milt thomas

Most folks first became aware of Carole King with her solo album Tapestry in 1971, but she earned fame as a songwriter long before that. Her story and musical legacy are told in Beautiful, a must-see event now playing at Riverside Theatre. The show opens with the spotlight on a grand piano center stage and nothing else. Then a young woman walks out, sits at the piano and begins singing “So Far Away.” At first, I thought it must be a recording of Carole King singing one of her hits, but it wasn’t a recording and it wasn’t Carole King, but Sarah Bockel, the actress who plays Carole King in this truly wonderful musical based on the singer’s life.

In this opening scene, Carole is performing at Carnegie Hall in 1971. As she finishes and the audience applauds, the stage moves like a record turntable to reveal Carole’s living room back in 1958 Brooklyn. The 16-year old Carol Klein (soon-to-be Carole King) is trying to convince her mother, Genie Klein (played by Rachel Coloff), to let her go to Manhattan. She’s not asking permission to have a fun day with friends, but rather to sell a song she wrote.  Mom is opposed, of course, reliving her own music industry failures, but finally relents. Neither of them would live to regret Carole’s dream.

Carole heads to the mecca of popular music, the Brill Building at 1650 Broadway, a beehive of songwriters, producers and publishers, all competing for hit songs. At this point, the audience is treated to a medley of iconic hits that were created in that building.

Then the stage spins again and we are in the Brill office of music publisher/producer Donnie Kirshner (played by Riverside veteran, Jonas Cohen). Carole performs her song, “It Might as Well Rain Until September” and he agrees to take it as long as she promises to continue writing songs.

Carole meets an aspiring lyricist named Gerry Goffin (Jake Goz). They agree to collaborate writing songs and then become romantically involved, which turns out to be a “fertile” relationship on both counts. Their first song together, “Some Kind of Wonderful,” becomes a hit for The Drifters and earns them an office of their own in the Brill Building. Carole then meets another lyricist, Cynthia Weil (played by Sarah Ellis, another Riverside veteran) who is looking for a composer to team up with. There she meets Barry Mann (Nick Moulton) who has the office next door. Barry and Cynthia then team up for work and love, becoming long-term friends with Carole and Gerry, as well as fierce competitors. This composer-lyricist team was – and is – still common in the business (for instance, Elton John-Bernie Taupin, Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein, etc.).

Donnie Kirshner wants a hit song for his new group, The Shirelles, so he has both couples compete to come up with a number one song by eight o’clock the next morning. The King-Goffin team wins the competition with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” which launches The Shirelles’ fame as the first “girl group” as well as the first number one hit for them and for Carole King-Gerry Goffin. At the time, Carole was just 17 years old and pregnant. She would go on to write or co-write 118 Billboard hits in her career (more than two dozen of them with Goffin).  Her friends-competitors in the office next door, Mann and Weil, weren’t slouches either, with more than 100 chart hits including “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “On Broadway,” both performed in the show.

Beautiful focuses on King’s life as a songwriter, although it ends with her 1971 release of Tapestry, the album that established her reputation as a singer/performer.

As is always the case with these musicals based on real life performers, the audience learns more about the person behind the persona. One of the early ‘60s recording stars was Little Eva, who started as Carole and Gerry’s babysitter and served as inspiration for the Little Eva/King-Goffin number one hit, “The Locomotion.” Carole and Gerry go through some marital troubles and decide to move to the suburbs. While there, they write “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” which becomes a hit for The Monkees and “Natural Woman,” written for Aretha Franklin. The couple divorce (“It’s Too Late”) and each moves to LA.

The show ends where it began – in 1971 with Carole at Carnegie Hall.

Fans of ‘60s and ‘70s pop music will love this show, but its appeal is universal thanks to the timeless music, superb singing, dancing and acting. If you are new to Vero Beach, Riverside Theatre productions are Broadway-level quality. The combination of excellent live musicians, creative lighting and stagecraft as well as a great story propel this show to another level. Beautiful is just that!

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical performs April 15 – May 11, 2025 on the Stark Stage at Riverside Theatre. Tickets start at $45. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 772-231-6990 or online at http://www.riversidetheatre.com.

Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30pm; Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm; with matinees on Wednesdays, select Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. 

Performance Schedule:

April 23, 24, 29, 30, May 1, 6, 7 & 8 @ 7:30pm

April 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, May 3, 4, 7, 10 & 11 @ 2pm

April 19, 25, 26, May 2, 3, 9 & 10 @ 8pm