You’d swear it was the real Carole up there singing hit after hit after hit, so spot-on is Sarah Bockel’s star-making performance as the 1960s/70s songwriting legend in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, this week’s best entertainment bet down Orange County way.

 Admittedly, King’s virtual overnight success and mostly bump-free teens and early twenties do make for considerably less drama than beset her bio-musical contemporaries Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons in Jersey Boys, but for pop music lovers, King’s skyrocket ride to stardom coupled with her discovery of her husband’s dark side prove captivating from the show-opening “So Far Away” to the get-up-and-sing-along “I Feel The Earth Move” that ends the evening with a bang.

Showbiz bios can hardly avoid the formulaic, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is no exception, but Tony-nominated book writer Douglas McGrath, director Marc Bruni, and an exciting production design make this particular showbiz bio a finely-tuned machine.

 McGrath opts to focus on two major aspects of King’s personal and professional life, her teen marriage to lyricist Gerry Goffin and the couple’s friendly rivalry with their chief competitors, composer Barry Mann and his lyricist girlfriend Cynthia Weil.

 As portrayed by a hunky, curly-haired Dylan S. Wallach, Gerry Goffin must have been every shy, gawky Brooklyn teen girl’s dream, but Gerry’s demons spell trouble for a couple married too young, even for the Eisenhower ‘50s.

Meanwhile, Barry and Cynthia (Jacob Heimer and Alison Whitehurst), whose own hits included “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “On Broadway,” seem as ill-inclined to walk down the aisle as Gerry and Carole were to wed (though admittedly teen pregnancy did influence the latter couple’s decision to get hitched).

 Whatever Beautiful: The Carole King Musical lacks in Jersey Boys-style jail sentences and drug overdoses, it more than makes up for in music and charm, and with Goffin-King classics like “Up On The Roof,” “The Locomotion,” “One Fine Day,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” just half-a-dozen of the hits performed by an all-around-stellar cast, this is one hook-filled musical indeed.

 Not that there isn’t a bit of fiction mixed in with the facts. For instance, whoever it was that Gerry philandered with, it was not “Janelle Woods.” nor did “Janelle and Backup Singers” record “One Fine Day” (that was The Chiffons). And though Beautiful would have you believe that Carole wrote “It Might As Well Rain Until September” all by herself before even meeting Gerry, it was in truth one of their earliest collaborations.

 But who cares, not with Bockel winning over audiences the moment she sits down to plunk-and-sing “So Far Away” in a voice so close to Carole’s, it’s uncanny, and with acting chops to match, it’s no wonder the ensemble member when Beautiful first played the Segerstrom in 2016 is now its bright-shining star.

As for King’s fellow songwriters, the charismatic, vocally blessed Wallach gives Gerry a dangerous but irresistible sex appeal, Whitehurst’s terrific Cynthia combines sass and spice in equal measure, and the oh so appealing Heimer proves that even a neurotic hypochondriacal nerd has what it takes get the girl.

 As legend-making rock music producer Don Kirschner and Carole’s mom Genie, James Clow and Suzane Grodner deliver non-singing featured performance gems.

 Broadway ensembles don’t get more pop-pipe-blessed than Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’s McKynleigh  Alden Abraham (Janelle Woods, Shirelle), John Michael Dias (Neil Sedaka, Lou Adler, Righteous Brother), Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Kaylee Harwood (Marilyn Wald), Marla Louissant (Lucille, Shirelle, “One Fine Day” Backup Singer), Dimitri Joseph Moïse (Drifter), Deon Releford-Lee (Drifter), Nathan Andrew Riley (Drifter), Paul Scanlan (Nick, Righteous Brother), DeAnne Stewart (“Uptown” Singer, Shirelle, “One Fine Day” Backup Singer), Michael Stiggers, Jr. (Drifter), Alexis Tidwell (Little Eva, Shirelle, “One Fine Day” Backup Singer), and Elise Vannerson (Betty), most of whom get to sing lead at one point or another in addition to performing choreographer Josh Prince’s groovy boy-group/girl-group moves amidst wig-and-costume changes galore.

 Beautiful: The Carole King Musical looks every bit as fabulous as you expect a Broadway National Tour to look thanks to scenic designer Derek McLane’s glitzy set and Peter Kaczoroski Vegas-flashy lighting design, with Alejo Vietti’s costumes, Charles G. LaPointe’s hair and wigs, and Joe Dulude II’s makeup design taking us from late ‘50s to late ’60 with a combination of real-folks authenticity and pop-star pizzazz.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical sounds beautiful too thanks to music director/conductor Susan Draus, Brian Ronan’s Tony-winning sound design, and Steve Sidwell’s Tony-nominated orchestrations.

 Associate director Shelley Butler and associate director Joyce Chittick keep Beautiful’s National Tour in Broadway shape. Ben Biggers, dance captain Ellis-Gaston, Willie Hill, Alia Hodge, and James Michael Lambert are swings. Joel Rosen is production stage manager.

Whether as a nostalgic, tune-filled trip down memory lane or as a revelatory look at the early days of the singer-songwriter whose album Tapestry turned her into an “overnight” superstar, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical once again makes for crowd-pleasing musical magic on the Segerstrom Center For The Arts stage.

Segerstrom Center For The Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.
www.scfta.org

–Steven Stanley
October 9, 2018
Photos: Joan Marcus

Tags: Barry Mann, Carole King, Cynthia Weil, Gerry Goffin, Orange County Theater Review, Segerstrom Center For The Arts