Nothing appears to be truer than the idea that every success has an interesting story behind it. The same could be true for Carole King, whose late 20th-century albums solidified her as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her generation. However, there’s more to the story of Beautiful than a simple rise to fame. In fact, her biggest album “Tapestry” exists mostly as an endpoint that promises an exciting career ahead. The real story is how King established her career and developed her own voice after fostering it with other singers for songmills. The production at La Mirada Theater brings it to life with excellent stage design that delivers the audience through decades of storytelling with an infectious songbook full of recognizable hits. It’s a story about giving King the credit she deserves, and the results are a heartwarming good time.
Those expecting a more conventional repertoire from King’s career may be disappointed. While the hits of “Tapestry” are sprinkled throughout, the real star of the show is her time as a composer, working opposite her husband Gerry Goffin as they create a lot of Top 40 hits that include “Locomotion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.” Upon landing a job for at a New York song mill, the audience is treated to various performances of the songs by the artists who brought them to life. For most of Act I, the audience may notice an absence of King the performer. Instead, she’s at a piano, constantly crafting melodies while competing with neighboring songwriters for the boss’ attention. The gimmick works as it allows for a fun '60s workplace-style comedy to form where the humor lightens the drama and makes the struggles feel like triumphs.
Beautiful is a story that is in love with the process of a song. Following a brief introduction of an older King performing “So Far Away,” the story focuses on how an ambitious, teenage King (then named Carole Klein) has to convince her mother to let her sell songs. While there’s already the assumptions of an upward trajectory, there’s plenty that’s immediate. She’s likable with a gleam in her eye. Bringing a predisposition to King as a performer will help fill in any gaps and make the convenience of the plot work better. It’s there in the way that watching American Bandstand reveals her former relationship with Neal Sedaka, or how King met Goffin through a cute but antagonistic incident at her high school. There’s doubt that she could be a generation-defining artist, but the optimism with which the show is produced makes it easier to buy into.
The first glimpse of Beautiful as a greater story about the music industry comes quickly after. Having discovered how King pens music, even if she fumbles with lyrics, the audience sees La Mirada’s excellent stage design where two-story stages unveil several artists recording music at once in a dizzying medley of familiar hits. It creates the allure of what the music industry could be and, more importantly, helps to make King appear smaller. How will she ever compete with these pop and R&B smashes that have lined jukeboxes for over 60 years? Credit to the diverse supporting cast who each play a variety of famous musicians and do impeccable renditions of the hits while doing dazzling dance numbers.
Finding King’s humanity within this is the real trick. There’s no doubt that she’s a star on the piano, but she’s having trouble expressing herself with lyrics. Through comical scenes, Beautiful reflects a slow evolution by finding the highs and lows of her young career. Part of it is simply being a relevant artist in a changing music environment. The other is the strain of her relationship with Goffin, of which may never reach devastating heights but serves as a great plot device that gets us to the exile and rebirth necessary for her solo career. When she’s finally allowed to perform her own music, there is life to it. Even if the show is packed with excellent music, finding King finally existing wholesale in her own show is a revelation. She sings with such recognizable passion, reflecting the payoff of hard work.
It should be noted that even as Beautiful does plenty to succeed beyond the typical jukebox musical, there are still a few tropes that are tough to ignore. Predictably, the audience will know how things end. The encore is a delightful rendition of “I Feel the Earth Move” as everyone claps along. It’s not without drama, though the stakes are surprisingly low for a story motivated by marital conflicts. They all feel buried in story beats that feel reminiscent of sitcom tropes, often finding actors introducing the musical acts with shameless enthusiasm. With that said, those willing to overlook that this is about the first leg of King’s career will find a lot to admire with how well it balances tone. Beautiful clearly doesn’t want to be a downer, instead celebrating endurance and independence that slowly develops into success. If the best that can be said is that Beautiful delays the use of “Tapestry” songs in order for greater impact, then consider this a fantastic success.
Again, credit should be given to the great people at La Mirada Theater who have continued to do excellent work. The set design towers over everything with enough wonder to keep the audience dazzled. The music performances not only have great singing, but the costume work provides a welcomed authenticity, especially in scenes where the songs are used as brief sight gags and require immediate recognition. All in all, it’s a wonderful balance of nostalgia with something more innovative. The emotions run deep throughout the actors’ time on the stage, allowing the slow shift into more dour subject matter to feel earned. It’s a balancing act and one that La Mirada is more than capable of pulling off to the point it’s seamless.
Beautiful may not seem like the full-on celebration that jukebox musicals tend to be, but it’s so much more than a conventional A to Z story. Carole King is a performer mostly known for her later work, so to pay tribute to her early career in such vivid detail is a welcomed sight. It also shows the value of those who feel invisible within the music industry. By slowly finding her voice, she was able to appear as her true self even before the audience. As it was clear that nobody could hold her back, the music continued to grow into something more nuanced and inspired. It may be a bit silly and predictable, but it’s a perfect piece of feel-good entertainment capable of pleasing fans of classic pop music. It’s more than the story of how she wrote her biggest songs. It’s about how she discovered her voice.
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