REVIEW: Beautiful at Newcastle Theatre Royal ★★★★

 Last night I headed back to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to see Beautiful - The Carole King Musical. These were the first tickets I bought for myself when I got the job at the theatre so I was so excited to finally see the show!

I never saw the old production of Beautiful, with Cassidy Janson as Carole, in the West End or the tour, which started in 2020 but was unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. However, I loved this production with all the actor-musicians, playing the instruments whilst in character. It's been a while since I've seen a musical which has incorporated this, and even then it wasn't the full cast!

I didn't know what I was expecting from the show, but I really enjoyed it. The first half focuses on Carole's early career, pre-Tapestry, where she wrote songs for loads of different 1960s bands and singers, many of which I knew but didn't realise they were written by Carole King! The second act focuses on her moving away from creating songs for others to writing Tapestry and ultimately it becoming a MASSIVE hit. There's a lot more going on in her life which I think the show does an amazing job at portraying, but I don't want to delve too much into it as it would ruin some aspects of the show if you're not familiar with Carole King's life (like I wasn't!).

The cast are also outstanding. It's was great to see such immense talent on the stage, with the actors playing the roles, dancing, and singing whilst ALSO playing instruments. Everyone was just brilliant, and it was also fantastic to see such diversity on stage. The cast included Molly-Grace Cutler, who has autism, as Carole, who was just outstanding, it was like listening to Carole King (especially that Carnegie Hall scene at the end!) and Garry Robson as Donnie, who is a wheelchair user and also part of the England Wheelchair Curling team - my two worlds colliding!!  

The only reason this show has got 4 and not 5 stars is because I just wish there were a few more Tapestry songs in the show, and I just wish some of them were earlier into the show. I also wished the songs were used to supplement thoughts/feelings/situations as I often find with biopic jukebox musicals, rather than sang in chronological order as they were coming out, but this is my own personal preference.

Overall, it was a wonderful show and I think any fans of Carole King should definitely go and see it, especially for Molly-Grace Cutler who makes you feel like she's in the room!

For tickets and more information: https://beautifulmusical.co.uk/tour/