Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Brisbane season on sale
Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical begins performances at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre, QPAC on Friday 13 July, with the multi-award winning Esther Hannaford (right) as Carole King leading a cast of 24 performers, including six Queenslanders.
Tickets for the true story of the successful female songwriter are now on sale from QPAC or beautifulmusical.com.au with the show booking until Sunday 19 August.
Beautiful celebrates Carole King’s remarkable rise to stardom, including her troubled relationship with husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin and their close friendship and playful rivalry with fellow song writing duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
The song list is packed with hits from the 60’s and 70’s, including You’ve Got a Friend, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, It’s Too Late, Locomotion, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I Feel the Earth Move, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. It was written by the Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA and Tony Award-nominated Douglas McGrath, directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Josh Prince.
Critics have been unanimous in praise for leading lady Esther Hannaford’s performance since the Australian premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre in September 2017. She is one of the country’s most awarded performers with a Helpmann, a Sydney Theatre Award and three Green Room Awards to her name. Completing the principal cast is Josh Piterman as Gerry Goffin, Lucy Maunder as Cynthia Weil, Cairns-born Mat Verevis as Barry Mann, stage veterans Mike McLeish as Don Kirshner and Anne Wood as King’s mother Genie Klein.
The ensemble includes Queenslanders Marcus Corowa, Lorinda Merrypor, Naomi Price , Sean Sinclair and Angelina Thomson along with Jason Arrow, Stefanie accamo, Doron Chester, Barry Conrad, Andrew Cook, JuliaDray, Akina Edmonds, Nana Matapule, Cameron MacDonald, Joseph Naim, Ruva Ngwenya, Rebecca Selley, and Chloé Zuel.
The company is one of the most multicultural ever seen on the Australian stage, with performers from a mix of ethnic backgrounds including Aboriginal, Croatian, Ecuadorian, Egyptian, Indonesian, Maori, Mauritian, South African, South Sea Islander, Tongan, Ukrainian and Zimbabwean.
Beautiful made its world premiere on Broadway in January 2014 and opened in London in February 2015, massing two Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Along with a continuing Broadway season it is now on tour across the UK and US.
In Australia the musical is currently playing at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre where it premiered in February 2018 and continues to move, inspire and entertain audiences night after night. Long before she was Carole King, the chart-topping music legend, she was an ordinary girl with extraordinary talent. She sold her first hit, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, at 17. By the time she was 20 she was writing number ones for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll, including The Drifters, The Shirelles and Aretha Franklin. But it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally found her own voice and stepped into the spotlight.
In celebration of the Australian premiere of Beautiful, Sony Music Entertainment Australia has released a record, Beautiful – a Tribute to Carole King. It features adaptations of Carole King’s classic songs sung by some of Australia’s favourite performers, including Daryl Braithwaite, Guy Sebastian, Human Nature, Samantha Jade, Dami Im and the musical’s own Esther Hannaford singing title track Beautiful.
For more information about Beautiful: The Carole King Musical or to book tickets visit beautifulmusical.com.au
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Brisbane: from Friday 13 July, Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Book at QPAC 136 246 or www.qpac.com.au Groups 10+ call 07 3840 7466 or groups@qpac.com.au In person at QPAC Box Office. Tickets from $60 - $195* (*Transaction fees may apply)
Melbourne: Now playing until Sunday 24 June. Her Majesty’s Theatre. Book at Ticketek 1300 795 012 www.ticketek.com.au
Tickets $60 - $195* (*Transaction fees apply)
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