A Song Factory: A Review of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at Paramount Theatre

Paramount Theatre’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” with Tiffany Topol/Photo: Liz Lauren

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Wait, she wrote that song too?

That’s what goes through your head when you see “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” You knew she had written a lot of songs, but ALL those songs? “So Far Away” AND “Some Kind of Wonderful?” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” AND “One Fine Day?” Did this woman ever sleep?

With the abundantly talented Tiffany Topol as King, backed by a great cast, the new production of “Beautiful” at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre is irresistible—the audience was helpless before it. There are so many great songs, wonderfully performed, and an emotionally resonant story of a gifted woman shedding a selfish man and making her own way.

Dating from 2013, this is a jukebox musical, which means it’s mostly songs, stitched together with a book by the late Douglas McGrath that’s witty but sometimes creaks with the effort of quick-sketch biography. (“Guys, it’s 1964… Let’s not be so uptight!”) But the cast, especially Topol, Rebecca Hurd and Christopher Kale Jones as the songwriting team of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, Ian Paul Custer as Don Kirshner, and Laura T. Fisher as King’s hidebound but loving mother—keeps the story fresh and human.

The story opens when King is a ponytailed sixteen-year-old. Mom wants her to teach music, but Carole has bigger ambitions and presents a song to the crusty Kirshner, who takes her on but warns that her lyrics need work. She meets the handsome Gerry Goffin (C.J. Blaine Eldred), who starts writing lyrics for her melodies. He also gets her pregnant, and they get married.

Working out of the 1650 Broadway building in New York City, Goffin and King produce hit after hit in what King describes as a song “factory.” In the show, their songs are performed both by Topol and Eldred (as they’re worked out in the studio) and then by singers portraying the Drifters, the Shirelles and Little Eva (Ariana Burks)—their babysitter—who got a hit with “The Locomotion.”

We also get songs by the wisecracking rival team of Weil and Mann, including “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” with Luke Nowakowski and Matt Thinnes as The Righteous Brothers.

Paramount Theatre’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” with Christopher Kale Jones and Rebecca Hurd/Photo: Liz Lauren

The performances, with flashy sixties costumes by Theresa Ham, were all fun. Some were outstanding—with Burks, Nowakowski and Thinnes knocking it out of the park.

The second act has fewer songs and more drama, as King’s marriage breaks up and she starts her solo career. The action lags a bit, and it would have been nice to have more of King’s later work, to show her progress. But the opening-night audience was on Carole’s side and cheered wildly both when she dumped Goffin and then reluctantly took the stage on her own for the first time with “It’s Too Late.” There is genuine warmth and wit in the relationship between King, Weil, Mann and Kirshner—reflected in the touching four-part-harmony rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend.”

Eldred as Goffin is also a strong singer. Despite the character’s flaws (and the fact that McGrath gave him some of the worst lines), the show offers a generous appreciation of Goffin’s own talent.

Topol, who got a Jeff nomination for “Girl” in Paramount’s production of “Once,” is vulnerable and touching as King. She’s self-effacing in the first act, but her voice is always so powerful that the audience was ready and eager for the Act Two transformation.

Aurora is a long way from Chicago, and it’s a nerve-wracking drive on a weeknight. But this show makes it worth the trip. It’s also a revelation to see the gilded interior of the ninety-three year-old Paramount Theatre—a Venetian fantasy with Art Deco influence. Check it out—there’s a lot going on beyond I-355.

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at Paramount Theatre, 23 East Galena Boulevard, Aurora. Through June 16. Tickets available at paramountaurora.com.