Beautiful - The Carole King Musical | Learning Resource

Learning Resource

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Introduction How to use this document

This document is designed to be a springboard for creative responses to the key ideas raised in the musical Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. Using the narrative of the musical and the actor-musician discipline, the pack explores the historical context of the show, and then focuses on the importance of creative arts and music to personal and career development. This pack contains ideas for activities that are designed to help support and guide creative activities within schools, community groups and care settings.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

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Synopsis ACT 1

The show begins in 1971 at Carole King’s famous performance at Carnegie Hall before jumping back in time to 1958, where we meet 16-year-old Carol Klein trying to persuade her mom to let her go and try to sell her song, It Might As Well Rain Until September to a big music producer, Donnie Kirshner. When she meets Donnie at the studio, 1650 Broadway, introducing herself by her new stage name, Carole King, he agrees to buy her song and says he’ll buy more from her if they’re a hit.

Carole then meets Gerry Goffin at Queen’s College where they bond over their love for music, and decide to start writing music together, with Carole writing the melody and Gerry writing the lyrics.

They also start a romantic relationship. Soon, Carole tells Gerry that she’s pregnant, and Gerry asks her to marry him.

Carole and Gerry get an office at 1650 Broadway, where Carole meets new lyricist Cynthia Weil, and they quickly became good friends. Cynthia meets Barry Mann, a composer who also works at 1650 Broadway. Cynthia and Barry and Carole and Gerry compete it out to write the next hit for the girl group The Shirelles, and while working sparks fly between Cynthia and Barry. The next morning both groups audition their songs for Donnie, where he picks Carole and Gerry’s song, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, which becomes a massive hit and goes to no. 1 on the charts. Friendly competition has now started between the two couples, and they all turn out an amazing parade of songs.

ACT 2

As we start Act 2, we see Carole and Gerry try to work out their new life, with them still being married but Gerry also seeing Janelle. After recording a demo of their new song Chains, fellow musician Nick compliments Carole on her singing and performance and invites her to come and sing with him and his band any time she likes. Carole tells Cynthia about Gerry’s affair and resolves to tell him that he has to end his relationship with Janelle.

Cynthia and Barry make up and decide to move in together.

Later, Gerry is late for meeting Carole and comes in distraught about the possibility of being left behind, saying he feels lost and stuck in a dark place, while Carole tries to calm him down, Gerry attempts to jump off the roof. At the hospital, Gerry agrees to ending his affair with Janelle and tells Carole he wants to come home; they decide to move somewhere new and get a fresh start.

Barry, Cynthia and Donnie come to visit Carole and Gerry in their new house, and while they’re there Cynthia and Barry play them their new song We Gotta Get Out of this Place, which responds to the world around them. After the song, Gerry leaves in a funk for the city, and Cynthia and Barry let slip that they recently saw Gerry out with another woman, singer Marilyn Wald. Carole goes to Marilyn’s apartment and finds Gerry there and she ends their marriage.

The four friends go on holiday to Vermont where the cracks between Carole and Gerry really start to show, and while trying to clear the air Barry proposes to Cynthia, who is shocked and turns him down.

After going to Los Angeles on vacation, Carole tells Cynthia and Barry that she’s been writing on her own, and sings her new song It’s Too Late. Carole tells Donnie that she wants to start singing her own songs, rather than giving them to other people, and she moves to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles with her children.

At the end of Act 1, we see Carole and Gerry at the taping of a TV special where their new song One Fine Day is being performed by Janelle Woods.

During a break, Gerry is distressed about the music industry moving on without them and confesses to Carole that he wants to sleep with Janelle.

While in L.A., Carole records her album Tapestry with music producer Lou Adler. The session is going well until the last song which she is afraid to sing because Gerry wrote it. In the end she manages to overcome her fear and records her own version of her song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

We’re now back in 1971 at Carnegie Hall, where Carole is getting ready for her concert. Gerry comes to see her backstage and apologises for how he treated her, and gives her a final prediction, “you’re going all the way”. Carole takes to the stage and performs for her audience.

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Carole King Carole King is one of the most famous singersongwriters in the world, and one of the first musicians to famously sing songs written about their own life.

Carole King has inspired hundreds of musicians since her seminal album Tapestry came out in 1971.

Carole King was born as Carole Joan Klein on 9th February 1942. She was born in Manhattan to Jewish parents, who were a teacher and a firefighter. They lived in Brooklyn, which is where Carole spends her whole childhood. As a teenager, Carole attended the High School of the Performing Arts and started Queen’s College at 16, where she met her future husband and collaborator Gerry Goffin. Carole and Gerry were married in August 1959, when Carole was 17, after she became pregnant with their daughter Louise. They both quit college and instead took day jobs and wrote music together in the evenings.

Throughout the 1960s, Carole and Gerry wrote hundreds of songs, including Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow for The Shirelles which became their first number 1 song, and also the first song by a girl group to reach number 1 on the Billboard Chart; The Locomotion; and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.

In 1968, Carole and Gerry divorced, and Carole moved with her daughters to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles.

Here she formed ‘The City’, a music trio consisting of Charles Larkey on bass, Danny Kortchmar on guitar and vocals and King on piano and vocals. They produced one album Now That Everything’s Been Said, however the band disbanded after this one album together.

In 1970, Carole married her former bandmate, Charles Larkey. And then in 1971, Carole produces Tapestry, which she recorded in just 3 weeks. Tapestry includes reinterpretations of her songs Will You Love Me Tomorrow and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Tapestry was an instant success and held the No. 1 spot for 15 consecutive weeks, remained on the charts for nearly 6 years and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. The album won 4 Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, Record of the Year for It’s Too Late and Song of the Year for You’ve Got a Friend making King the first woman to win the award.

Since 1971, Carole King has released 15 albums, received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, been awarded the Gershwin Price for Popular Song (the first woman to ever receive the distinction) and also was honoured as a Kennedy Centre Honouree.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Characters Carole King Gerry Goffin Carole’s husband and writing partner

Donnie Kirshner Music Producer at 1650 Broadway

Cynthia Weil A lyricist at 1650 Broadway, Barry’s partner

Barry Mann A composer at 1650 Broadway, Cynthia’s partner

The Shirelles A girl group in the 1960s

The Drifters A famous boy band in the 1950s-60s

Genie Klein Carole’s mother

Righteous Brothers A singing duo

Neil Sedaka A fellow young singer-songwriter, previously dated Carole

Janelle Woods A singer, who has an affair with Gerry

Little Eva A singer, Carole and Gerry’s babysitter

Lucille Donnie’s assistant at 1650 Broadway

Nick A musician, runs the Bitter End

Betty Carole’s childhood friend

Marilyn Wald A singer, has an affair with Gerry

Uptown Singer A singer at the Bitter End

Lou Adler A music producer in Los Angeles

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Timeline of Key Dates of the Musicians within Beautiful 1939 Barry Mann born 1939 Gerry Goffin born 1940 Cynthia Weil born 1942 Carole Joan Klein born 1957 The Shirelles form 1958 Carole King released her first official recording. The Right Girl 1959 Neil Sedaka has a hit with Oh! Carol 1959 Carole marries Gerry Goffin. The second group of Drifters form 1960 The Shirelles record Will You Love Me Tomorrow 1961

Cynthia and Barry marry

1962 Carole records her first hit as a singer, It Might As Well Rain Until September 1966 The Monkees first airs on TV 1968 Carole and Gerry divorce and start to lose contact. Carole moves to LA. 1971

Carole releases Tapestry, which was number 1 for fifteen weeks

1973

Gerry releases a solo album, It Ain’t Exactly Entertainment

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Contextual Overview

Beautiful is the biographical show about the awardwinning singer-songwriter Carole King who was behind some of the most iconic music hits of the 20th century and was part of the birth of Rock n Roll in 50s and 60s America.

The Second World War instigated a massive cultural shift across the world. The 1950s heralded the birth of ‘the teenager’ as a distinctive demographic.

For the first time in history this group of young people ‘between childhood and adulthood’ had opportunities to earn income that didn’t necessarily need to contribute to the family’s earnings as had traditionally happened pre-war. American business soon realised the purchasing power and market potential of this new emerging demographic. Many middle-class white affluent teenagers were drawn to new music ‘rock n roll’ which initially was from a handful of stations aimed at African-Americans.

Beautiful begins as the idea of the teenager is established and the music industry is working to service this new demographic. This is the beginnings of the contemporary music industry and its consumerist leanings. While 1950s advertising sold the idea of perfect housewives staying at home behind their white picket fences, at the heart of this story another narrative is beginning to emerge about a group of women with ambitions beyond being housewives, secretaries and mothers with a passion to be creative, to be heard and speak truth in their music.

This is against a backdrop of a music industry steeped in racism and misogyny; the civil rights movement; the Vietnam war; second wave feminism and the rise of young people challenging the status quo via music, dance and clothes. On the one hand consumerism and the market fuels this change and on the other a younger generation had a real authentic desire for equality and social justice. This created tension between the conservative culture trying to maintain the status quo and those rebelling against it. Whilst businesses looked to find ways to exploit the new for financial gain.

Where previously music was made for and marketed to specific groups, the music made in this era appeals more broadly and is made by both Black and White artists and listened to by a broader demographic but is also exploited by managers, record labels and music industry leaders for significant financial gain often at the expense of female artists and artists of colour.

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The Music Industry and Rock n Roll in the 50s and 60s Rock n Roll’s popularity was partly instigated by the rise of the teenager creating a new market but was also riding a wave of incredibly important cultural change in the 20th century.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s ‘girl groups’ began to dominate the American music charts. These were comprised mostly of 3-4 young women, often teenagers and mostly African-American. Their music tended to be written for them (as Carole King does) and sold millions of records. This produced a number of millionaires but not the young women themselves who were frequently short-changed and exploited. This was a short period of musical innovation producing a distinctive optimistic sound even though many of the songs offered more critical social commentary.

Behind the scenes things were not so happy. Young girls and women were dependent on producers, managers and songwriters to advance their careers but did not have the skills or knowledge to advocate for their own financial rights or navigate contracts.

They may have felt looked after at the time but later on in their careers found that their financial interests had not been. The Shirelles discovered that a trust that was supposed to hold their money until they were 21 did not exist with the excuse made that the money had been spent on production, promotion and touring. After going on strike, a lawsuit and counter lawsuit an agreement was reached.

In the 1980s a former music agent Chuck Rubin created Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation to provide legal referrals and support for artists seeking back royalties.

Amongst the earliest of the groups were The Chantels. However, rock historians tend to regard The Shirelles as the opening act of the 1960s ‘girl group era’. Will You Love Me Tomorrow by Carole King was a number one hit and often credited as the first major girl-group hit of the rock era. Whilst The Supremes emerged out of the Detroit Motown scene in the mid 60s and were a smash success, the ‘British Invasion’ of bands like The Beatles who wrote their own music were ascending and shifting the music culture again in terms of production.

Initially ‘assemblers’ had previously brought together talent in the iconic Brill Building and 1650 Broadway to write, create and distribute pop music.

However, this was shifting to bands and groups who wrote and performed their own music and followed a different methodology. Carole King starts out collaborating and writing for other performers but later moves to perform her own material.

Rock n Roll music was a mixture of White country

8 Contextual Overview music and Black RnB music which appealed to both Black and White teenagers. Since the end of the 19th century a series of ‘Jim Crow’ laws had been instigated and grown across different states which segregated White and Black people, restricted voting for many Black people and generally discriminated against Black communities often enforced by arrest, significant violence or even death. After the Second World War people began to look at racial segregation and discrimination in the USA and its uncomfortable parallels with ideology in Nazi Germany. In 1948 President Truman ordered integration in the military. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that educational segregation was unconstitutional. In 1964 President Johnson signed The Civil Rights Act. During this era many places (where bands, groups and musicians performed) insisted on segregated audiences enforced by police and promoters. Black groups were often unable to find hotels or were given rotten food in restaurants and told not to look directly at white audiences as they performed. However, Rock n Roll became so boisterously biracial that audiences proved too difficult to separate and young people found ways to breach the separation. Both Black and White bands and musicians began to refuse to play segregated venues (e.g. The Beatles and Ray Charles).

“Rock & Roll, then characterised by white American adult conservatives as ‘devil music’, led literally to the breaking down of barriers in music.

As both young Black and White people began to forcibly ignore the segregation ropes and lines, with both groups coming together in exuberant joy and excitement, to listen and dance to their favourite Rock & Roll artists, as one audience.

Thereby, in effect both these teenage groups were at the forefront of desegregation of audiences.

Later in the 60’s music artists like Carole King, and the Beatles, who both were heavily influenced

by African American Rhythm & Blues music and artists, continued this movement of desegregation, and helped to continue the crossover of Rhythm & Blues music, well into the 70’s. Culminating. with the creation of Soul, a secularised Gospel Music, with Aretha Franklin, Funk and later Disco.”

Carol Leeming MBE FRSA

The Long Hot Summer of 1967 The long, hot summer of 1967 refers to the 159 race riots that erupted across the United States in the summer of 1967. The most destructive riots of the summer took place in July, in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan; many contemporary newspapers headlines described them as “battles”.

A history of institutionalized unemployment, abusive policing, and poor housing was already present in certain areas of the United States and riots began to flare up across the country but especially during the summer months. While rioting happened across the country the Summer of Love was occurring in hippie communities and Americans witnessed troop movements in the Vietnam War on the nightly television news.

The Vietnam War After the Second World War Vietnam was divided in two. Following fraudulent elections in 1956, anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem became the leader of Southern Vietnam which caused further divisions and led to Vietnam becoming The Republic of Vietnam in the south (supported by the United States, France, Laos, Republic of China, and Thailand) and The Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north, run by HoChi Minh (leader of the VietMinh) (supported by the Soviet Union, Sweden, Khmer Rouge (the communist party in Cambodia) and the People’s Republic of China.)

United States hardened its policies against allies of the Soviet Union and pledged support to South Vietnam. From 1961 President Kennedy sent significant support to help against ‘Viet Cong’ and by 1965 the first American troops had entered Vietnam. The draft (conscription of young people) didn’t end until 1973 when President Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords. Throughout the war there were multiple demonstrations and protests against the war (both peaceful and violent) including Muhammed Ali declaring himself a conscientious objector and being sentenced to 5 years in prison for draft evasion.

The Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behaviour, converged in San Francisco’s neighbourhood of Haight-Ashbury.

More broadly, the Summer of Love encompassed the hippie music, hallucinogenic drugs, anti-war, and free-love scene throughout the West Coast of the United States, and as far away as New York City.

Hippies, sometimes called flower children, were an eclectic group. Many were suspicious of the government, rejected consumerist values, and generally opposed the Vietnam War. A few were interested in politics; others were concerned more with art (music, painting, poetry in particular) or spiritual and meditative practices.

The Summer of Love attracted a wide range of

Contextual Overview 9 people of various ages: teenagers and college students drawn by their peers and the allure of joining an alleged cultural utopia; middle-class vacationers; and even partying military personnel from bases within driving distance.

By the end of summer, many participants had left the scene to join the back-to-the-land movement of the late ‘60s, to resume school studies, or simply to “get a job”. Those remaining in the Haight wanted to commemorate the conclusion of the event. A mock funeral entitled “The Death of the Hippie” ceremony was staged on October 6, 1967.

Summary Art, politics and social change have always informed each other. During the 50s and 60s in America, young people’s voices were suddenly amplified through popular music. The growth of technology and broadcasting made engaging with music easier.

The music spoke to teenagers and young adults about their experiences as well as their views on what was happening politically and socially with the

Vietnam war, Civil Rights Movement and Second Wave Feminism all influencing new voices. This gave them power to be part of challenging the status quo about what women should be and do, what romantic relationships could look like, how communities could come together and transcend segregated spaces to enjoy and make music together. Meanwhile the growth of advertising and consumerism in some ways drove change – giving platforms for new voices and creating popular appeal, whilst in others saw that misogyny and racism underpinned the structures for making and distributing music and in who profited. It is in this context that Carole King and her contemporaries created timeless classics that speak to generations now who are also reckoning with simplistic politics, the ‘war on woke’, the tension between conservative and liberal ideas, racism and misogyny embedded in cultural, social and political institutions and the shared experiences that hold humans together regardless of background, belief or ideological position.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

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The Actor Musician Role Actor Musicians are exactly as they are described – they are professional actors who are also musicians.

Performers can sometimes be called ‘triple threats’, meaning they can sing, dance and act, actor-musicians are quadruple threats, being able to sing, dance, act and play at least one instrument to a high standard.

Normally shortened to the phrase ‘actor-muso’, actor-musicians have often trained on specific actormusicianship courses, and most will have started playing at least one instrument when they were young.

There aren’t specific instruments actor-musicians have to play, there are many actor-musos who play the drums for example, even though this is a stationary instrument. Also, actor-musos are often expected to play multiple instruments in one show, with some performers even playing up to seven or eight, or even more. Sometimes this will include instruments they haven’t played before that they will learn during rehearsals.

Often when you hear the phrase actor-muso it is normally used to describe particular shows, rather than performers. These will be shows, normally musicals, where there isn’t a band or orchestra. Instead, all the actors will be actor-musicians and they will all play the music on stage, while also singing and dancing.

“All the cast play instruments, so there is no pit band. In a conventional show you would have the cast on stage and the band either in a pit or they’d be in a room or in some shows they have them hidden up on a balcony or even remoted in another room. But you see all the nuts and bolts of the playing, we don’t hide anything. The drum booth is sort of at the back of the stage, we’ve got pianos on stage, we’ve got guitars, we’ve got everything in front of the audience so they see the nuts and bolts of it. They may be doing a scene at one point and then they pick up a guitar and off they go.” “It’s a true ensemble style of work.”

Sarah Travis, Music Supervisor

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Interviews

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Nikolai Foster (Director) What has the process of directing Beautiful been like?

The process of directing Beautiful so far has been hugely stimulating and challenging and really heartwarming. It’s a real pleasure every day to go into rehearsals and hear live music and to see these songs being taught and realised by this incredible company of actor musicians, there’s very few people who wouldn’t be absolutely mind-blown and have their hearts warmed by being surrounded by music all day.

The piece is challenging in that it’s a jukebox musical ostensibly, so very much the intention of the book writer and the original producers is to take us from one hit song to the next and this makes it challenging at times to create dynamic within the flow of the piece, that you don’t just constantly feel that you are being bombarded by songs. Not only are you working out the dynamic of the music and shaping the songs, but you are also making sure the dynamic and the musicality of the act feels secure and varied, so it doesn’t feel like for 2 hours we are just having song after song after song. It’s really important the story is clear and that the audience really connect to the characters and that they share and celebrate Carole’s story and that it’s not just an avalanche of songs, so that has been a big challenge.

Another challenge is that we are working in a single environment setting, and so that every location that we go to, whether its Vermont or Broadway or a hospital room, all has to be born out of our recording studio aesthetics, so it’s constantly finding new ways to create different locations and feels within the same set.

Has directing a show with so many Actor Musicians posed any challenges or successes?

Directing a show with so many actor musicians is really exhilarating because you are not waiting until the end of rehearsals to hear a load of songs played by an orchestra, you are literally hearing that live music from the first day of rehearsals which is truly exhilarating. The only challenge really is that if you have an actor who plays three instruments, in terms of staging and working with Leah, the choreographer, we aren’t just looking at the journey of the actor through the space, as you might do in a more traditional piece of theatre, but you are also looking at the journey of those three instruments they play. So, for every one actor, you might be looking at three additional journeys, so that makes it incredibly complex in terms of where was the instrument last played, why does the actor or the character now go and collect that instrument, what in the narrative or emotionally propels them into that area of the space. So those are the challenges, it’s very detailed from day one. You are building a very rich tapestry right from the word go.

Why do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

Beautiful is an important story to share now for many reasons. Firstly, our job is to entertain people and hopefully give them a couple of hours of respite from their lives. Coming out of the pandemic, that responsibility feels more important than ever before. Music has a very important role in our lives, in terms of helping to stimulate the imagination, transport people out of the challenges they might be facing in their lives or maybe a particular song takes them back to a really happy place in their life, so I think presenting a piece of work that has music at its centre and celebrates singer song writers like Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, that is always an important and brilliant thing to do.

I think if you think about it in the context of when Carole King and Cynthia Weil were writing, who are the other female writers from that time, there were very few in comparison to the male dominance of that music industry, so I think telling a story which has this very dominant female voice driving through it is really important and the fact that Carole King is a very nuanced human being, she is fragile, she is humble, she is filled with humanity, she isn’t a brash, ego driven star, so I think that element of the story is very important as well.

If you look at groups like The Shirelles and the Drifters, these were all African American groups, all black groups, who through their collaboration with artists like Carole King and the wider music industry, were propelled into mainstream American culture. I feel that that is an important story to recognise, that the struggle and the adversity that those artists overcame, not only for other artists of colour who came later down the track, but in terms of Carole King and her producers and those artists putting African American artists into the mainstream culture at the time, when the civil rights movement was still very much in its infancy, that is incredibly important.

12 Interviews

Photograph: Pamela Raith

All of those things; music, young people having access to music as Carole King did in her home, the civil rights movement, the struggles of women, the struggles of African American artists, I think that makes it a really important story for now and invites us to think about how far we’ve come, but also how far we’ve got left to go.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it weren’t for the theatre. I first got into theatre to escape the bullies at school and literally found a sanctuary and safe haven joining a school production after hours from school. The arts have been nothing but a positive and completely changed the direction of my life.

In your opinion, what are the key skills a director needs?

Collaboration and working well with people, theatre is a hugely labour intensive industry, it doesn’t rely on one single person, it’s not about one single persons idea or vision for a production, fundamentally it is about a director having a vision with the designer and the choreographer and the lighting team and the music department about the direction of travel for a show, but then its working with a very wide ranging team from technicians to costume makers to stage managers to realise that piece. I think the skills are really around collaboration, communication, having a lot of patience and trying to approach things with a sense of fun and play.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

I would say Pleasant Valley Sunday is one of my favourite songs, Carole King’s music is jolly and playful and a little bit anarchic, Gerry Goffin’s lyrics are sardonic and insightful and really capturing the zeitgeist of a generation that is moving away from the 2.4 children white picket fence and the all-American vision of suburbia, so I think that would be one of my favourite songs. Then obviously the title song Beautiful, which is Carole’s song about attacking each day with joy, optimism and love, I think is a great song for today as well.

Interviews 13

Jennifer Lane Baker Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I’m the associate director, which means that I support the director and the company throughout the rehearsal period, and I check in on the show throughout the year while it’s on tour. I also work with the swings and understudies on the production, making sure that they feel prepared to go on in any role that they cover.

Did you do any research? What’s your process preparing for a show?

I made a research pack for the show, which gets shared with everybody working on it. It contains information about the real-life people in this play (like Carole King), as well as lots of contextual information about the music industry and cultural and political events going on in that time period. I also made lots of Spotify playlists for this show, as so much of it is about music.

In addition to background research, I always spend lots of time preparing my script. In a show like this, lots of the actors are playing multiple roles and multiple instruments, which means that you need to be really on top of who is doing what at each moment, and know the script in lots of detail before rehearsals start.

Has working on a show with so many Actor Musicians posed any challenges or successes?

Actor musician shows are always really exciting because you get to watch these incredibly talented people making all the music in the show right in front of your eyes, as well as acting, singing and dancing. It creates a really magical world, in which a full ensemble of creative people come together to tell a story as one big family. You also need to be really creative as any show full of musicians isn’t trying to look naturalistic!

Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

Any time we find that something isn’t quite working – a scene change, some staging – I am always in a room full of creative people who all suggest so many incredible ideas that we can try out. It’s great being surrounded by them every day.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

When I was 16, I directed my first ever play, Romeo and Juliet, with friends at my school. Not only did it help me to realise that I wanted to be a director, but it gave me the confidence to stand up in front of a group of people and share my ideas. Once I’d done it one time, it wasn’t so scary any more. I was so lucky that my drama teacher supported me when I told him I wanted to have a go at directing - it made me more confident, better at listening, and taught me how to lead a group of people.

What’s your best piece of advice for someone who wants to work in theatre?

Engage in all types of art as much as you can. Read books and plays, go to art galleries, listen to music, watch TV, go to the cinema and the theatre, create Pinterest boards of pictures that interest you. Lots of theatres do cheap ticket schemes (especially away from the West End). Everything creative that you put into your brain will make you a more interesting and creative person, even if you didn’t like it very much. It’s a great way to work out what you do and don’t like, and to generate ideas.

It doesn’t have to be ‘high art’ – do things that interest you. It’s okay to be inspired by Shakespeare and Chekhov, but it’s also okay to be inspired by Glee and Lady Gaga. Be yourself!

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

My favourite is Pleasant Valley Sunday – it sounds so bouncy and fun and upbeat, but the lyrics are deeply cynical. Really interesting.

Sarah Travis Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I am the Music Supervisor and Co-Orchestrator for Beautiful.

Did you do any research? What’s your process preparing for a show?

Yes, I spend around 3 months leading up to the show studying the score, listening to Carole’s back catalogue of songs, and generally immersing myself in source material relevant to the show. We have to cast the show quite a long way in advance of rehearsals, as all the actors play the music. Once cast and we have

14 Interviews our instrumental line up, I can then adapt the original orchestrations and tailor them to our line-up. I have to achieve this before going into rehearsals, so we all have a basic score to work from.

Tell us about your design or creative concept for the show.

Our version compared to the original Broadway/West End version is more ‘unplugged’ and organic musically. The fact that all the music is being played live onstage makes it much more live and dynamic in feel.

Has working on a show with so many Actor Musicians posed any challenges or successes?

The rehearsal process is very different from a conventional Pit band show. We rehearse the vocals and instrumentation together from day 1, and piece together everything as we go-which can sometimes feel tortuous!

The cast have to learn vocals, instrument parts, dancing, and scenes all at the same time. It’s a lot to ask of the actors, and it takes time. But there is always a moment when everything starts to come together in week 4 of rehearsals, and it’s a joyous moment when things start to gel.

Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

I always find the first time we put a number on its feet is the most interesting time, as we all start to find the language of the piece together, and the feeling of ‘Ensemble’ starts to be realised.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

When I was 12 my music teacher at school saw that I could play the piano by ear (without music). He started setting me projects, to develop my ear. He would set me all sorts of musical genre snippets to listen to from pop, rock to theatre songs. I would then come back and play them for him the next day. He developed my interest in music and drama and I wouldn’t be doing what I do now if it wasn’t for him taking the time to nurture my musical skills.

What’s your best piece of advice for someone who wants to work in theatre?

Work hard, listen, and learn from those around you, always follow your instincts.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

The whole Tapestry album is a favourite, but if I had to choose it would probably be (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Interviews 15

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

Leah Hill Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I am the choreographer for the production of Beautiful at the Curve. I stage and set all choreography/ movement within the show.

Did you do any research? What’s your process preparing for a show?

I researched the time period of when these stories take place. I did a lot of research on black, male and female bands/artists during the 1950’s/60’s specifically looking at how they moved. This led me to look into what it may have been like performing during their time as people of colour. I used this information to explore if there was a difference in their movement when performing for white audiences, in comparison to black audiences. I watched a lot of footage of the time period to help develop a language of movement that pays homage to, but also allows it to have small twists for being relative to today’s society. I did research on different actor musician shows to find out how to create movement that allows the instrument to be an extension and expression of the person’s body to help tell the story.

Tell us about your design or creative concept for the show.

I use the set designs provided to help envision how certain numbers could look, and what props I have to play with. I do some workshops with actors/dancers before entering rehearsals to explore whether my ideas and visions are achievable and what that feels/looks like on multiple bodies. I spend a lot of time collaborating ideas with the director and musical director to ensure synergy between all.

Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

The cast have been so inspiring to watch, as they all play multiple instruments! For example, a cast member is playing the piano and then in the next number they are rocking out in the drum booth. Watching how the company learn, music, harmonies, spoken lines and choreography is just amazing to watch.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

Every show I’ve done, every person I’ve met along my journey impacts my life, as when you perform in shows, or choreograph, direct, or design a show, it’s the people that you work with that make it. Theatre I feel connects us in a way that not many other sectors do. It’s the people I meet every day that make theatre special which is why I love it.

What’s your best piece of advice for someone who wants to work in theatre?

Be bold, be brave, be you!

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

It’s hard to pick just one, but I do love Chains, and On Broadway!

16 Interviews

Tarik Frimpong Can you tell us about your role within the production?

My name is Tarik Frimpong (he/him), and I am the Associate Choreographer. It’s my job to help the Choreographer (Leah Hill) develop, teach, position, maintain and clean choreography. I also help develop concepts and the intention behind the choreography/movement.

Did you do any research? What’s your process preparing for a show?

My research included: • Researching what types of dance moves were being performed in the US in the 1960s/1970s.

• Watching videos of live performances of groups such as the Drifters and Shirelles, so to adopt and be inspired by their movement language and pocket.

• Reading about Carole King.

• Watching footage of the original production of Beautiful, so to create something totally different and exciting for this newly imagined version of the show.

One key part of my choreographic process: is repeatedly listening to the songs we will be choreographing and mapping out a “movement map”; so, highlighting interesting rhythms, melodies, themes, lyrics, and specific instruments that we want to highlight or bring to life movement.

Has working on a show with so many Actor Musicians posed any challenges or successes?

It’s been an exciting challenge, to work with such a large number of actor musicians for the first time.

Depending on what instrument an actor is playing at any given time, it may mean they aren’t able to use their arms to execute choreography, or they may have to remain completely static, or they may only be able to move in a slower, smoother motion (as opposed to a sharper, more jagged motion) so not to interrupt the air flow required to play their instrument.

This has allowed Leah and I to focus more on footwork, level changes, directional changes and formations/ transitions.

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

Interviews 17 Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

It’s been great to work with a Musical Supervisor (Sarah Travis) that is so collaborative. There have been moments in the rehearsal process, where Leah has choreographed something to the music – and then once Sarah has seen the choreography, she has adapted things in the music so to better marry and relate to Leah’s movement/choreography.

In this way the music is not only influencing the movement, but the movement is also influencing the music.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

The arts have been a huge part of my life since I was a child, both my parents were professional dancers/ choreographers.

The arts, and the pursuit of a career in the arts is what inspired me to move to the UK from Australia.

One of the most profound impacts theatre has had on my life, was having the opportunity to work on The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre), a show which was also choreographed by Leah Hill. To be a part of a show that was a celebration of Black Joy and Black Excellence, with an all-Black cast and majority Black creative team, was a deeply inspiring and exciting experience.

It affirmed for me, that as a young Black, Mixed Race actor/creative, there is space for me in this industry.

What’s your best piece of advice for someone who wants to work in theatre?

Don’t give up. Keep going.

Build a strong support network.

Save some art for yourself; working in theatre can sometimes mean, what was once your childhood passion quickly turns into your job, a means to earn an income. So, I think its integral that you hold space for yourself, where you create, sing, dance, act, play or write purely for yourself and for fun. Not for work purposes.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Tom Milner Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I’m playing Gerry Goffin the husband to Carole King. They became a legendary writing team and created so much success within the music industry.

Did you do any research? What’s your process for preparing for rehearsals?

Yes, I did the classic internet search and read up a lot on both Carole and Gerry but also Gerry and his personal life. We’re working with a fantastic director in Nikolai Foster who has been great at allowing us to put our own stamp on the characters too rather than trying to replicate a person as such.

How did you get into your career as an actor?

I was lucky enough to join a CITV child’s programme which gave me the platform – I then joined the popular BBC1 programme Waterloo Road and played Paul Langley for 4 years. This really set it off properly.

What has the process been like in the rehearsal room? Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

It’s been really unique as it’s an Actor Musician piece. We focused a lot on the music initially and then we matched it up with the scenes. It’s always an interesting moment when you run a song for the first time and see everyone’s talents striking.

What have been the challenges making this show?

Every show is a challenge. Doing justice to this wonderful music is always a slight pressure.

Why do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

It shows how fame and money aren’t what it’s made out to be. Certainly, in my characters case.

18 Interviews

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

I’ve always been an expressive person so personally for me being able to showcase my work is always an itch well scratched.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

Pleasant Valley Sunday, I feel like I’m fronting the best rock and roll band at Glastonbury.

Garry Robson Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I play the character Donnie Kirshner. He gave Carole her break in show business when she was 16 by producing her song. He was then her Producer for the early part of her career. I also sing a bit, bang an occasional bongo and rattle a tambourine.

Did you do any research? What’s your process for preparing for rehearsals?

Yes, I read a biography and researched the pop music business in the 50/60/70’s. He was a New York Jew, and I studied the accent. My process is script, script, script.

How did you get into your career as an actor?

I was a musician and had worked on a couple of theatre shows. A theatre then offered me an acting job. I was fed up travelling the country eating Ginsters Pasties and sleeping in smelly vans so I bit their hand off and never looked back.

What has the process been like in the rehearsal room? Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

Collaborative but with a Director who has a vision. A perfect combination.

What have been the challenges making this show? What have you discovered?

It’s a big show. Lots of surprisingly complex music. The challenge is to make the music live and give the story truth and heart.

Interviews 19 Why do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

It’s about marginalised people seizing the moment and for a time at least turning the world upside down.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

Punk showed me you could tear up the rulebook and do it yourself.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

Pleasant Valley Sunday

Amena El-Kindy ‌Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I am playing Little Eva, famously known for singing Locomotion. I am also appearing as one of the Shirelles and the Chiffons. ‌ id you do any research? What’s your process for D preparing for rehearsals?

My research and preparation begins with the audition.

For this particular show I started by listening to the cast recording and watching any footage of the show I could find, then did further detailed research on the life of Carole King, Little Eva and the Shirelles. I don’t think you can ever be too prepared for an audition, so by the time I was offered the job I was just listening to tapestry and watching Carole King interviews for fun, but I already had a very strong sense of the show and the history behind it.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

‌ ow did you get into your career as an actor?

H I’ve always had the desire to be on stage, so I studied performing arts at college and musical theatre at university. I then acquired an agent who arranges my auditions. Alongside my studies I also worked as a stage schoolteacher, wedding/pub singer, singing teacher and various other ‘muggle jobs’ to fund my tuition. ‌ hat has the process been like in the rehearsal W room? Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

I love the skill swapping going on in our rehearsal room, people are getting to play new instruments for the first time. I’m having a lot of fun on the congas this week. ‌ hat have been the challenges making this show?

W What have you discovered?

I’d say the biggest challenge is just learning all the material in such a short time frame but I’m sure as the tour goes on, we will be able to sing/dance/act/play it all in our sleep.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

20 Interviews ‌ hy do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

W Our production of Beautiful to me feels like a celebration of the black musicians who didn’t get the autonomy or appreciation that should have always been there. The music is nostalgic and relatable for everyone. It’s full of heart and soul that’s utterly infectious.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

It’s like the body does not function with a heart alone, all the organs must work together for the perfect song we call life. As an ensemble, band, or choir, it takes a focused and selfless attention from everyone to bring a piece of music to life. It has made me a better team player, a better listener and overall, a better musician. To me there is nothing more satisfying than when music can hit you with such perfection that your body shivers and shakes, especially when you are part of that creation. ‌ o you have a favourite musical number in the show?

D My Favourite song is Chains, but I truly love them all!

Chris Coxon Can you tell us about your role within the production?

I am what is known as a Swing. Swings learn several roles within the production and if any of the cast are ill, injured, or not able to perform, then a Swing steps in to take their place.

Did you do any research? What’s your process for preparing for rehearsals?

I like to immerse myself in time and place when preparing for a role, particularly if the play is based on real events. Questions I ask myself are things like – what is the political landscape like? What music, art, movies would I be exposed to? What important events were happening at the time?

How did you get into your career as an actor?

I took part in lots of amateur dramatics as a child. At 16 I decided to do a full-time foundation course in Musical Theatre and at 18 I moved to London to go to Drama School and get my degree. During my time at drama school, I was offered representation by an agent. That was my route into the industry.

What has the process been like in the rehearsal room? Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

As a swing you don’t often get to rehearse during the main rehearsal period, instead you watch the main cast rehearse and do a lot of private study. Unfortunately, one of the cast was ill for about a week during rehearsals so I had to step into the role.

What have been the challenges making this show? What have you discovered?

Beautiful is an actor musician show which means the actors also play all of the music themselves live on stage. The biggest challenge for me has been learning all the different parts on different instruments, including some instruments I don’t have that much experience playing.

Why do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

Beautiful celebrates an incredible catalogue of music. What I think this production does particularly well is present these songs in a way that highlights the excitement that comes with the act of creating. I would love it if this show inspired someone to pick up a guitar and try writing a song.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

Music has a powerful effect that is almost magical. Sometimes even just listening to music can make you feel your emotions even more acutely. For example, when my father died, I found it initially very difficult to process my feelings. It didn’t take long before I had an overwhelming urge to listen to some of his favourite songs, which turned out to be a really important stage for me to start grieving properly.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

It’s so hard to choose, but I think it has to be We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place. It rocks pretty hard.

Interviews 21

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

Dylan Gordon-Jones Can you tell us about your role within the production?

In the production I am a swing, which means I cover multiple track in the show in case anyone is off/unable to perform. I am also one of The Drifters.

Did you do any research? What’s your process for preparing for rehearsals?

I did some research into The Drifters, and the concept of a crossover acts. As well as looking into who Carole King was. I normally prepare for rehearsals by reading the script while listening to the music of the show (if there’s a cast album), if not I just try to gather as much information as I can.

How did you get into your career as an actor?

I started performing first as a self-taught dancer, I taught myself as there was no dance school in my area but there was an amateur musical theatre company, so my mum sent me there and I’ve done musical theatre ever since.

What has the process been like in the rehearsal room? Can you describe an interesting moment in rehearsals, or during preparation or in collaborating with other members of the creative team?

As a swing the rehearsal process is very different as you spend most of the rehearsal just observing and noting down everything your covers do.

What have been the challenges making this show? What have you discovered?

This is my first actor musician show so the process has been very different as I’m used to more dance-based shows rather than music based so being present during the music rehearsals is very interesting.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

My favourite number in the show is (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

22 Interviews

Jessica Jolleys Can you tell us about your role within the production?

My role in the show is being a swing, which means that if anyone is unwell or injured, I’ll be covering their parts. In this I’m covering Carole King, her mother Genie King and the instrument parts for tenor and alto saxophone, clarinet, piano, and trumpet.

Did you do any research? What’s your process for preparing for rehearsals?

I listened to the music of Carole King and the era in preparation for this production and read the script, but I tend to wait until rehearsals start before I do a lot of work on a show as I like to tap into the vision of the creatives and my fellow actors.

How did you get into your career as an actor?

I always loved doing drama at school and I always played instruments whilst growing up and when I was deciding whether to go to drama school or university, I wasn’t sure which route to take. Luckily, I found the actor musician course at Rose Bruford and that solidified that I wanted to do this professionally.

What have been the challenges making this show? What have you discovered?

The challenges for me is that I’ve never been a swing before so it’s all a learning process – trying to work out the best way to use my time, be that practising in another room or watching, or organising folders for each character to make the map of the show clearer for me.

Why do you think Beautiful is an important story to share now?

I think Beautiful is an important show to be on now because as audiences are brought back together after Covid, the story conveys how the characters and people are brought together through music.

Could you share a story or a moment about how the arts have impacted your life?

A moment when the arts impacted my life was when I saw a production of the 39 Steps and found out that one of the actors was visually impaired. As someone who is registered partially sighted and wanting to go into acting, I wasn’t sure if that was something I could do. This inspired me to pursue acting without the fear of disability being a hindrance. I then went on to find out about theatre companies such as Graeae who create work with deaf and disabled artists and have learnt to celebrate my disability as something that’s part of me rather than shy away from it.

Do you have a favourite musical number in the show?

My favourite musical number in the show is Beautiful – I find the lyrics extremely emotive and the arrangement for our show has this incredible climax and it really feels like a realisation and reflection from Carole on her life and where she is now, and Molly (playing Carole) sings it incredibly.

23

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

24

Carole King Playlist click here

Curve in Conversation Podcast Host Martin Ballard spends time in the rehearsal room for the new Made at Curve, Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Mayflower Southampton co-production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, where he speaks to Director Nikolai Foster, performers Molly-Grace Cutler, Tom Milner, Jos Slovick and Seren Sandham-Davies, as well as on-stage Musical Director and performer Dan de Cruz.

click here

Activities Introduction

Taking inspiration from the narrative of Beautiful these activities have been developed to stimulate conversation and spark creative activities. All activities can be used to inspire individual or group creative arts. Activities are suitable for use in a school or community setting, and can be adapted as needed to suit ability, mobility or level. This section includes warming up the voice and body, devising and creative writing activities, and specific activities for group facilitators.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Activities

25

VOCAL WARM UP

An actor’s main instrument is their body and voice. Before actors and singers rehearse or perform they start the day by warming up their bodies and voices. This is essential to build up strength, muscle and stamina and to avoid injury. Below are some exercises for you to try: • Begin by lying on the floor (you might wish to use a yoga mat) on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your hands gently on your diaphragm (just below your ribcage).

• Breathe in slowly through your nose for the count of 4, hold your breath for the count of 4 and then slowly release the air through your mouth for the count of 8. As you’re breathing in feel your ribcage expand.

• Do this 4 times (if you get light-headed – stop!).

• Breathe normally for a minute or two.

• Do the exercise again but this time when you breathe out make the following sounds and different vowel shapes (it doesn’t matter what ‘note’ this is on): – Hmmmmmmm (Hum – ensure your lips vibrate) – Soooooooooo (open your mouth nice and wide) – Ahhhhhhhhhh (open up the back of your throat so the sound doesn’t get trapped) – Ooooooooooo (engage your cheek muscles) – Eeeeeeeeeeee (lift your lips to expose your teeth) – Uhhhhhhhhhhh (lift your soft palette and keep your jaw relaxed) – Ayyyyyyyyyyyyy (open your mouth nice and wide) • With your mouth slightly open ‘sing’ softly an ‘ng’ sound from the lowest sound you can make to the highest. This is called ‘sirening’ (because it sounds a little like a siren) and shows your vocal range. It soothes the voice. Go from low to high and high to low. (If you lose your voice you can do this exercise whilst steaming your face over a bowl of hot water on in the shower and it will massage steam into your vocal chords to reduce inflammation).

• Stand up slowly.

• Do both these exercises standing up. When you breathe in ensure your ribcage expands but your shoulders are nice and relaxed and don’t go upwards!

• Stand with your feet hip width apart. Both your feet should be on the floor with your weight evenly distributed and your knees ‘soft’ with a slight bend (not locked) and your back upright and chin down so your spine is straight.

• Place your hands on your diaphragm. Use the following letters and different vowels to make 3 short, sharp sounds. Feel the diaphragm connect with the sound to give more volume e.g.

– Bah Bah Bah – Car Car Car – Duh Duh Duh – Foo – Gah – Huh – Pah – Moo – Tee • Give your face a one minute massage focussing on your cheeks, chin, nose, forehead and upper lip. Your voice uses lots of facial muscles. Use your fingers to make circular movements in the skin to release tension and help them stretch.

• Have a really long yawn. This stretches out the back of your throat and relaxes the body if you’ve tensed it during previous exercises. Use your arms to roll your shoulders back while doing this.

• Memorise the phrase.

26 Activities Articulation is a form of gymnastics, involving the teeth, the lips, and the tip of the tongue.

Alternatively find two lines from a song, poem or speech e.g.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name.

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Or Tonight you’re mine completely You give your love so sweetly Tonight the light of love is in your eyes But will you love me tomorrow?

• To warm up the mouth and consider all the different qualities of what a voice can do, say these lines in the following ways: – Make your mouth as big as possible and exaggerate every word.

– Say it as quietly as possible but emphasising all the consonants.

– Say it with your tongue stuck out the entire way through (gives the back of the tongue a proper workout!)

– Say it as clearly as possible but removing all the consonants so emphasising all the vowel sounds.

– Say it as fast and clearly as possible.

– Direct it at an object in the room as if you are in love.

– Direct it at an object in the room as if you are furious.

• The Grand Old Duke of York (this is a warm-up exercise the cast of Beautiful loved!)

This warms you up vocally, physically and mentally.

– As a group sing The Grand Old Duke of York: Oh, the grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again And when they were up, they were up And when they were down, they were down And when they were only half-way up They were neither up nor down –

– – –

Now whenever you sing ‘up’ you must do an action e.g. jump / fling your arms in the air.

Whenever you sing ‘down’ you must do a different action e.g. sit down / touch your toes.

Whenever you sing ‘march’ you must start marching on the spot.

Now do the song again but this time create a sound instead of saying ‘up’ and ‘down’.

Keep repeating and getting faster and faster.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Activities 27

PHYSICAL WARM UP (STANDING) • Begin with a cardio vascular exercise to increase heart rate and circulation. This will also begin to warm the muscles up. This could be marching, jogging, skipping, jumping or walking.

• Rub your hand in circular motions on your upper and lower arms and legs. This will increase blood flow to the area and continue to warm up the muscles.

• Gently turn your heard from side to side and up and down.

• With one hand on your hip, take your opposite arm in an arch over your body and reach to the side, stretching and lengthening from finger tips down your side to your hip. Hold for 8 seconds. Repeat on both sides.

• Interlink your fingers in front of your body and push your arms out straight forwards and hunch your back. Hold for 8 seconds, release. Interlink your fingers behind your back and pull away from your body, arching your back. Hold for 8 seconds, release.

• With both hands on your hips and rotate hips slowly in a full circle, 4 times clockwise and 4 times anticlockwise.

• Step one foot forward, with hands on hips, bend the front knee and keep the back leg straight. You will feel a stretch down the back of your back leg. Hold for 8 seconds. Straighten the front leg, and bending from the hips reach forward to your front toe, aiming to put your nose on your knee, while keeping both legs straight. You will feel a gentle stretch down the back of both your legs. Hold for 8 seconds and release. Join the feet together and repeat stepping the other leg forward.

• From a neutral stance, lift one foot off the floor slightly and find a natural balance. It may help to have your arms extended out to the side at shoulder level to find balance. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat on the other leg. To extend balance, try to hold your raised foot higher off the ground, so your toe is next to your knee of the standing leg. If the environment is safe to do so, attempt with your eyes close, and note how this changes your perception of your centre of gravity, you may wobble more!

• Take a wide stance, bend from the knees and scoop your arms in a large circle, reaching down, out and up, while taking a deep breath in. As you exhale, reverse the path your arms took in circular motion back down. Repeat this at least 3 times, more if desired.

PHYSICAL WARM UP (SEATED) • Starting with your hands on your knees, gently raise and lower both hands in an arch motion up to shoulder level and back down to the knees. Breath in when arms rise and out when arms lower. This will start to gently raise your heart rate and stimulate circulation in the arms.

• Gently rub your hand in circular motions on shoulders, neck, side of the rib cage and upper and lower arms and legs. This will increase blood flow to the area and begin to gently warm up the muscles.

• Tap your hands down each arm and both legs in a drumming motion. This will continue to increase circulation to the area and continue to warm up the muscles.

• Gently turn your heard from side to side and up and down.

• Using your opposite hand, squeeze each finger for four seconds. Repeat on all ten fingers.

• Extend hands and arms in front of the body one at a time, stretching the fingers so hands are fully splayed as you reach. Bring the arm back to the body before reaching the other hand forward.

• While still seated, stamp feet one at a time in a marching motion. You can also extend legs one at a time in front of the chair in the motion of dipping a toe into a puddle, before retracting it back to a neutral position.

• Scoop your arms in a large circle, reaching down, out, and up, while taking a deep breath in. As you exhale, reverse the path your arms took in circular motion back down. Repeat this at least 3 times, more if desired.

28 Activities

Acting Through Song King’s songs have been interpreted by many singers and musicians. They all bring something unique to their interpretation of the lyrics, conveying emotion and musical style. Go onto Spotify and listen to the different interpretations of King’s song Will You Love Me Tomorrow. Listen to versions performed by Carole King, The Shirelles, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Dusty Springfield, Bryan Ferry, Roberta Flack, Kristen Chenoweth and Cher.

Or The Locomotion performed by Little Eva, Black Lace, Kylie Minogue, Atomic Kitten, Plommons, Grand Funk Railroad and Gummibar. Each have different musical styles, speeds, orchestrations, emotions and audiences they’re trying to connect with.

Whether you like the interpretation or not – they each make it their own. Even though both these songs were written in the 60s they’ve been made relevant to contemporary audiences. The Locomotion was a massive hit in the 80s with Kylie Minogue, while the cast of TV hit Glee’s interpretation of Will You Love Me Tomorrow found a new teenage audience in the 21st century. The fact these songs are constantly being recorded and released for new audiences shows their enduring and timeless quality.

Below are some things to consider when approaching performing a song to make it unique. Let’s use Will You Love Me Tomorrow to demonstrate.

• Write down the lyrics.

Tonight you’re mine completely You give your love so sweetly Tonight the light of love is in your eyes But will you love me tomorrow?

Is this a lasting treasure Or just a moment’s pleasure?

Can I believe the magic of your sighs?

Will you still love me tomorrow?

Tonight with words unspoken You say that I’m the only one But will my heart be broken When the night meets the morning sun?

I’d like to know that your love Is love I can be sure of So tell me now, and I won’t ask again Will you still love me tomorrow?

So tell me now, and I won’t ask again Will you still love me tomorrow?

Will you still love me tomorrow • Imagine this is a speech in a play. Let’s ask some questions as the answers may change how you convey what’s happening through your voice and gesture. There aren’t any right or wrong decisions. You’re trying to find answers that help you create a compelling and truthful performance.

– What kind of love is the text referring to? Agape (unconditional love), Eros (romantic love), Philia (affectionate love), Philautia (self-love), Storge (familiar love), Pragma (enduring love), Ludus (playful love), Mania (obsessive love).

–

Who are you talking to? Boyfriend/Girlfriend? Partner? Sibling? Parent? Friend? Pet? Are you imagining a real person in your life or a fictional one? Try reading the song through as if it was to someone you have a crush on and then as if it was your pet rabbit. How does this change the meaning?

– Go through each verse and write down the subtext. What the character might be really feeling. It might be the same or different to what they’re saying out loud.

– Speak the song aloud as if it is you speaking ‘off the cuff’ – try and make it sound as real and spontaneous as possible. Do this whilst doing a mundane activity to break up the rhythm e.g. while making a sandwich or sharpening a pencil.

Activities 29 – Say the song as if you’re confiding in your best mate in a café.

– Say the song as if you’re a barrister in a court of law.

– What happens to the meaning with these changes?

–

Actors often use transitive verbs to help plot the emotional journey in the text of a play. A transitive verb is a verb (doing word / action) between a subject and direct object. Or between two people. It could be physical or emotional. For example: I persuade you / I attack you / I tickle you / I manipulate you. Imagine you are speaking directly to the person you’re talking about. Attach a transitive verb to each line. How does that change the way you speak/sing it?

Tonight you’re mine completely (I adore you) You give your love so sweetly (I admire you) Tonight the light of love is in your eyes (I doubt you) But will you love me tomorrow? (I accuse you) Change the transitive verbs and see how this changes the way you perform the song.

Tonight you’re mine completely (I attack you) You give your love so sweetly (I don’t believe you) Tonight the light of love is in your eyes (I flirt with you) But will you love me tomorrow? (I challenge you) Consider other dynamics in your performance: • How fast or slow should the tempo be? This may affect the emotional journey. Slow may be haunting while faster may appear more playful.

• How soft or loud? Does it change? Why and when might it change? This may alter how certain or reflective you sound. It may change how intimate the communication with the audience feels.

• Where are you? Are you imagining the person you’re talking to is in the space with you? (A monologue).

Or are you speaking your internal thoughts? (A soliloquy). Are you speaking directly to the audience?

• Imagine what has just happened before this song. Create the context. Perhaps you’re sixteen and it’s the school prom and you’re singing about your teenage crush. Or maybe you’re a couple who’ve been together a long time and you’re referring to a big birthday celebration the night before but secretly you’re scared divorce is on the cards. How does the context affect the performance? Perhaps it brings hope or melancholy or playfulness.

• Style. Is it from the era it was written or are you adapting it to a different musical genre and rhythm? How does this speak to your audience? Try singing it in the style of music hall or swing or hip-hop.

• Audience – who are you performing this for? Think about what you want them to connect with. Maybe it’s for a primary school who’ve never heard this song before and you don’t want to put too much emphasis on romantic love. Maybe it’s for older people in a care home and you want to remind them of the swingin’ sixties and their first love. How does this affect your performance?

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

30

Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

Creative Writing

Activities 31

• Lots of things inspire a songwriter’s lyrics. The events and relationships in their lives – falling in love, breaking up, growing older, loss and so on. Sometimes political and sociological events of the times influence songs. Songs can reflect a time, culture and place in history Music has often been used as a way of expressing protest or frustration with the status quo. Music can also transcend the specificities of when it was written and speak to different generations about the universal nature of humanity. Unlike drama or novels or other ways of exploring the human experience songs are succinct and unapologetically emotional in how they share an experience or story. The combination of music and poetry tends to connect with an audience very quickly.

• Choose something as your inspiration: – A lyric from a song you love.

– An image of someone or something you love (look through your ‘favourites’ in your phone for inspiration).

– Imagine a place where you always feel something (could be good or bad emotions!)

– Think about something someone once said to you that spoke truth to you in some way.

– Think of an incident where you felt an extreme emotion: anger, adoration, fear, joy.

– Think of a relationship that’s gone wrong or gone right.

– Look through a newspaper and choose a story that provokes something in you.

• Decide who you are writing your song to.

– Someone you know (partner, someone from the past, relation, friend, enemy etc) – Someone you don’t know (someone you’d like to meet, someone from the future, future child, politician, public figure, institution etc) – A specific audience.

– A collection of people with something in common e.g. a year 5 class, grandparents, people who voted for Brexit, conservative evangelical Christians, women etc.

• Sum up in a sentence what you’re writing about.

• Set a timer and ‘free write’ whatever comes into your head about your inspiration to your chosen audience.

• Look back through it. What images and ideas are good? What could be explored further?

What can get cut? Do you need to add in similes or metaphors?

• Have a look at some different rhyme and rhythm schemes. These provide structure for helping you write succinctly. Classic ones involve the following rhyme patterns: – – – –

A A B B

• Or – – – –

A B A B

• Perhaps take a Carole King song and use the ‘rules’ of the song as the structure for your own.

• Read it aloud.

• If you play an instrument, put it to music. Try in a minor key or a major key. How does this change the emotional resonance for the audience?

32 Activities

Life Story - Devising Think about things that have shaped your life and also the context around those things.

• Make a list of things for every year you have been alive. Fill in the following table including every year of your life. Then consider a personal event (even if you can’t remember it). This can be insignificant like ‘loses first tooth’ or ‘fails grade 3 violin’ or ‘rides donkey in Skegness’ or could be really significant like ‘gets a place at university’ or ‘diagnosed with type 2 diabetes’. They can be long or short memories.

Then consider a local event. Local could be geographically or in the community you live in or family. Then a national or international event. Suddenly you have all the contrasts of lives being lived against a social and political backdrop.

YEAR

PERSONAL EVENT

LOCAL EVENT

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL EVENT

1989

Shruti is born in a taxi on the A42.

LCFC are 13th in the second division.

The Berlin Wall comes down.

1990

Shruti discovers eating tomato soup with her hands much to the exasperation of her older sister.

Shruti’s dad opens his John Major becomes own business on the Prime Minister.

Narborough Road.

1991 Shruti says her first word ‘pretty’. Shruti’s little sister

is born.

Freddie Mercury dies from Aids and I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred makes it to number 1.

• Look through this list. Share your ‘life list’ with someone else. Discuss why you’ve chosen certain events in any of the columns. Discuss what is poignant and what is funny or mundane. Look at how those contrasts create feelings.

• Look at what you were both doing in the same year.

• You could use this as a starting point for devising a piece of theatre.

– Narrate these characters to the audience as if you support them. Narrate these characters to the audience as if you judge them.

– Discuss the role of narrator and their relationship with the audience. What happens if the narrator wants to undermine the characters? What happens if the narrator wants to overly focus on the good or bad moments of the story. How does this change it for the audience? What is most entertaining?

– Focus on elements that draw together people’s stories thematically or geographically or historically and how to make sense of them. E.g. you discover everyone has mentioned learning how to ride a bike. Use this as a way of connecting your characters.

– Arrange these moments around a beginning (there is an obstacle to overcome), a middle (finding a solution to the obstacle and failing), and an ending (finding a solution).

– Improvise or dramatise small moments from these lists like a dramatic collage.

– Look for places and events where characters could meet. Begin to develop new narratives out of the original lists.

– Find ways to perform these lists to an audience.

Activities 33 Radio 4 has a programme called Desert Island Discs. They invite significant people from all walks of life (actors, politicians, scientists, historians etc) to imagine they are being cast away to a desert island and must choose 8 songs, 1 book and 1 luxury to take with them. They use these as a way into discussing their life stories and experiences that have shaped them or are important to them.

• Choose 8 songs that reflect 8 significant moments of your life.

• Write the story of your life weaving in the music as if it’s going to be a musical of your life.

• In Beautiful we can’t tell everything that happened in Carole King’s life. It is shaped and edited to tell a particular version. What would you want to be in the version of your life?

• Think about moments of achievement or overcoming challenges, think about moments where you struggled or lost things, think about moments where there was profound joy and happiness or something ridiculous happened or moments where you’ve had an epiphany or learnt something significant.

• The contrast of small and daft with big and profound will help your story resonate with an audience.

Sometimes those small moments and memories invite empathy and comedy in a way a life-changing experience might not. e.g. remembering that your granny always bought you a Marathon bar (before they became Snickers) and you weren’t to tell your mum. Or the time you were entered into a Brownie competition dressed as a radish.

• As you tell your story consider all the senses in those moments.

What you could see, touch, taste, smell or hear.

• Use this exercise to find out about other people in your family and their life stories.

For a shorter version just use 3 songs and an early memory, a later memory and a recent memory.

Photograph: Pamela Raith

34 Activities

Dance - Movement Mapping As discussed in Tarik’s (Associate Choreographer) interview, Movement Mapping can be used to develop well-structured choreography with an in-depth focus on musicality. When working on an Actor Musician show, aligning the music and the choreography has even more importance, in order for the cast to be able to play, sing and dance cohesively. This activity explores the idea of aligning choreographic ideas with musicality.

• Select a song you would like to choreograph to and print out the lyrics or music. If printing the lyrics ensure they are well spaced on the page to allow for annotation.

• Listen to the song on repeat, and each time focus on different layers of the music; rhythms, melodies, themes, lyrics and instruments.

• Using a different coloured pen for each element, highlight and annotate key moments and elements that you would like to highlight in the choreography, this may be a specific word in the lyrics or a wind instrument run. Anything that sparks creativity or interest, make an annotation.

• Revisit the song and begin to develop the choreography, referring back to the movement map you created for reference. This will allow you to focus on key moments you would like to highlight or draw attention to when developing the movement.

Activities for Facilitators Music and Movement - let the group take the lead

This activity allows the group to take creative lead and explore their own musical ideas in relation to the music of Carole King. Mirroring the groups actions and encouraging their ideas becomes affirming and will allow individuals to grow in confidence when sharing their own creative choices or ideas.

• Set out a circle of chairs and invite the group to sit.

• Encourage the participants to choose a song from the Carole King Playlist.

• Observe the participants response to the music and encourage them to take lead as they listen by following mirroring their actions, movements and musical choices. This may be focused on one individual’s response or you may take elements from each group member.

• Encourage humming, singing along, clapping hands, clicking, tapping feet, drumming and rhythm or beat on knees or a surface, waving or swaying along.

• Afterwards, encourage the participants to reflect on how the music made them feel.

Extension - Exploring the discipline of Actor-Musician • Offer handheld instruments, such as shakers or tambourines. These can be used to develop and add additional layers to the song.

• Discuss how this can add to the music and how it may be a challenge to multitask across disciplines such as music, singing, dancing and acting.

Drama - Devise a biographical monologue or spoken word “Tapestry was the first album I ever brought.” “My inspirational music teacher, Mr Thomas, at secondary school, would send me home and say ‘listen to Natural Woman’ or ‘So Far Away and come back tomorrow and play it without music’. So I did, so I learnt to train my ear to play her music.” “Carole King for me, I suppose because she was a woman, and she was a trailer blazer. To be able to recreate that music and that groove and that excitement, the way she played, it made it very special so that’s why it’s special to me.”

Sarah Travis, Music Supervisor

Activities 35 Ask participants, is there a song, album, film or show that changed their life course? Take inspiration and discuss the pathway this specific material led the participant to in life. Key questions include; • How did it make them feel?

• What was the wider impact of the material in their life, did specific quotes or lyrics stay with them?

• Some context about their life at that point?

• Any nostalgia relating to that moment in time?

From this discussion, write some of the key outcomes down, and structure them into a short monologue or spoken word. Participants can take turns in sharing their devised text with the rest of the group.

Dance - Group Chair-based Dance For both these activities, complete a chair-based physical warm up beforehand. Set the chairs up in a circle with at least a meter between each to allow space for movement.

• Group Choreography As a group, choose a song from the linked Carole King Playlist. Ask each member of the group to choreograph a movement of their choice while the song is playing. You can give prompts such as using your arms, hangs, feet or tapping. When the song finishes, collate each individuals chosen move, and piece together to create a routine. Perform routine back as a whole group. This can be done with or without props.

• Favourite Song In a group setting, ask each member of the group to take a turn as the leader. The leader can start by choosing a song, perhaps prompt them with a nostalgia question of a song that changed their life or their favourite song from a key moment in time. Encourage them to dance creatively and freely to the song as it plays, and ask the rest of the group to mirror or follow along with their choreography throughout the song. The leader can then share why they chose that song, and in turn each member of the group has a chance to share their choice of song and memory that accompanies that.

Questions to stimulate conversation • Do you have a favourite Carole King Song?

• Do you have a favourite song by The Shirelles or The Drifters?

• Was there a song or album that impacted your life?

• If your life was a film, what film would it be?

• Is this music you would like to dance to? What is your favourite music to dance to?

• What songs do you like to sing along to?

• Did you ever dance to The Locomotion? Can you tell me about it?

Photograph: Pamela Raith

Photograph: Pamela Raith