The Star previously reported that Canadian actress Chilina Kennedy would join the Broadway cast of Beautiful in early 2015, while Mueller, the show's original star, was expected to headline the national tour of the musical that launches in September 2015.
Mueller, a Chicago native who made her Broadway debut opposite Harry Connick, Jr. in a revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, earned the 2014 Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award for playing King on stage in Beautiful.
Casting for the tour will get underway in October, and representatives for the production confirmed to Playbill.com that Mueller did not have plans to repeat her performance as King when Beautiful begins its trek across North America next fall.
Mueller's replacement in the Broadway production has not officially been named. A London production begins in February 2015.
Beautiful features a book by Academy Award nominee Douglas McGrath, who collaborated with Woody Allen on the screenplay for "Bullets Over Broadway." He also penned "Infamous" and "Emma." Marc Bruni (Pipe Dream, Ordinary Days, Old Jews Telling Jokes) stages the production with choreography by Josh Prince and musical direction by Jason Howland.
Here's how the creators bill the musical: "Long before she was Carole King, chart-topping music legend, she was Carol Klein, Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. She fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll. But it wasn't until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice. Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of King's remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Along the way, she made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation."
Beautiful is produced by Paul Blake, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Jeffrey A. Sine, Richard A. Smith, Mike Bosner, Harriet N. Leve/Elaine Krauss, Terry Schnuck, Orin Wolf, Patty Baker/Good Productions, Roger Faxon, Larry Magid, Kit Seidel, Lawrence S. Toppall, Fakston Productions/Mary Solomon, William Court Cohen, John Gore, BarLor Productions, Matthew C. Blank, Tim Hogue, Joel Hyatt, Marianne Mills, Michael J. Moritz, Jr., StylesFour Productions, Brunish/Trinchero, and Jeremiah J. Harris.
Visit beautifulonbroadway.com.
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