Vanessa Carlton Takes Over the Role of Carole King in Beautiful on Broadway

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton makes her official Broadway debut on June 27 portraying another music star, Carole King, in the hit bio-musical Beautiful at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre; Carlton has been previewing in the musical since June 25. She succeeds Chilina Kennedy, who played her final performance on June 9 to star in the national tour of The Band's Visit. Elena Ricardo has played the role in the interim.

Beautiful marks Carlton's first Broadway credit. Her debut single, "A Thousand Miles," and debut album, Be Not Nobody, launched her to fame in 2002, garnering 2003 Grammy nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. Carlton's latest album, Liberman, was released in 2015.

Carlton joins a Broadway cast that includes Evan Todd as Gerry Goffin, Kara Lindsay as Cynthia Weil, Ben Jacoby as Barry Mann, Paul Anthony Stewart as Don Kirshner and Liz Larsen as Genie Klein.

With a book by Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, choreography by Josh Prince and music supervision by Jason Howland, Beautiful features an array of songs from the catalogue of Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Carlton will remain with Beautiful for a ten-week limited run.