Review: Beautiful — The Carole King musical

As jukebox musicals go, this one ain’t half bad. 

It’s the story of songwriter Carole King who started out at 16 and has a list of hits as long as a summer’s night: ‘Will You  Love Me Tomorrow?’, 'Take Good Care of My Baby', 'Do The Locomotion’  from her bubblegum era and then into Mother Earth mode with incense-laden classics such as  ‘You’ve Got a Friend’  'It’s Too Late' and ‘You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.’

You can’t knock her. She’s the queen of MOR pop and rock. Still on the go after 60 years.

As for a plot, the production doesn’t stray far from the usual musical bio template: there’s the early success, the trials or her love life, the ups and downs of the music biz and her final re-birth as a solo singer with the album Tapestry  which was tucked away inside every bedsit from the ’70’s.

So the play, at the Hippodrome until Saturday, is not short of songs. And the story itself more or less chugs along by stringing together her inevitable hits. There’s a soulful performance by  Bronte Barbe as Carole as she rises through the ranks — she has a nice voice (and a great name).  And good support from Kane Oliver Parry as her wayward co-writer/hubby Jerry Goffin. 

But a small army of supporting acts really sets this musical alive with show-stopping impressions of The Shirelles, The Drifters, Bobby Vee and The Righteous Brothers. They really wake up the back row and director Marc Bruni has the good sense to roll out the groups in good measure to ensure a constantly high energy level.

Dialogue limps along some of the time, the New York accents are endearingly all over the place and seem more South Dakota than Big Apple.  But who cares? You get an endless string of hits, from real oldies to patchouli oil classics for the erstwhile bellbottom brigade. It’s a good night out.

Until Saturday: book.