Beautiful extends booking period to 03 Jan 2016

Beautiful: the Carole King Musical has extended its current booking period through to 3 January 2016 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. It was previously booking through to 29 November 2015.

The cast for the hit musical, which recently opened in London's West End, currently includes: Chilina Kennedy (Carole King), Scott J. Campbell (Gerry Goffin), Jessica Keenan Wynn (Cynthia Weil), Jarrod Spector (Barry Mann), Paul Anthony Stewart (Don Kirshner), Liz Larsen (Genie Klein) with 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 3 January 2016.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical features music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with a book by Douglas McGrath, and "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 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 is produced on Broadway by Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and features direction by Marc Bruni, scenic 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