Book: Douglas McGrath; Score: Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. At: Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Tickets: 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com; $30-$140. Runs through: Feb. 21
There's a lot of weight on the shoulders of actress Abby Mueller, the star of the national tour of the Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Not only does the Evanston native have to carry the show as the famous title singer-songwriter before a hometown crowd, Mueller is also stepping into a role that was originated by her younger sister, Jessie Mueller, who won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance.
Now, as someone who didn't see Beautiful on Broadway, I can't really say which sister is or was better. But what Abby Mueller generously gives to Oriental Theatre audiences is most certainly a vocally assured and often heartbreaking performance.
Yet strangely, Mueller, as King, often disappears into the background in Beautiful. It's not her fault, but more of the show's book writer Douglas McGrath and his overall scheme to focus more on the people and performers around the initially self-deprecating King.
McGrath structured Beautiful in such a way to show how King and her fellow songwriters toiling away in New York's legendary Brill Building were hired guns providing material for other stars. McGrath provides plenty of fun banter and backstory for King's lyricist husband, Gerry Goffin ( Liam Tobin ), and their friendly songwriting rivals, Barry Mann ( Ben Fankhauser ) and Cynthia Weil ( Becky Gulsvig ). Yet this context behind famous songs like "The Locomotion" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" veers dangerously close in Act I to feeling like interruptions to a polished pop revue of 1950s and '60s impersonation acts.
Things become much more focused on King in the second act as McGrath delves deeper into Goffin's infidelities and his abuse of drugs. It's certainly gratifying to see King take more charge of her life and artistic career leading up to the pinnacle of her best-selling 1971 album Tapestry. Yet like so many biographies of singer-songwriters, there's very little insight into the craft of their work or of the inspiration that sparks such memorable tunes.
If the script isn't the greatest, it at least provides a functional framework for several outstanding vocal and acting performances. Director Douglas McGrath oversees a sturdy production that gets the job done without necessarily packing more of an emotional wallop that it could have done. In many ways, the creative forces just get out of the way of the material to let audiences who grew up with these pop songs to bring their own associations and personal meanings to the material without telling them what to think or feel about them.
As a biographical jukebox musicals go, Beautiful most certainly succeeds as one of the exemplars of the genre. In addition, it's a great vehicle for Mueller to return home to welcoming Chicago-area crowds.