a preview of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ performed in rehearsals by our incredible company.#MadeAtCurve pic.twitter.com/YpccBuCZNc
— Curve (@CurveLeicester) February 17, 2022
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