Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (5,771)
See it if this show is for everyone. Great story, great acting, great music.
Don't see it if you don't like Carole King's music
See it if You're a fan of Carole King or even not a fan. It's a crowd pleaser that most people can enjoy, especially if you grew up with her music.
Don't see it if You dislike Carole King and the time period it takes place.
See it if you like a major artist once upon a time. Really brings you inside tin can alley and also presents her life well.
Don't see it if don't like musicals or biographies of people.
See it if You’re in the mood for a jukebox musical that’s got some heart and soul to it. This is one of the best I’ve seen, good book, lots of energy.
Don't see it if You’re a millennial with no idea who Carol King is, don’t know, don’t like or don’t care about music from before your time. You’ll be bored. Read more
See it if you like Carole King songs. This play is greatly enhanced by Doug McGrath's funny, insightful script.
Don't see it if you don't like Carole King's music (you'll hear a lot of it during the evening).
See it if you enjoy her early music and the real story behind much of it performed by an enthusiastic cast with strong singing and choreography.
Don't see it if musicals and biographical themes are not your thing. While having some down moments, this is an uplifting show if you grew up w/ this music.
See it if You want a good story that goes one step beyond jukebox musical.
Don't see it if your heartbeat has flat-lined.
See it if you love Carol King's music. Lots of singing and dancing. Great 50's clothes. Feminist sensibility.
Don't see it if you don't like Carol King's music or romance with a feminist point of view.
Critic Reviews (23)
"Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” should probably be titled “Brooklyn Girl.” This renaming would allow theatergoers to know exactly what to expect of the friendly, formulaic bio-musical."
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"Perhaps such material can’t be well directed, but we will never know. What I can say is that Marc Bruni certainly hasn’t improved it. The show is full of clunky transitions, dead space, scenes that peter out until someone mercifully snaps off the lights."
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"McGrath, director Marc Bruni and the appealing performers don’t exactly break that mold by going for complexity. But while keeping things light and breezy, they have populated Beautiful with well-defined characters with relatable human foibles."
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"Watching Beautiful, the new jukebox musical celebrating the remarkable life and work of Carole King, you may not feel the earth move under your feet. But the new Broadway show emerges as a slick and joyous celebration of female empowerment."
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"The early life and career of legendary singer-songwriter Carole King surely deserves more imaginative treatment than the corny chronological storytelling and old-fashioned musical format of “Beautiful.” But all is forgiven, whenever Jessie Mueller, in the modest person of Carole King, sits down at the piano and pours heart and soul into familiar favorites from the composer’s songbook."
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"King made magic with her catalogue and it is an unqualified treat to hear her best-known hits performed live...Too bad a great musical isn’t only about the music. The book is crucial, too — and this show’s connect-the-dots story line is so simplistic that the extravagantly talented King’s life emerges as a mundane version of the long-suffering little woman."
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"Director Marc Bruni has taken the gift of a smart and economical script and run with it. Amid lightning-quick transitions, this show only decelerates when it wants to. Split-second costume changes (designer Alejo Vietti must be a witch) add to the magic and fun of the evening."
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"Though Beautiful is ultra-slick and impeccably executed for what it is, electrifying it is not."
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