The true story of the legendary singer’s journey from schoolgirl to international superstar features a book by Tony® and Academy® Award-nominee Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, choreography by Josh Prince and a stunning array of beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil.
Hits include Will You Love Me Tomorrow, It’s Too Late, Take Good Care of My Baby, Locomotion, You’ve Got a Friend, (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman, So Far Away, One Fine Day, Tapestry and I Feel the Earth Move along with chartbusting Mann/Weil tunes such as You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway and Uptown.
In celebration of Carole King’s phenomenal recording career, NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events, the Hon Stuart Ayres MP made the official announcement of the premiere Australian season at Sydney’s Trackdown Studios: “Bringing the Australian premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to the Sydney stage is a major coup for NSW. Carole King’s legendary catalogue of hits will come to life in this blockbuster production, which will be a major drawcard for visitors to NSW. We expect about 60,000 overnight visitors to travel to Sydney to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, generating $26 million for the state’s economy.”
Australian Producer, Michael Cassel said: “This show is simply ‘some kind of wonderful’. I am very excited to bring this sensational show to Australian shores – Carole King might be a native New Yorker but her music is loved the world over and her story is universal. Carole King wrote the soundtrack to a generation and I can’t wait for Australian audiences to experience this smash-hit production in Sydney.”
King, who famously didn’t see the show on Broadway until a surprise visit three months after the official premiere said: “It took me a long time to see Beautiful when it opened on Broadway in 2014, but once I did, I became an instant fan. I’m thrilled to see it travel across the world to Australia, where I hope audiences down under will treasure it as much as I do.”
Paul Blake and Mike Bosner, the original Broadway producers said: “It is a thrill for us and everyone in the Beautiful family to have our musical premiere in the great theatre town of Sydney! We hope audiences in Oz will love the show as much as they do in New York, London and in theatres across America.”
The Sydney Lyric Theatre will undergo a transformational refurbishment that will be completed for the opening of Beautiful in 2017.
Beautiful opened on Broadway in January 2014 at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, where it won two Tony® Awards and the 2015 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The Broadway production has broken every box office record at the theatre, recently becoming the highest grossing show in the venue’s history. The London production opened in February 2015, winning two Olivier Awards and the US touring production is current wowing audiences throughout the country.
Long before she was Carole King, the chart-topping music legend, she was an ordinary girl with extraordinary talent. She fought her way into the record industry as a teenager and sold her first hit, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, when she was just 17. By the time she was 20, she was writing number ones for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll, including The Drifters, The Shirelles, Aretha Franklin and The Monkees. But it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her own voice and step into the spotlight.
Beautiful is the the inspiring true story of King’s journey from schoolgirl to superstar; from her relationship with husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, their close friendship and playful rivalry with fellow song-writing duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, to her remarkable rise to stardom. Along the way, she became one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history – and her music became the soundtrack to a generation.
Casting for the Australian production will commence later this year.
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