“An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view”
I can’t really pinpoint the moment when I first discovered Carole King’s music, and specifically the long-player Tapestry, but it has long been a personal favourite, ever since I was a kid really. I’m sure my parents would have had a copy of the original by the record player but perhaps appropriately for someone who initially came to fame as a songwriter rather than a singer, it is covers of her work that stand out as the earliest memories – Martika taking on ‘I Feel The Earth Move’, Dina Carroll lending her chocolate-smooth vocal to ‘It’s Too Late’…, the slightly odd tribute album featuring the Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, Céline Dion and Eternal amongst others.
In this day and age it is but a natural progression that someone should fashion a musical from King’s back catalogue and in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, due to arrive at the Aldwych Theatre in February 2015 fresh from its Tony-winning success on Broadway, we have the very thing. Starring 2-time fosterIAN award nominee Katie Brayben as Carole King (a casting decision that I think is pretty much perfect, a great chance for Brayben to get deservedly more notice) and with a supporting cast that includes Glynis Barber, Alan Morrissey, Lorna Want, Gary Trainor and Ian McIntosh, it looks set to take the West End by storm.
