Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Four out of five stars
$70-$165. April 28 show ASL-interpreted. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun, 2 p.m.; Thurs. & Sun., 7:30 p.m.
Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Morsani Hall, 1010 N. WC Macinnes Place, Tampa. 813-229-STAR. strazcenter.org.
There's no mistaking Beautiful is a woman's musical, an anthem to feminism. Carole King went from being a songwriting Jersey wife to a singer/songwriter/environmental activist, and this show chronicles the early years of her career.
However, to discuss this show in terms of feminism only does it a disservice, because it's also a paean to music and the power it has over us. The songs in Beautiful speak to two generations of music fans, from Some Kind of Wonderful with its nostalgic — and timeless — appeal for Boomers to I Feel the Earth Move's rock meets feminista appeal to Generation X.
In terms of acting, the principals turned in a flawless performance at Tuesday night's performance. Abby Mueller portrayed King sensitively and deeply. Thankfully, she didn't attempt to mimic King's exact voice; her own voice came close enough to be enjoyable without parrot-like.
Supporting her, Liam Tobin gave a believable performance as a King's mentally unstable first husband: lovable and bastardized all at once. Becky Gulsvig plays King's closest work ally, Cynthia Weil, with skill and spunk — and, thankfully, her Chenoweth-esque voices delights as much as Chenoweth's did in Wicked. Ben Fankhauser plays the seductively dweeby Barry Mann. This foursome carries the show and does so seamlessly, supported by Suzanne Grodner and Curt Bouril as King's mother and music industry boss, respectively.
If the songs and leads delight, the rest of the cast needs to come up to their level. The Drifters, while vocally spot on, lack the masculinity and cultural innuendo the actual Drifters possessed; instead, they seemed almost camp-like. The Shirelles, too, could have better asserted themselves as a group with which to be reckoned.
One exception to the lessor players: Ashley Blanchet, who plays Little Eva, who started as the Kings' babysitter and went on to become the vocal force behind Locomotion. She was a pleasure to watch and hear.
As for the sets, the backdrops changes themselves are few but the orchestration of the rest of the staging — and the blocking itself — keeps the physicality of the show interesting. The bulk of the action takes place downstage; without the convention of a conveyor belt to move set pieces on and offstage, the show would have presented as far less dynamic.
The story, as noted, only takes us through the end of King's first marriage and the beginnings of her solo career. It's sometimes flat in its portrayal of Goffin, but not so much as to not be forgivable. Overall, it tells a lovely story.
Some may even call it beautiful.
A note, too, about this show: Tampa Bay talent Rosharra Francis is a swing for the show. Francis graduated cum laude graduate of Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School and went on to earn her Master of Music degree at NYU.
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2016.