Carole King was a pioneer.
She wrote iconic songs like “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Natural Woman,” “Late,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “So Far Away.”
For its season finale, the Paramount Theatre presents the Broadway hit “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” April 24-June 16 in Aurora. Performances are at 1:30 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 1 and 5:30 p.m. Sundays. There is no matinee performance April 24.
“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2014 and won two. Including Best Leading Actress; plus, a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
Paramount’s production will be directed by Paramount Theatre artistic director Jim Corti and Johanna McKenzie Miller, in her Paramount directorial debut.
Starring as Carole King is former Oswego resident Tiffany Topol, who was nominated for a Jeff Award in 2018 in for her role as “Girl” in Paramount’s “Once.” Topol is a singer, songwriter, producer and performer based in New York and Chicago.
Topol’s other credits include the first national tours of “Xanadu” and “Once,” “Sweet Charity” at Writers’ Theatre, “Shining Lives” at Northlight Theatre and “Eastland” at Lookingglass.
She got her start in showbiz at age three as a pageant baby.
“I was Tiny Miss Illinois in 1988,” she said.
She started doing musicals at 8 and was in the drama program, band and choir at Oswego High School. She majored in music theater at Milliken University in Decatur, which is when she started writing her own songs.
She was thrilled to land the role of Carole King. The story is both a musical and a narrative, she said.
“It basically starts with her as a teenager living in Brooklyn and the first time she went into the city to try and sell her songs because that’s how they would do it back in the day,” she said.
“It starts there and goes through her Carnegie Hall performance at 29 in 1971. It tells the story of her life, centering mostly around her marriage to Gerry Goffin but also her friendship and working relationship with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who were two major songwriters in the era.
“I feel like she’s just such a fixture in American music. She’s always been in my life, whether I knew it or not, because she wrote things that most people don’t know that she wrote. She’s everywhere.”
Topol was surprised to learn Carole King got married and had children at such a young age, while still a teenager.
“She had her first two girls before she was 20,” she said. “I was intrigued by how fast she had to grow up. I was definitely surprised by the of the ins and outs of her personal life.”
Playing a legend like King is a challenge, to say the least, especially since she’s playing her from age 16 to 29.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to play somebody so well-known before. It’s a challenge but I’m really enjoying it,” she said. “I’m a songwriter myself and a musician so I feel like I’m learning from her along the way. And this cast is amazing. There are so many brilliant performers in this show.”
She thinks audiences will be as enthralled and under Carole’s spell as she is.
“Even the younger crowd – I can’t imagine anyone who has not heard these songs,” she said. “You’re going to walk in and hear these beloved, classic songs. That in itself is a really great time.
“And on top of that is this really intricate story that kind of brings up some challenging things. So it’s not your stereotypical, happy-go-lucky jukebox musical. We do have a bit of that but there’s also a lot of substance surrounding her life.”
Topol hopes audiences recognize what a legend Carole King was, she said.
“Something I’ve seen Carole King say a lot in her interviews is that, she’s often asked, ‘how did you become so successful?’ And one of the things she always says is, ‘I had two parents who never told me I couldn’t do something because I was a girl,’” she said. “I feel like that’s a big centerpiece of the show too. At a time when women weren’t at the helm as much, she was a trailblazer.”
Unfortunately, that hasn’t changed a whole lot, as only two percent of the music producers are female, she said.
“I kind of want people to go, ‘Oh yeah, this woman is a genius. What other Carole Kings are out there? What other songs did I not know where written or produced by a woman?’” she said
In another form of female positivity, she noted that Goffin was the primary lyricist while King was the composer, she said.
“There’s even a line in the show where Cynthia Weil meets Carole King and is surprised that she’s a composer because back then usually the composers tended to be men and if there was a female in the duo, usually she was the lyricist,” she said. “But Carole could do it all. She could arrange, she could write lyrics and music, she was just brilliant.”
Speaking of Goffin, played by C.J. Blaine Eldred, audiences will learn how he and King met and learn more their songwriting partnership, she said.
“He was a brilliant lyricist. ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ – those are his lyrics. He wrote the lyrics to ‘Natural Woman,’” she said. “We will find out he had some challenges of his own and ultimately, maybe he and Carole were not ultimately the best for each other – spoiler alert. Great writing partners, but in terms of life partners, they were not.”
She hopes that people come see the show because they will be inspired.
“I think our interpretation of this show is going to be unexpected. They’re focusing on the humanity of all the characters while also showcasing these brilliant songs and these really amazing singers and performers.”
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.
‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’
When: April 24-June 16
Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora
Tickets: $28-$79
Information: 630-896-6666; paramountaurora.com
