by Terrance Mc Arthur
I’ll start with the truth: I have been watching Good Company Players shows for more than 35 years, and Beautiful: the Carole King Musical—at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater through March 10—could be the best GCP show I’ve ever seen.
Jukebox musicals are usually a dime a dozen, stringing together a bunch of oldie-but-goodies, but Beautiful is something different: a true saga of songwriters and lives. Carol Klein became Carole King as a teenager to write songs. She met Gerry Goffin, who wrote lyrics, they got together and married after she became pregnant. She met Cynthia Weil, who wrote lyrics, and Cynthia met Barry Mann, a composer in the next office of Donny (known as Don in the ‘70s) Kirshner’s music factory, and they wrote songs. These two teams wrote many hits of the rock-and-roll era. King and Goffin had a rocky marriage and divorced, leading King into a solo career that included the chartbusting Tapestry album.
Carole King (Meg Carter) in GCP’s production of “Beautiful”
Meg Clark (Belle in GCP’s Beauty and the Beast) rocks (& rolls) the part as King, sounding as real and close to the original as one can get. You feel the yearning of her teen years, the frustration of her crumbling relationship, and the power of her success at Carnegie Hall. She is one of GCP’s bright stars.
Cast of GCP’s production of “Beautiful”
Speaking of stars, Shawn Williams has been a Pirate King, Buddy the Elf, and William Shakespeare on the Roger Rocka’s stage. Now, in his most challenging role (outside of the roller-skating Flounder in The Little Mermaid), he’s Gerry Goffin. This is a multi-layered portrait of a man with emotional problems, and you love, hate, and pity the character. Williams also vocal-coached the show, bringing the sounds of the 60s to life.
Haleigh Cook brings Cynthia Weil to the stage as a bouncy, wise-cracking Ethel Mertz-type who never needed a Lucille Ball. She’s fun, and a good shoulder to cry on for King. Adrian Ammsso has a good time with Mann as a neurotic, hypochondriac composer. Steve Souza brings good-natured fun as music publisher Kirshner, known as “The Man with the Golden Ear.” Trinity Mikel is cute as the Goffins’ babysitter who became a star as Little Eva with “The Locomotion.”
Cast of GCP’s production of “Beautiful”
Let there be a moment of praise for Ed Burke, a music legend in the Valley, whose mellow tones fill the theatre as the leader of the Drifters, and who projects coolness as producer Lou Adler. It’s such a treat to see and hear him.
The cast is loaded with great performers, sort of a GCP version of the line-up for “We Are the World”—Camille Gaston, Janet Glaude, Terry Lewis, Jackie Broach, Dorie Hamby, Kailyn Sanders, and Stefan Prater. And the songs!! “So Far Away,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” “Up On the Roof,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Natural Woman,” and more! You’ll walk out humming something.
Cast of the GCP production of “Beautiful”
Laurie Pessano deftly co-directed this masterpiece with Salisha Thomas, who knows what she’s doing (She performed in the 1st National Touring company and on Broadway in Beautiful: the Carole King Musical.). Pessano, Thomas, and Malinda Asbury choreographed the wondrous world of 60s dancing. Ginger Kay Lewis Reed’s costumes captured the period (my wife is in love with the Shirelles’ black dresses. She wants one.). David Pierce’s set glows with the skyline of New York City. In fact, the whole show glows with life! If this is what GCP can do after 50 years of productions, bring on the future!
The GCP Junior Company of talented youngsters offer a pre-show of numbers by song-writing duos from Lennon & McCartney to Bacharach & David to ABBA’s Bjorn and Benny. More toe-tapping and hand-clapping fun.
Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater is at 1226 N. Wishon Ave. at Olive Ave. For tickets and further information, go to gcplayers.com, or call (559) 266-9494.
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Excellent show, very professionally done. Meg Clark is amazing as Carol King. The cast is awesome from top to bottom. The junior singers before the show are worth seeing too. Great night with tasty food and drink and good service. Go see this before it leaves town, you won’t regret it.