Berkshire on Stage

If you have ever grown nostalgic when you hear a song sung by The Drifters or The Shirelles or The Righteous Brothers, then you really must see the musical rocking the stage at the Mac-Haydn Theatre. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, is a “jukebox musical” that tells the story of how a shy teenage songwriter from Brooklyn found her voice and evolved into a magnificent, award-winning performer who immeasurably contributed to popular music.

Beautiful tells the story through King’s songs from 1958 when she sells her first song and gets hired at the studio of Don Kirshner, how she falls in love and marries lyricist Gerry Goffin, the ups and downs of career and family, her transition to a solo performer in the 1970’s when her album, Tapestry, won multiple awards, including album of the year, and she performed at Carnegie Hall. The book of Beautiful is by Douglas McGrath and the music is by King and  Goffin, and their best friends, songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It is a credit to McGrath that this show is chocked full of those remarkable songs but also takes time to have scenes that tell the story so well.

This musical is so satisfying, as it takes you back to hear those great songs sung by the fiercely talented ensemble recreating The Drifters singing Up on the Roof, Some Kind of Wonderful and On Broadway. And the Shirelles singing Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. And Little Eva and the ensemble singing and dancing their hearts out on The Locomotion. Those lighthearted ‘50s and 60s standards are balanced with wonderful ballads, many sung by Hannah Shankman who gives a knockout performance of Carole King. There are too many songs to list here, but as King matures as an artist, you will be moved to hear Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, So Far Away, Chains, It’s Too Late, and of course Beautiful. 

The Mac-Haydn has pulled together a most remarkable cast for this show. Hannah Shankman is nothing short of fabulous as Carole King. It is always difficult to play a real person whose image and voice is indelibly etched in our memory, but Shankman nails the character vocally and also has a nuanced transition from the shy schoolgirl, to the young wife, to the mature woman who has the strength to survive her husband’s betrayal. It is a masterful performance. 

Michael Daly turns in a fine performance of King’s husband, Gerry Goffin. Shankman and Daly are nicely paired with Caitlin Wilayto as lyricist Cynthia Weil and Kevin Egan as composer Barry Mann. Wilayto and Egan are a dynamic duo. The quartet is excellent and offer in-depth performances and great ability to bring back the magic of those old standards.

The ensemble is thrilling in its energy, embracing fully the simple, sometimes silly lyrics, and rock and roll tunes with great gusto. It is dazzling to see The Shirelles, The Drifters, Neil Sedaka, Little Eva, and other icons of the era take the stage and then melt into the scene. Standouts are Briana Thomas as Janelle Woods, Nina Laing as one of The Shirelles, and Michael Reed in The Drifters quartet. Choreographer Bella DePaola created an amazing changing scene on the small Mac-Hadyn stage. Although some of the choreography of the backup singers was not as precise and one might remember, it is still there and brings great joy.

Director Eoghan Hartley gets the job done, but much of the staging seemed too busy. Moving a piano for every 5-minute scene showed a lack of trust in the audience to use their imagination and took an enormous effort from that hardworking ensemble to reassemble all the generic cubes and platforms. Often the actors were turned away from the majority of the audience. Music Director Connor Crotzer Scartascini was really amazing. However, the sound design by George LaChance presented sound levels that were too loud at times and could be pulled back without harming the energy and drive of the songs.

Ellen Wagget’s scene design and Andrew Gmoser’s lighting design were serviceable enough for the setting of a rehearsal studio and various other locales, although I would have liked to have less use of the aisles. Sam Landy’s costume design and the hair and make-up design by Summer McCormack were both excellent and greatly helped the nostalgia and charm of the show.

Despite those couple of caveats, the audience was immensely enthusiastic and clearly enjoyed this vivacious and supremely entertaining musical. Beautiful is really quite beautiful and it really should not be missed.

Credits

Book: Douglas McGrath

Music and Lyrics: Gerry Goffin & Carole King and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil

Director: Eoghan Hartley

Choreographer: Bella DePaola

Music Director: Connor Crotzer Scartascini

Scenic Design: Ellen Waggett

Lighting Design: Andrew Gmoser

Costume Design: Sam Landy

Hair & Make-up Design: Summer McCormack

Sound Design: George LaChance

Props Design: Chloe Wiederhorn

Cast:

Carole King – Hannah Shankman

Genie Klein – Kitty Baker

Betty – Bella Pavia

Neil Sedaka – Bryce Williamson

Lucille – Gaby Flores

Don Kirshner – Kevin Weldon

Gerry Goffin – Michael Daly

The Drifters – Aubrey Dunbar

Law Peachy-Williams

Michael Reed

Todd Turner

Cynthia Weil – Caitlin Wilayto

Barry Mann – Kevin Egan

The Shirelles – Gaby Flores

Nina Laing

Taylor Morant

Brianna Thomas

Janelle Woods – Brianna Thomas

Little Eva – Nina Laing

The Righteous Brothers – Will Forrest

Bryce Williamson

Nick – Will Forrest

Marilyn Wald – Jessica Cerreta

“Uptown” singer – Taylor Morant

Lou Adler – Bryce Williamson

Ensemble:

Jacob Atkins

Jessica Cerreta

Aubrey Dunbar

Gaby Flores

Will Forrest

Jack Gemmell

Nina Laing

Taylor Morant

Bella Pavia

Law Peachy-Williams

Fiona Phelps

Michael Reed

Briana Thomas

Todd Turner

Bryce Williamson

Information

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical runs August 13-23 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (see website at http://www.machaydntheatre.org for daily schedule). For tickets, phone (518) 392-9292.

Running time: 2 ½ hours with one intermission

Mac-Haydn Theatre, 1925 Route 203, Chatham, NY 12037

Closing date: August 23

Website: www.machaydntheatre.org