From a shy Brooklyn teenager who composed chart-topping songs that others recorded to a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical chronicles the career and life of one of the pop music world’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters. Following the show’s five-year Broadway run, it now arrives at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in its South Florida regional theater premiere, beginning Thursday, Jan. 11.
“You hear the first chords of some of these songs and it just takes your breath away,” says director Matt Lenz, who previously staged Billy Elliot at the Maltz seven seasons ago. “I mean ‘You’ve Got a Friend,‘ So Far Away’ and so many others, the score is great. And the way they’re placed in the show, I think is really smart.”
Making her Maltz debut playing King. which she calls “her dream role,” is Brianna Barnes, a singer-songwriter in her own right.
“I love getting to play a character than goes on a huge journey, an arc both age-wise and in confidence,” she says. “I love roles like this, where you get to play multiple facets of a character, becoming a woman and finding her voice.”
Lenz did not hesitate when producing artistic director Andrew Kato called and offered him the show. “I immediately resonate with the show and the catalog of songs. I was a kid in the ‘70s and that was the music on the radio, the ‘Tapestry’ era,” he says, referring to King’s landmark album.
Beyond the show’s hit-laden score, Lenz emphasizes its strong, documentary-like narrative. “It’s all based in music history facts, so it’s fun to connect the dots, seeing how this song led to that one,” he says. “And how we went from a Tin Pan Alley writers’ world that evolved into the Brill Building, and that model of creating content in the ‘70s, when all those singer-songwriters were writing their own stuff for themselves.”
At the center of the show is the relationship between King and Gerry Goffin, her musical collaborator and soon her husband. “She was 16 when they met and he was 19. She got pregnant and they got married about six months later, so these are kids. Kids who had the pressure of churning out world-class songs,” says Lenz. “So we look at that imperfect relationship with a lot of sympathy. In addition to all these big numbers that the audience is going to love, they’re going to see a real relationship evolve and — spoiler alert — eventually fall apart.”
With the performance rights recently made available, Beautiful is a popular choice at regional theaters all around the country. “And a lot of productions are just bringing in people from Broadway or who have done the tour,” notes Barnes. “Matt told us on the first day that he really wanted to create something fresh, not just do a copy and paste of what they did in New York. Which was great. I’m a huge fan of Jessie Mueller,” the Tony Award-winning performer who originated the role of King on Broadway. “She was amazing, but to have that freedom in the room to make it our own has been really fun.”
“I purposely tried to do something slightly different from what they did in New York,” Lenz concedes. “There are 22 scenes, so you’ve got to figure out how to keep the show moving. No matter how good the acting and singing are, if we can’t figure out how to get from one place to the next, we’re in trouble.”
Achieving those transitions from scene to scene has become the challenge of choreographer Ariel Reid, returning from the previous season’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. “More than dance, it’s really about how we keep it moving smoothly, keep the flow going. Really, the whole show is choreographed, without looking choreographed,” says Reid. “There’s choreography in the set changes, more than on Broadway, because they had more of a stationary grid set, whereas ours is completely different.”
Eight years after seeing Beautiful on Broadway, Barnes can still recall the emotions it stirred in her. “I think I walked out of that theater after watching the show feeling empowered, after watching that journey, watching someone go from young and naïve, struggle and come out the other end and truly blossom,” she says.
“‘Natural Woman’ is a real anthem of empowerment that speaks to me, and the last song, ‘Beautiful,’ those lyrics really say it. ‘You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart.’ That’s a motto to live by.”
Asked why theatergoers should come see Beautiful, Barnes does not hesitate with her response. “Because it is a wonderful, empowering story that will not only entertain but it will touch your heart and leave you feeling … beautiful.”
BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Rd., Jupiter. Jan. 11 – 28. $85-$150. 561-575-2223.