Based on King's life and music, Beautiful had its world premiere earlier this season at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, where it ended its run Oct. 20. The Broadway production began previews Nov. 21.
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." Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing produce.
Marc Bruni (Pipe Dream, Ordinary Days, Old Jews Telling Jokes) stages the production with choreography by Josh Prince and musical direction by Jason Howland.
Tony Award nominee Jessie Mueller (Mystery of Edwin Drood, On a Clear Day, Nice Work If You Can Get It) stars as King. Appearing as her musical collaborators are Jake Epstein ("Degrassi," Spider-Man) as Gerry Goffin, Anika Larsen (Xanadu, Avenue Q) as Cynthia Weil and Jarrod Spector (Jersey Boys) as Barry Mann. The musical's score comprises songs King penned with Goffin, Mann and Weil. Principal casting also includes Jeb Brown as producer/publisher Don Kirshner and Liz Larsen as King's mother, Genie Klein.
The critics have filed their reviews, and Playbill.com has collected them for our readers. Playbill.com will continue to update our list as the reviews come in.
