Beautiful: The Carole King Musical @ Casa Mañana

Photos by Agency Habitat

—Jan Farrington

For Casa Mañana’s engaging and memory-stirring Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, director/choreographer Parker Esse lays out a moveable feast of music and dance from the early days of pop and rock—not just the wonderful songs of Carole King (plus and minus her lyricist husband Gerry Goffin), but the whole parade of fun tunes from the motley crew at NYC’s Brill Building: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Darin, Phil Spector and others.

And then, the cherry on top, the songs of Carole King the solo artist of “Tapestry” and so much more.

There’s a whole lotta music goin’ on in Beautiful, but the audience seemed quite content to sit, listen, and dance in their seats just a little. With each new number, people murmured, cheered, aww-ed. This was the music of our young lives: “Poison Ivy,” “Love Potion #9,” “Yakkety Yak,” “Who Put the Bomp,” “Splish Splash.” But then, something else, something more, with the names Carole King and Gerry Coffin attached: “Chains” (The Beatles covered it, remember?), “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “The Locomotion,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “Up on the Roof,” “One Fine Day.”

Backed by a crisp small band of musicians in the pit, led by music director Jesse Warkentin, Elena Ricardo doesn’t come off as an exact copy of King—but after a nano-second it doesn’t matter a bit. She acts the heck out of the part of a very young ‘50s girl (with oodles of talent) growing into herself as an artist and woman. She’s funny, quick-moving, warm—and dresses just like us back in the day, in sweater sets, capris and flats, and finally the tie-dyed outfits (and wild curls) of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Ricardo can bounce with the “girl songs” the team wrote in the 1950s, but her strong, wide-ranging vocals also dig down for the rich, honey-rasp sound of King in her solo years.

The character portraits are well-crafted and the staging is high-energy, with scenes set up and whisked away with the speed of a movie. (Mike Sabourin’s multi-level scaffold set, spotlit by Sam Rushen’s lights, allows for multiple “bits” happening all at once.) Dance sequences are terrific: we’re amazed as the first-draft versions of Carole and Gerry’s songs turn into the polished and sizzling stylings of the Drifters and Shirelles. (Esse’s period choreography and great costumes from Tammy Spencer bring the illusion to life.)

I saw the touring company of Beautiful some years ago, and this time was paying more attention to Douglas McGrath’s thoughtful, sharp, and funny script. Lots of zingers, and the comedy wealth gets spread around, with big laughs for Carole (Ricardo), her sometimes-supportive Mom (Cheryl Allison), Gerry (Miles Jacoby), producer Don Kirshner (Edward Watts plays it snarky but good-hearted) and especially for wise-cracking songwriter team Cynthia and Barry. (Kate Loprest and Nick Moulton are a delightful pair of show-stealers.) Also stealing scenes right and left are the “wow” singers who make up the pop groups (Drifters, Shirelles, Righteous Brothers, et al.)—voices, moves, dressed to kill. Fine, just fine.

The “lead” story, about the partnership and marriage of King and Goffin, sounds a lot of true notes about marrying young, having different priorities, trying to be “me” and “us.” They were a songwriting match made in teen heaven—but only up to a point. Gerry is dealing with issues that look now like a manic-depressive cycle. Carole is struggling with the culture: how to be a mother, a hit songwriter, a wife. In a somewhat unsympathetic role, Jacoby does a great job of making us feel for Gerry. (His edgy, revealing version of their “Pleasant Valley Sunday” shows his uneasiness with his family and the all-American life.)

But when Carole finally stands up for her worth, her own life, we cheer. Off she goes to L.A., two small daughters in tow, and in what seemed then like “overnight,” she was a superstar. (The reality, of course, was she’d been writing and selling songs—some of our favorites—for 20 years by then!) I happened to see the show on International Women’s Day, March 8, and it felt very right to be celebrating the music of this fierce and talented woman: “It’s Too Late,” “So Far Away,” “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,” and of course, “You’ve Got a Friend,” performed as a group-hug-song just before the lights go down…and then up again for bows, applause, and dancing in the aisles.

Casa’s production is one of the first regional versions of this show, following the Broadway run and the national tour. Beautiful plays only through the weekend—but whether you’re calling up great memories or introducing yourself to a pretty cool era of American home-grown music, seeing this talented cast is well worth the ticket and the time.

WHEN: Through March 12

WHERE: Casa Mañana, 3101 W. Lancaster, Fort Worth

WEB: casamanana.org