Beautiful - The Carole King Musical

The Alhambra

SHE was the small-town girl with big dreams, who went on to become one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

But although Carole King established her singing career with seminal 1971 album Tapestry, she had been making her name in the record business from the age of 16.

The American singer/songwriter's career, leading up to her first concert performance at Carnegie Hall, unfolds in Beautiful - the Olivier, Tony and Grammy-winning show which started its first-ever UK tour this week at Bradford's Alhambra theatre.

Not only is this show a hugely entertaining journey through King's early life, troubled marriage and prolific songwriting years, it takes us behind the scenes of America's thriving, fast-growing music industry of the 1960s.

When Carole marries her high school crush, talented wordsmith Gerry Goffin, the pair form a hit songwriting partnership, blending her musical skills with his lyrics. Before long they've formed a friendship, and productive rivalry, with fellow writers Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.

"I heard it's like a factory," Carole tells her mother, when she sets out with Gerry to try and impress record producer and manager Donnie Kirshner.

And a music factory is pretty much what it is, as the pair churn out song after song, even working through the night creating chart-toppers to meet Donnie's approval. The hits are all there - It Might As Well Rain Until September, One Fine Day, Locomotion, I Feel The Earth Move, Take Good Care of My Baby and Pleasant Valley Sunday among them - brought beautifully to life by a talented cast performing as the Shirelles, the Drifters and Little Eva.

While the songs are at the heart of the show, they're also the backdrop to the action, as Carole and Gerry struggle with young parenthood, infidelity and uncomfortable truths. We see Carole gently tinkering on the piano, putting music to some lyrics Gerry has come up with, as he sleeps on the sofa, exhausted from his day job. The result is Will You Love Me Tomorrow? which, after a bit of orchestral tweaking, is handed to The Shirelles and is another instant hit for Donnie's stable of artists.

Up On The Roof arises from Gerry opening up to Carole about his troubled childhood, then the action shifts seamlessly to the sharp-suited Drifters crooning the song that will become one of their best known.

Telling King's story through the songs only felt a little laboured once; when she sings You've Got a Friend to Cynthia, Barry and Donnie after she decides to move to LA and can't face a tearful goodbye.

But mostly the songs we all know and love are delivered in soul-stirring scenes, not least when Carole, heartbroken and alone, sits at her piano late one night and sings It's Too Late.

Bronte Barbe gave a stunning performance as Carole King. Barely off the stage throughout, she lit it up with a powerful voice and a tour-de-force performance, taking Carole from chirpy teenager and frumpy young wife to a self-assured woman who finds new strength through the songs of her life. You could feel the audience's collective goosebumps during her show-stopping performance of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

Kane Oliver Parry was superb too as Gerry, a frustrated playwright who finds himself suffocated in suburbia. Great performances also from Amy Ellen Richardson as charismatic, wise-cracking Cynthia Weil and Matthew Gonsalves as charmer Barry Mann, Adam Howden as amiable Donnie Kirshner and Carol Royle as King's realist mother.

Last night's show had the audience on its feet. Simply Beautiful.

Runs until Saturday