Lancaster’s Fulton Theatre starts their 2024-25 season off right with Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. Sara Shepherd stars as the smart, talented singer-songwriter. Shepherd is convincing in both King’s looks and sound. Furthermore, she gives a nuanced performance with equal parts youthful enthusiasm and seasoned confidence.
The show covers the origins of King’s songwriting in the 1950’s through her release of her masterpiece album, Tapestry in 1971. Along the way we learn a lot of neat tidbits about her life. She dated Neil Sedaka in high school. She wrote songs for The Monkees. She planned on being a teacher if that “songwriting stuff” didn’t work out. While the casual Carol King fan might assume that Tapestry is where her career started, the musical shows us that it was actually the crowning achievement of a long, accomplished musical career.
Matthew Amira co-stars as King’s husband and lyricist, Gerry Goffin. Goffin is characterized as neither a sinner nor a saint, and Amira puts in a complex performance to match. He and Shepherd have good chemistry and they make a believable pair in both good times and bad…