Home Entertainment ‘Beautiful’ Is As Much About Story As Carole King’s Music

‘Beautiful’ Is As Much About Story As Carole King’s Music

Carole King
Abby Mueller, right, as Carole King leading a girl group in the national tour of Beautiful – The Carole King story.

The score of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical encompasses a dozen hits from the ‘60s and half of the iconic Tapestry album.

But bookwriter Douglas McGrath assures theatergoers that this is not a revue like Ain’t Misbehavin’ or even a weak pretense of a plot to hang a catalog of songs upon like Mamma Mia.

The national tour of the hit coming to the Broward Center May 10-22, but still running on Broadway, is an uplifting story with a strong narrative drive.

“The only thing is matters is the story; you’re telling your story,” McGrath said in a recent telephone interview.

“A great musical is about the score, but you can’t have a great musical without a great story. It doesn’t have to be a complex story, it doesn’t have to be suspenseful or psychological — though it can be — but it has to be a story where you’re worried about the characters.”

Fortunately, this biographical tale about the evolution of one of the first successful female rock n’ pop songwriters and performers in American history has all the elements needed for a saga of challenge, heartbreak and eventual triumph set against one of the most fertile periods in American music.

[vc_btn title=”More on ‘Beautiful'” style=”outline” color=”primary” size=”lg” align=”left” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.floridatheateronstage.com%2Ffeatures%2Fbeautiful-coming-to-broward-meant-to-be-as-much-about-story-as-carole-kings-music%2F|title:More%20on%20’Beautiful’|target:%20_blank”][vc_message message_box_color=”turquoise”]By Bill Hirschman, FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, excerpt posted on SouthFloridaReporter.com May 9, 2016 [/vc_message]