Beautiful: The Carole King Musical - Aldwych / National Tour

[talkstageytome]

The tour kicks off in bradford today. Is anyone going?

Also are there any rehearsal pics yet?

[djp]

Wilma meets Bronte.

[talkstageytome]

I am so excited for the tour!!! I *only* saw Beautiful once in London, back when it first opened, but it's stayed with me ever since. I remember being sceptical that I didn't really know of Carole King or any of her songs, but actually I knew so many. I'm going to try and drag my Grandma along when it gets to Birmingham, to give me an excuse to see it again.

(Incidentally I also spoke to Bronte about the upcoming tour)

www.talkstageytome.co.uk/2017/09/interview-bronte-barbe-beautiful-carole.html

[LaLuPone]

Good value £20 tickets for this in the circle at my local, is it worth seeing?

[Deleted]

Sept 30, 2017 13:30:12 GMT LaLuPone said:

Good value £20 tickets for this in the circle at my local, is it worth seeing?

Absolutely! The first half gets a touch repetitive toward the end, but you kinda accept that is just the structure of it and move on. Its a great show and whoever plays Carole, its a real showcase of talent for them. I really enjoyed it!

[LaLuPone]

Sept 30, 2017 14:23:21 GMT danieljohnson14 said:

Sept 30, 2017 13:30:12 GMT LaLuPone said:

Good value £20 tickets for this in the circle at my local, is it worth seeing?

Absolutely! The first half gets a touch repetitive toward the end, but you kinda accept that is just the structure of it and move on. Its a great show and whoever plays Carole, its a real showcase of talent for them. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks! I'll probably get booking then

[Deleted]

Saw it the last time I ever went to Landon, looking forward to catching the tour in B'ham. Will be interested to see what Bronte is like as Carole having followed her since Over the Rainbow.

[Deleted]

Sept 30, 2017 13:30:12 GMT LaLuPone said:

Good value £20 tickets for this in the circle at my local, is it worth seeing?

I saw this in Plymouth last week and loved it so definitely book.

[djp]

According to something on twitter they are running with an alternate for Carole. Anyone know if its a regular slot, and when, or if its just leave and sickness cover?

[lou]

From Twitter it looks like it is supposed to be Thursday matinees plus sickness/leave cover.

[Deleted]

Show is a big vocal role - did the West End Carole's do all shows each week ?

[greeny11]

Yes, the London Caroles did 8 shows a week.

[djp]

Oct 1, 2017 19:59:15 GMT @hitster said:

Show is a big vocal role - did the West End Carole's do all shows each week ?

It looks a more condensed schedule on tour - 5 day week with 3 matinees - so that would  make  sense. Bronte is getting rave reviews, and is someone I follow,  so will try to get her

[Deleted]

Saw the show in Belfast tonight and it was fabulous. Didnt realise how many Carole King songs I actually knew.

Leigh Lothian was on as Carole, and her voice was insane.

Rest of the cast were great.

Sorry I missed the show in London, but happy I finally got to see it.

[Caz]

I managed to catch this four times in London, especially going down for closing night. Cassidy Janson was outstanding as Carole. I also saw Leigh Lothian at one of the shows due to holiday, great that she’s getting a chance to do more nights on the tour. I am seeing the tour in Newcastle in a couple of weeks and really looking forward to seeing it again.

[LaLuPone]

Oh my god what an amazing show this was! I was immersed in the storyline the whole time and all the music was really catchy and I thought flowed really well. Leigh Lothian was on for Carole, brilliant leading lady with a really powerful voice, but she doesn't really get the chance to showcase it much outside of Natural Woman and Beautiful. I really think there's something very special about this show, it's definitely the best jukebox musical I've ever seen. Thank you so much to the people who convinced me to book when I queried, I had a fabulous uplifting afternoon out ❤️

[daniel]

Seeing this in Birmingham tonight - loved the show in London, very much excited

[Deleted]

I'm gonna hopefully see the tour sometime soon. The only issue I found with it both times I saw it in London, the first half ever so slightly dragged for me. I think it was just because its write the song, sing the song so it gets a tad repetitive, but I love the show otherwise! I actually thought Cassidy was better than Katie, which surprised me!

[talkstageytome]

I'm seeing it tonight too! Taking my mom for her birthday.

[daniel]

Nov 10, 2017 16:48:05 GMT talkstageytome said:

I'm seeing it tonight too! Taking my mom for her birthday.

That's lovely! I'll say hi if I see you

[talkstageytome]

Ahh Thanks! I'm quite excited actually as the last (and only!) time I saw this show was about a week after it opened on the West End! I remember loving it though. Will deffo report back. My mom's never seen it so it'll be interesting to see what she thinks 😏

[daniel]

Really enjoyed this tonight - saw it twice in London (with Cassidy both times) and absolutely loved it. I feel like some of the energy has been lost since I saw it in the West End, but there was still a standing ovation from a packed Hippodrome.

I think there was a few minor changes in staging from the West End run, but not sure if I'm making that up.

Cast were great - again, I think the West End cast were stronger, but that's no negative reflection on these guys. Bronté Barbé is really strong as Carole, but Cassidy did just have that something extra for me.

Hope you and your mom enjoyed it talkstageytome

[talkstageytome]

Agreed, it was slightly less impactful for me this time round, but still a really brilliant night out.

Every song is just brilliant and although the first act is quite repetative, I didn't mind at all. Loved Bronté Barbé as Carole. I only ever saw Katie Brayben in London and Jessie Mueller on the cast album is burned into my brain, but Bronté Barbé was excellent too!

All in all I struggle to see how anyone *couldn't* like this show. Both me and my mom loved it!

[BurlyBeaR]

Oh dear. I found this a bit disappointing in Manchester tonight. I had very high expectations after all the great feedback but after Act 1 the word on my lips was “lacklustre”.  Those Drifters segments, and the ones with the girl groups should have blown the roof of The Palace off but they didn’t and although it was a small audience on a rainy night I’m afraid I’m putting that down to the performance of the ensemble. All the elements for it to be fabulous are there but it just wasn’t. The book is pretty mediocre and needs huge energy in the musical numbers to keep the audience engaged, and that simply wasn’t there. 

Act 2 was better, from the point where she finally gets a grip and stands up for herself there’s a bit more to engage with but overall it lacks any real emotional punch. 

Bronte was cute (was CK really that ditzy?), Cynthia and Barry were good but Jerry was lacking in any kind of charisma. Sorry “Jer”. 

I can see this being four stars with a brilliant ensemble to rise above the lack of plot and wonder whether this is an example of a tour cast not living up to WE performances. So it’s three stars. 

Magnet also three stars, as lacklustre as the show. 

[daniel]

I can totally see where BurlyBeaR is coming from with his review - I enjoyed the show when I saw it in Birmingham a little while back, but I felt that a lot of the energy from the London production was lost. So I think sadly this does come down to the tour casting, at least partially.

I wonder if it's also due to the intimacy factor - the Aldwych is much smaller than the likes of Birmingham Hippodrome and Manchester Palace, and I wonder if the bigger houses cause some of the oomph to be lost.