Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
- Oct 26, 2017
- 4 min read
The first musical/ Broadway musical I every attended was The Lion King back in 2007 when I was a senior in high School. [I recommend you see The Lion King on Boraodway once in your life because you won’t be disappointed.] I was excited to attend another musical in my lifetime. I was very excited to be attended Beautiful: The Carole King Musical here in downtown Fresno at the Saroyan Theatre. This is actually the first opening show debut of the theatre’s 2017-2018 season.
Carole King
If you don’t know who Carole King is, I’m going to need you to open another tab on any device you are reading my blog post on. Ms. Carole King defined a period where it was hard for women to break into the record business as a song writer on the music scene. You can total say that this Songwriter Hall of Fame (1987) and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Gerry Goffin (1990) [with other countless achievements] broke the glass ceiling when she stepped on the scene. The truth is, you need to give this woman credit because if it wasn’t for her and Gerry Goffin (first husband), who wrote the biggest hits in rock n’ roll period. Not only that, there were hits on the R n’ B charts as well. She has left her mark or should I say lyrics on a generation and the next to come.
THE SHOW
I really don’t want to give too much away because I want everybody to see the musical for themselves. The musical starts off with Carol Klien [Carole King] who is going to Queen College at 16 years old (times where different and if you are so smart you can get to skip grades. You go girl!) and told her mother that she wanted to be a song writer her mother made a deal with her and if she couldn’t sell her song she would need to finish school and become a teacher. Along the way she meets her husband (in college) Gerry Goffin and they became a writing house partner couple alongside their relationship with their friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. It’s not until her personal life started to crack between the lyrics until she found her own voice in which it became BEAUTIFUL.
Like I said I don’t want to give everything away. I learn so much about Carole King’s life as a songwriter and singer. I even got to learn about the recording industry from a woman and male perspective. A lot of number hits were recreated and merged into this musical that was pinned by this lyricist. You had a musical about someone’s life and with mini song performances from the artist in which $45 was well spent. I wasn’t able to take any live pictures due to the close captions of the show but it was magical. I saw the 50’s-70’s all throughout the performances. I laugh, cried, shock and boogied in my seat with a cheshire cat grin. The cast…. The cast was fantastic and amazing and embodied their characters to bring them to life. From the show I got to get to know who Ms. Carole King really is from her youth until she made her way to earning Grammy's with her second debut album Tapestry, which earned her 4 Grammy's. Not knowing it a song that would be written three years later, a song title would makes it way 15 years later to 1989 on my birth certificate. That’s right OneSelfers I got my name spelling from Carole King 1974 hit Jazzman. I win! Overall…this is a must see show. They will continue the U.S. Tour leg of the show in Fresno until the 29th before traveling to a new city. If not you can catch the Broadway performance in NYC.
THE ATMOSPHERE
On my Facebook and Instagram, I have a picture of my ticket that I purchase for the show on Groupon. There were three ticket pricing tiers to choose from. I wanted to be on the orchestra floor. Maybe next time I will be in the balcony. I felt like I was in a movie. They had refreshment to buy such as cookies, popcorn, water and even alcoholic drinks. Mind you I didn’t even know what I wanted to wear. Everyone dressed semi causal / night on the town. Not too dressed up. The audience was huge almost packed house full of 50 years and over which was about ¾ of the crowd. There were ¼ of use between the age of late 20’s to mid-40’s. Everybody had a wonder time. This was my first time in the Saroyan Theatre, because I so got turn around and didn’t know where to go (thanking the guy who was going to his seat). It was great hearing all the young people (who are over 50 years old) was singing and having a grand old time.
MY THOUGHTS
I believe it won’t be my last time seeing a musical here. I saw some future shows making its way to the Saroyan Theatre. Make sure you click this link right here—Saroyan Theatre for new shows. Make you way downtown, for a musical, if it with a group of friends, date night or just a solo thing likes yours truly. I want to thank Caren Myers (Vice President/Fresno Lexus) and the staff here at the Saroyan Theatre feel welcome for my first time being here. On to my next musical to attend! Until next time OneSelfers.
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