Beautiful Extends Booking as Mueller Extends Contract

The producers of Beautiful: the Carole King Musical have announced that Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller has extended her contract with the production and will continue to play the role of Carole King at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre until 6 March 2015. The production has also extended its booking period to 24 May 2015.

It was also announced that her co-stars, Tony Award-nominees Anika Larsen and Jarrod Spector, who play legendary song-writing couple Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, will remain in the show until September 2015.

They will be joined by Paul Anthony Stewart who will take over the role of 'Don Kirshner', alongside the previously announced Scott J. Campbell as 'Gerry Goffin'. Liz Larsen will continue in the role of 'Genie Klein'.

The full cast from Tuesday, 23 September 2014 will also feature an ensemble that includes: Gisela Adisa, Ashley Blanchet, Andrew Brewer, E. Clayton Cornelious, Joshua Davis, Alysha Deslorieux, Kevin Duda, James Harkness, Sara King, Rebecca LaChance, Douglas Lyons, Gabrielle Reid, Rashidra Scott, Sara Sheperd, Yasmeen Sulieman, Daniel Torres, Melvin Tunstall and Alan Wiggins.

Beautiful: the Carole King Musical opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on 12 January 2014, following previews from 21 November 2013. It is now taking bookings through to 24 May 2015.

The musical opened on Broadway to generally positive reviews, with most critics praising the music and performances whilst finding the book ad staging weak: "Friendly, formulaic bio-musical" (NY Times); "Marc Bruni's production only occasionally resurrects the bubbly verve and energy of those glorious songs"(NYP); "If you go to "Beautiful" for the songs, you'll probably have a great time. Just don't expect anything more"(Record).

It received two Tony Awards at the 2014 ceremony, including Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for the show's star Jesse Mueller who sang live with Carole King at the awards.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical "charts the rise of the famous singer-songwriter as she goes from being Carol Klein, a simple girl from Brooklyn to an international recording artist. It shows her fighting 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 career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll."

The musical features music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with a book by Douglas McGrath. It is produced on Broadway by Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and features direction by Marc Bruni, design by Derek McLane, sound design by Brian Ronan, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski, choreography by Josh Prince and costumes by Alejo Vietti.

- by Dom O'Hanlon