It's time for my review of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.I have been waiting to see Beautiful for months and months. It has been sitting on my wish-list for ages and we always planned to go, but just never got around to it. Finally a few months ago we decided to book Beautiful and I got a free ticket for 'Kids Week'! Finally last night (August 31st) we FINALLY went! I would like to start off by saying how amazing Cassidy Janson is as Carole King, her voice is outstanding! I'm not really familiar with Carole King, but I have been told that Cassidy sounds extremely similar to Carole. She was perfectly cast in this role. Other cast members who stood out were Matt Nalton who was understudying as Gerry Goffin, Lorna Want as Cynthia Weil, Ian McIntosh as Barry Mann and Gary Trainor as Donnie Kirshner. I thought Matt did an exceptional job, and if I had not found out before the show I would not have had a clue he was an understudy. Yet another phenomenal understudy! He was perfect for the part. Funnily enough I had seen Matt in Jersey Boys over a year ago, which I didn't realise until I checked my programme. I love all the songs, they're all so great to listen to. Personal favourites were 'On Broadway' (which was the only song I knew of), 'One Fine Day' and the title song: 'Beautiful'. All of the songs were excellently carried out by an excellent ensemble! I thought the set, costumes and lighting design were all really good and massively helped the audience to be transported to the 1950's. There are some sad parts to the show, but most of it is really fun and so enjoyable to sit through. Now for my criticism of the show... most of the show is really good, but I think the pace of the show really could be slowed down. I definitely think they could have focused on her childhood a bit more. In one scene when she's 16 she meets the guy at university and in the next scene she's pregnant and they're planning to get married. The audience aren't told how many years have gone past and that was something that left me a bit confused. A lot of songs are crammed into the show, so maybe two or three could've been taken out to focus on the story a bit more.
The featured star of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is, drum roll please... CASSIDY JANSON!
Cassidy is so perfect for this part, she was born to play the role! Her voice is sublime, I'd love to see her in another role and see how she does. She was also a great actress and did a good New York accent.
Now for my final verdict on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. I give Beautiful: The Carole King Musical...
I give this rating because the show's lead is amazing, it features some great songs and it's really enjoyable, but it could just do with some tweaking to the way it's structured.
Think it would have got a higher rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.
Join me next time when I will be reviewing Kinky Boots.
Thanks for reading!
-The Reviewer
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