Past Shows

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical - June 2024

SMTC brought this 'Some Kind of Wonderful' Premiere musical to Shropshire audiences in June 2024.......

CAROLE KING, the chart-topping music legend, was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent.

She fought her way into the record industry as a teenager and sold her first hit, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’, when she was just seventeen. By the time she was twenty she was writing number ones for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll, including The Drifters, The Shirelles, Aretha Franklin and The Monkees. But her greatest challenge was to find her own voice and finally step into the spotlight.

BEAUTIFUL is the untold story of Carole King’s journey from schoolgirl to superstar. From her relationship with husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, their close friendship and playful rivalry with fellow song-writing duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, to her remarkable rise to stardom.

Show Review

Amateur Cast Moves Reviewer to Emotional Tears and Tears of joy! Beautiful!

As a reviewer one’s job is to sit there stern faced, noting all the goods and bads of the show one needs to review. One stays objective, impartial, focused, and without fear or favour one analyses and filters what one has just seen to provide a constructive objective review. My initial approach was highjacked by pure excellence.

Oh My, this show. This reviewer needs to say from the onset, this is the best amateur performance of a show, that one has ever been fortunate enough to enjoy. Yes, I said enjoy, I enjoyed it in a very subjective way.

The songs were so relevant to my life, I laugh, I cried, and was completely immersed in this utterly top-notch drama from the 100-year-old Shrewsbury Musical Theatre Co. They always set themselves a high bar. One imagines it might take a pole vault to ever match the excellence of this show and to climb higher. This is how the show was intended to be done and it is amazing.

One is always aware of first night gremlins and an area that the company must look at is sound cues. One imagined that the show was being called, that means in simple terms, someone sits beside the sound engineer following the script and calling the sound or lighting cues. The lighting was amazing, and it didn’t miss a change; the sound however, sadly a few cues were late, and the mic was slow to open. It was a first night tonight and of course things will tighten up, one is sure.

The set was pleasingly minimalistic and the scene changes were seamless however, the movable door that was used to represent the different spaces of the narrative, was a bit pointless. One felt it gave the scene shifters one more job to do and it added nothing in fact it distracted slightly. One is aware the door gave another entrance/exit upstage centre but the scaffolding they used for two different levels provided that entrance, so the show would not suffer any for the loss of the door. Other than that design was superb, and the stage looked great.

Directorially one found this play stunning, the director and choreographer have every right to feel proud. Every emotion, every nuance and every subtly was brought out so beautifully by the velvet hands of the director. One would offer the same remark to the choreographer, just gorgeous. This cast is such a strong and amazingly they bring a collective pair of safe hands. The available talent brought the best out of the director/choreographer and vise-versa.

Musically the live band also played extremely well and the earthy sound of a real orchestra so enhances the performance.

Performers far too many to mention are simply astonishing, there isn’t a weak link and all the vocals are just incredible however: The voice of Carol King, (Amelia Wildmore-Evans) Was just so sublime, she took us all on an incredible voyage of vocal dexterity and one was deeply moved. The voice of Cynthia Weil (Jess Knowles) was also incredibly lovely and so easy to listen to, it was like watching chocolate covering an already enticing sweet leaving one hungry for more.

The support Cast/Greek chorus offered amazing support. The Drifters and The Shirelles were such a great surprise and one felt really invested in the whole show.

One has never felt time fly so fast with this two-hour spectacular. It was over way too soon. You may recall I started this review with the description of how I execute my duties, objectively and Impartial. However, on this occasion I am not afraid to leave you with this one question, who was first to their feet when the inevitable ovation occurred? Yours truly, Miss Impartial reviewer herself. One had no option to be moved by this excellent piece of drama.

It seems inevitable that…

This is a five Star Review.

Sofia Lewis

Thu, 13/06/2024 - 23:27