Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to Close After Six Years on Broadway
(Photo: Tricia Baron)
The long-running hit bio-show Beautiful: The Carole King Musical has set a final performance date of October 27, just short of six years after beginning performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Beautiful began previews on November 21, 2013 and officially opened on January 12, 2014. By closing, Beautiful will have played 60 previews and 2418 regular performances.
With a book by Douglas McGrath set to the song catalogue of Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Beautiful is directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Josh Prince, with musical supervision by Jason Howland and orchestrations by Steve Sidwell.
Beautiful begins just before Brooklyn native Carol Klein composes her first hit song, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," in 1959 when she is 17, pregnant and newly married to 20-year-old lyricist Gerry Goffin. In the decade that follows, King and Goffin produce a string of classic hits while forming a lasting friendship with another composing couple, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. When Carole's personal life begins falling apart, she responds by stepping out of the shadows with Tapestry, a deeply personal collection of songs that becomes one of the best-selling albums of all time.
The original principal cast of Beautiful was led by Jessie Mueller as Carole King, Jake Epstein as Gerry Goffin, Jarrod Spector as Barry Mann, Anika Larsen as Cynthia Weil, Jeb Brown as Don Kirshner and Liz Larsen as Genie Klein.
Beautiful was nominated for seven 2014 Tony Awards and took home statues for Jessie Mueller's performance and Brian Ronan's sound design.
The current cast is led by Vanessa Carlton as Carole King, Evan Todd as Gerry Goffin, Ben Jacoby as Barry Mann, Kara Lindsay as Cynthia Weil, Andrew Kober as Don Kirshner and original cast member Liz Larsen, who has remained with the musical as Genie Klein for the duration of its run.
Broadway.com customers with tickets to canceled performances will be contacted with information on refunds or exchanges.
Look back at the original cast in the show clips below.
