Whether found on the stage, TV, at the movies, or housed at your local museum, there is nothing more challenging—or for that matter more annoying—than having your own lifetime experiences recycled and sold back to you.

Sin Number One, is that you have to pay for it. Sin Number Two, is that they never get it 100% right. Of course, one could say the same thing about the storied obituaries found in the New York Times, the fictionalized resumes of job applicants, and one’s own diary jottings. There is a lot of padding, skip-over’s, eliminations, and stretching of points. artes fine arts magazine

Still, there are times, especially in theater—one live art form most in your face–when getting every little fact down is far less important, than catching the essence—a tried and true fact that Jersey Boys and Motown The Musical are still capitalizing on.

Beautiful—The Carole King Musical, currently at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway, is another prime example where song and dance, beautifully delivered by a talented cast and crew, trumps the story line.

The feel-good book, sanitized to a fare-thee-well, is thinner than a slice of bologna. Nowhere is it mentioned that King formed a band called the Co-Sines in the 50s, or made demo records with her friend, Paul Simon, for $25 a session. Nor are we told that King was married 4 times, or that she birthed 4 children. On top of this, some twenty-years plus of King’s life remains unaccounted for.

Also shockingly missing (LOL)—I told you they don’t get everything 100% right—is the fact that Carole King attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, where I attended; or that Carole Klein, as she was known in those years, belonged to Gamma Phi, the same sorority as my sister, Annette. A little background about her early years might have revealed that King often came to our house. She was, in no way, the shy lady the play makes her out to be. Like all of Annette’s chatty sorority sisters, Carole had an opinion about everything.

Missing information aside—who other than me wants to know such stuff—let it be said that King’s heart-swelling songs, beautifully delivered by Jessie Mueller and company, transported me back to my wee youth. Yes, those of us ‘long in the tooth’ were made to feel young and vital again by the company’s performance.

For those too young to know much about Carole King—including most people under 50—King’s career blossomed in 1960, at the tender age of 18, with her number-one hit, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” Written with King’s first husband, Gerry Goffen, the only one of her husbands portrayed in the play, it was recorded by the Shirelles.

King’s career climbed to the top of the mountain with her 1971 album, Tapestry, allowing the lady to play the piano and sings her own songs. It sold 25 million albums worldwide. Winning four Grammys, it remained on Billboard’s Chart for an unheard-of six years.

Many awards, too many to list, were to follow. Highlights included: King being inducted, along with Gerry Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990; she became the 2486th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2012); and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. And now her song book is conquering Broadway.

Reawakening us to the singer-songwriter’s vast repertoire, Beautiful opens with King, stunningly brought to life by Jessie Meuller, singing “So Far Away,” as once performed at Carnegie Hall. Taking us full circle, the musical ends on a high note, with Meuller, once again reprising King’s Carnegie Hall performance, singing “Beautiful,” the show’s title.

Between the Carnegie performance bookends, we witness King’s early Brooklyn beginnings, comedic exchanges with her mother (the delightful Liz Larsen), her struggle to have her songs recorded, her first big break given to her by record producer Don Kirshner (Jeb Brown, whose masterful maneuverings hold the play together), and her close but competitive friendship with fellow hit-making songwriters Cynthia Weil (Anika Larsen) and Barry Mann (Jarrod Spector).

Adding romance, as well as a touch of disappointment and sadness, is King’s fairytale marriage and subsequent divorce—he just couldn’t keep it in his pants—to her songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin (a very sexy and seductive Jake Epstein), the birth of her first two children—talked about but never seen—and King’s eventual move to Los Angeles, where she lives today.

Sandwiched in between King’s truncated history, all smoothly directed by Marc Bruni and choreographer Josh Prince, are some 26 hit songs sung by the four songwriters, as well as an ensemble of actors, each one representing the original individual or group who recorded the song. Along the way, smoothly integrated between scenes, we are serenaded by the look-alikes of Neil Sedaka (“Oh Carol”), the Shirelles (“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”), Drifters (“Up on the Roof”), Righteous Brothers (“You’ve Lost That Lovely Feeling”), and Little Eva (Ashley Blanchet) of “Locomotion” fame.

The five leads, all cleverly gift-wrapped inside the musical’s nubile singing and dancing ensemble, carry the play’s simple story. Mueller, without any flashy makeup, hairstyle, or clothes—no star attitude here—emphasizes King’s humble, down to earth attitude. What we see is a kind of Plain Jane, writing songs, tending to her husband, and raising her first two children, whom we never see, as she climbs the ladder of success.

Breaking News! It is rumored that Mueller is being courted to play the lead in a rival of Funny Girl. With her beautiful voice, wonderful sense of timing, and a letter perfect Brooklyn accent, she is the perfect choice to reprise the role that Streisand originated both on Broadway (1964) and on the Big Screen (1968).

The perky writing team of Weil and Mann, friends and competitors of the Goffin’s, and both accomplished singers, add yet another layer of interest, as we watch their tenuous relationship begin to develop. It is especially fun when they get to sparing, not only among themselves but with record producer Kirshner, whose job it is to decide which singer or group is going to record whose song. Mystery kicks in as we wait to see who Kirshner is a going to assign each song to, and if it is going to be a hit once recorded. The wonderful thing about this page-to-stage is that that audience is treated two renditions of each of each song sung. The first time around the songwriters get to sing their own song. The second version, performed in concert style by actor’s playing the song’s original performers – those that put the song on the chart – was simply thrilling.

Some audience members swayed in their seats throughout the evening to the rhythms of the music. Others had tears sliding down their face, as memories of their long lost youth flooded both brain and heart. Many were heard vociferously extolling the musical’s virtues as they exited the theater.

And not just a few were heard to say, they just don’t write songs like they used to.

By Edward Rubin, Contributing Editor

Beautiful—The Carole King Musical

Stephen Sondheim Theatre

124 West 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

Tues 7PM, Wed 2PM, 7PM, Thurs 7PM, Friday 8PM, Sat 2PM, 8PM, Sun 3PM

Phone: 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. Price: $75- $152 – Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes.

Book: Douglas McGrath

Words and Music: Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil

Director: Marc Bruni

Choreographer: Josh Prince

Scenic Design: Derek McLane

Costume Design: Alejo Vietti

Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski

Sound Design: Brian Ronan