Beautiful's Katie Brayben on Emailing Jessie Mueller, Being Surprised by Carole King & Embodying Princess Diana

The West End has a, well, beautiful new star in Katie Brayben, the English actress who won an Olivier Award in April for her performance as Carole King in the London production of Beautiful at the Aldwych Theatre. Having gone to this show directly from appearing as Princess Diana in Mike Bartlett's Olivier Award-winning (and Broadway-bound) King Charles III, the immediately charming Brayben chatted with Broadway.com about her “whirlwind” year, getting flowers from Jessie Mueller and which legend she might find herself playing on stage next.

You’ve had an amazing life of late, landing this sought-after role, meeting Carole King on opening night and winning the Olivier!
It’s been such a series of massive events and things that have happened that I almost can’t have a view on it all; it feels so sort of alien for all this to have happened. What’s great now is that we’re running the show eight times a week, which is wonderful. The show feels like it’s really in our hands.

What was it like seeing Carole take to the Aldwych stage on opening night?
Yes, and I didn’t know she was there! I said very early on that I didn’t want to know when anyone is in, especially Carole, because that would just blow my mind. I thought it would be great if Barry [Mann] and Cynthia [Weil] were there because that wouldn’t be as much stress but with Carole, I couldn’t imagine having to do the show knowing she was in the audience.

You had no clue beforehand?
My friend Lorna [Want, who plays Cynthia Weil] asked me if I was going to look at Twitter before the show and I said no and she said, “That’s good, don’t do that.” And at the time, I didn’t think anything of it, when in fact Twitter was going off like mad.

What did you think when Carole walked onstage?
I had the shock of my life! We all know she’s a genius but she’s also an incredible woman.

Did she give you any pointers?
She did come up with a couple of things and give me some tips but I don’t want to give them away because I use them in the show! [Laughs.] What’s interesting is that there was so much research we were all able to do beforehand just from reading her book and other people’s books, and I found that there was a lot to mine from researching the internet. But it was so great to be able to chat with her about the show. She really loved it, which was wonderful.

What was the Olivier ceremony like?
Again, a whirlwind. Last year, I was watching it on the telly thinking, “I know that person sitting in the audience,” so to be there the next year having been nominated and then to win was just so far from my compass. And to be in that category with those people being honored in that way was extraordinary.

Did you catch the Broadway production before starting work on the show here?
In fact, I didn’t. I was doing a show [King Charles III] at the time and it overlapped with our rehearsals so there was no way I could have gone to see it. I did listen to the cast recording while I was doing the auditions but then put it to one side. I thought it was important with a show like this to work from the script on the page and think, “What are we going to do with this? How are we going to own it?” Otherwise, you just end up copying something.

Was it tempting to reach out to your Tony-winning predecessor, Jessie Mueller?
I had a lovely bunch of flowers from Jessie and we emailed a couple of times. She was very, very sweet. I know that if I had emailed her and said, “I’m having trouble with this,” that she would have emailed me back and given me some great advice. We did have Rebecca [LaChance, Mueller’s former understudy who is now in the UK to do Mack and Mabel] in on Monday of this week and she was so lovely: it really is like a Beautiful family.

You have the challenge not just of Jessie’s imprint on the role but of being a Brit playing an American.
Well, yes, but you know we’re so influenced by American culture over here and probably vice-versa that I actually don’t think we’re worlds apart. I grew up with the Tapestry album and Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and I still listen to those artists: they’ve informed the make-up of who I am as a musician as well, because I write my own music.

The casting people must have had a jolt when they saw you as Princess Diana in King Charles III: she couldn’t be further removed from Carole King.
[Laughs.] Thank heavens they saw me after they’d cast me in Beautiful because I think they were a little confused. But that’s the great thing about what I hope for and I think most actors hope for which is variety in their work. It’s great to be able to say, “I do this but I also do that.”

After those two women, who could possibly be next?
Hmm, I wonder. [Imitating Margaret Thatcher]: “Well, the pearls are non-negotiable.”

You’ve got her down pat, as well!
I just love working on voices and physicality. It’s great when you have a real person and can get into the nitty-gritty of who they are. I hope I’ll get to play some other interesting characters from the wonderful world we live in.

What about your own career as a singer-songwriter at present?
I’d absolutely love to do another album, and at this point I probably haven’t done a live gig in a year or so. But at the moment, everything really is for the show. I’m singing 17 songs a night—twice that on matinee days—so I don’t have the time it takes to sit down and write. My days just now are all about gearing me up for the evening.

Maybe at some point you could send some of your original work to Carole?
I think I might be a little embarrassed to do that given that she is a genius and I just do my own thing. But you never know, if the opportunity comes up, maybe I will.