Laura and Samara spend their days as non-profit unicorns and fill every spare minute exploring the world of musical theatre as BFFs (that’s Broadway Friends Forever). Follow @bffs613 on Instagram and Facebook.
Orpheus Musical Theatre is showing how a great jukebox musical should be done with the worldwide community theatre premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
With a fantastic musical catalogue to draw from, the show follows the incredible Carole King’s rise to fame. It follows her life and career—from her debut as a teen composer for some of the biggest hits of the early ’60s, to the successful career singer-songwriter we know her for today. But as her career took off, her personal struggles began, and the show beautifully demonstrates the power of friendships (even competitive ones), support and resilience.
Photo by Maria Vartanova.
Orpheus has two talented women alternating the demanding lead roles of Carole, Molly McGuire, and Julie Séguin, and on opening night, we saw the stellar Molly McGuire in the role. We could hear audience members commenting how much she sounded like the real deal. Supported by Jesse Gervais-Weedmark, as writing partner and husband Gerry Goffin, and friends and writing-duo competition Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, this production stood out as our favourite Orpheus show of recent memory.
The scene changes were quick and smooth, and the fantastic live band and pit chorus drove the great pacing and engagement throughout the production. The staging was simple but elevated each scene as we moved through the writers’ and composers’ offices, homes, and recording studios.
Costumes seamlessly brought realism to the time and carried the audience through the decades of King’s story from her teens, culminating with the success of the iconic Tapestry album. The performances of some of the album’s biggest hits, including It’s Too Late, Beautiful and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, show how King’s music and talent have stood the test of time.
Photo by Maria Vartanova.
It was a fantastic ensemble show, with great actors stepping in to play big songs you’ll recognize from acts like The Drifters, The Shirelles, Little Eva and more, including Some Kind of Wonderful and Will You Love Me Tomorrow. Orpheus cast this show wonderfully—it was great to see some familiar faces (some of whom we’ve seen perform at Broadway Nights Ottawa) but also some new ones that blew us away including Stefan Keyes and Mercy Bueya.
It’s no wonder Orpheus has been around since 1906 as a community theatre when they have woven such a beautiful tapestry for Ottawa audiences. We can guarantee this is a show you won’t want to miss!
Orpheus Musical Theatre’s presentation of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical takes place from February 28 to March 9 with 7:30pm evening performances except for Sundays with a 2pm matinee performance. Beautiful runs for 2 hours and 30 minutes with one 20 minute intermission.
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