Reviewed by: Callie Morrison
See “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at Red Mountain Theatre—now-Aug. 11
Reading time: 4 minutes
Sponsored
Get ready to celebrate the voice of a generation at Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
This joyous jukebox musical runs from July 19-August 11, and Bham Now readers can save $7 off tickets—just enter discount code NOWINSIDER at checkout.
Know before you go—Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
- When: July 19-August 11
- Thursday-Saturday | 7:30PM
- Saturday + Sunday Matinees | 2PM
- ASL + Audio Description Performance | Saturday, July 27 | 7:30PM
- Where: Red Mountain Theatre, 1600 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35233
- Cost: $49+ | Recommended for ages 13+
- Tickets: Use discount code NOWINSIDER to save $7 on each ticket (??is this still good??)
“30 years of an artist becoming an icon”
While some of y’all will automatically recognize the name Carole King, others have surely heard some of her iconic songs, including “You’ve Got a Friend,” “I Feel the Earth Move” or “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”
Before she became one of the most successful and prolific female songwriters of the second half of the 20th century, Carole King was Carole Klein, a teenage songwriter from Brooklyn, New York.
In fact, her whole life reads like a Who’s Who in American Music:
- She made music early on with Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel fame)
- Dated Neil Sedaka (famous for “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” + 100s of other songs)
- Was besties with fellow musicians James Taylor + Joni Mitchell
Beautiful is the story of her journey from high-school dreamer to a trailblazer in a male-dominated profession.
Along the way, she befriends fellow writer Cynthia Weil, fights convention and finds her own definition of success.
With classics like “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” and more, Beautiful is the story of the fire and fortitude that make an artist legendary. The musical features songs from King, her first husband Gerry Goffin, Weil and her husband Barry Mann.
“This is such an honest story. It’s not watching an impersonator. It’s watching 30 years of an artist becoming an icon, through all her triumphs and heartbreaks. Carole’s music touches something in us because we’ve had those same moments in our lives.”
Valerie Accetta, Director, Beautiful
Alison McCartan, who plays Carole, was most recently seen in the sold-out FOLLIES in Concert at Carnegie Hall.
Meet Meggie Cansler Ness + Madison Adams Hagler
(L-R) Meggie + Madison (Jacob Blankenship / Bham Now)
Meggie Cansler Ness and Madison Adams Hagler play the secondary—but no less important to the story—couple of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, amazing and award-winning songwriters in their own right.
The pair are both competitive music writing rivals and best friends with King and Goffin.
Fun fact: Meggie and Madison studied at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at different times, so felt an immediate rapport when they first met on the set of this show.
We got together with them recently to get some insider info on the show.
Meggie Cansler Ness
RMT was thrilled Broadway regular Meggie accepted the role for this production. She originated the role of Cynthia Weil as the musical was being developed and performed across the country. This means she knows the character better than anyone.
- Hometown: Originally Overland Park, Kansas; recently moved to Berkeley, California
- Favorite thing: “The best part is doing the research, bringing the characters to life and finding the nuances of everything that made them fantastic.”
- Best songs: “Walking in Rain,” “Happy Days Are Here Again” + “You’ve Got a Friend”
Madison Adams Hagler
Madison’s charming smile and great voice will be familiar to RMT theatre goers after his roles in Cinderella and Holiday Spectacular. He gets his moment to shine when his Beautiful character busts out with an electric guitar.
- Hometown: Rainsville, Alabama—near Fort Payne
- Favorite thing: “When I first read the script, I was blown away by how clever, smart and well-written it is. The point of a lot of jukebox musicals is the music, and in this one, the point is the story of Carole King and how it all came to be—the music’s just a fun little icing on the cake.”
- Best songs: The same ones Meggie chose, plus “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place” + “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”
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