Scott J. Campbell to join cast of Beautiful from 23 Sep

The Producers of the Carole King biopic musical Beautiful have announced that Scott J. Campbell will join the cast and take over the role of Gerry Goffin from Jake Epstein on 23 September 2014. Epstein will play his last performance on 21 September.

Campbell was previously a part of the company of Broadway's Jersey Boys and this will be his first principal role on the Great White Way.

Gerald "Gerry" Goffin, the lyricist who, with songwriting partner (and first wife) Carole King, was responsible for some of the greatest popular hits of the 20th Century, died at his home of natural causes on 19 June 2014. In addition to the several hits he wrote with King, Goffin also wrote songs such as "Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme from Mahogany)" and "Saving All My Love For You" with Michael Masser, "Who Put The Bomp" with Barry Mann, and "I've Got To Use My Imagination" with Barry Goldberg.

The current cast of Beautiful features Jessie Mueller (Carole King), Jake Epstein (Gerry Goffin), Anika Larsen (Cynthia Weil), Jarrod Spector (Barry Mann), Jeb Brown (Don Kirshner), Liz Larsen (Genie Klein), Ashley Blanchet, Andrew Brewer, E. Clayton Cornelious, Joshua Davis, Alysha Deslorieux, Kevin Duda, James Harkness, Carly Hughes, Sara King, Rebecca LaChance, Douglas Lyons, Gabrielle Reid, Rashidra Scott, Sara Sheperd, Yasmeen Sulieman, Daniel Torres, Melvin Tunstall and Alan Wiggins.

Beautiful opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on 12 January 2014, following previews from 21 November 2013. It is now taking bookings through to 4 January 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 Tom Millward