When writer Douglas McGrath sat down to create a Broadway musical celebrating the life and career of 1970s superstar Carole King, it was a given that her much-celebrated music would be the foundation.
It wasn’t until the writing and research of Beautiful — The Carole King Musical, however, that McGrath truly appreciated the impact her music had on a generation.
Tapestry, King’s second studio album, remains one of the biggest success stories in the history of modern music, having sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. It made King a star in 1971 and has kept her in the limelight — and on the charts — ever since.
Women were particularly inspired by the record, McGrath said. King forged a bond with her audience that remains as strong today as was it when Tapestry arrived. “It’s not a polished sound, it is a true sound,” McGrath said from his Manhattan production office. “It’s a real person singing to you, which makes it seem like a real person is talking to you.”
The full Broadway version of Beautiful opens Jan. 31 at the Royal Theatre. The five-show engagement, which wraps Feb. 2, will features songs from throughout King’s career, including the big hits off Tapestry — I Feel the Earth Move and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
The 2014 jukebox musical is currently in production on Broadway, but will have closed by the time it reaches Victoria, retiring as one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history.
The touring production of Beautiful, which was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including a Best Book of a Musical nomination for McGrath, will feature a cast and orchestra of 32 actors and musicians, including Kennedy Caughell in the role of King.
It’s a big story to tell, as King has written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard charts, but McGrath was well-suited for the role. A former writer for Saturday Night Live, he earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing with Woody Allen the script to the 1994 film Bullets Over Broadway, a movie about showbiz life.
He knew where he wanted to take the musical — “The show was always going to be about Carole, her ex-husband and lyricist partner, Gerry Goffin, and their best friends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil,” he said — but it was McGrath’s job to weave together her personal and professional partnerships.
Though it was difficult incorporating King’s four failed marriages, one of which was abusive, her buoyant and uplifting music was a constant source of inspiration, he said.
“I think a case can be made that she was really the first major female composer. As if her career wasn’t amazing enough, she forged it without an example to follow. She did it her way — and boy, did it work.”
Tickets for Beautiful — The Carole King Musical go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through the Royal Theatre box office. They can be purchased in person, by phone from 250-386-6121 or online from rmts.bc.ca.
