Molly-Grace Cutler will star as Carole King in a new U.K. tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, alongside Tom Milner as Gerry Goffin, Seren Sandham-Davies as Cynthia Wil, and Jos Slovick as Barry Mann. The new staging, directed by Nikolai Foster and featuring choreography from Leah Hill, is a co-production between Curve Leicester (where Foster is artistic director), Theatre Royal Bath Productions, and Mayflower Theatre Southampton.
Also in the cast are Garry Robson as Don Kirshner and Claire Greenway (Sister Act in the West End) as Genie Klein. Rounding out the ensemble will be Naomi Alade, Kemi Clarke, Chris Coxon, Amena El-Kindy, Louise Francis, Dylan Gordon-Jones, Jessica Jolleys, Sorrel Jordan,Myles Miller, Peter Mooney, Adrien Spencer, and Kevin Yates. Dan de Cruz is the production's on-stage musical director.
Go inside rehearsals for the upcoming production below:
Molly-Grace Cutler
Kemi Clarke, Louise Francis, Naomi Alade, Amena El-Kindy, and Adrien Spencer
Tom Milner and Molly-Grace Cutler
Myles Miller, Molly-Grace Cutler, and Tom Milner
Kemi Clarke, Claire Greenway, Molly-Grace Cutler, and Sorrel Jordan
Seren Sandham-Davies and Jos Slovick
Claire Greenway, Naomi Alade, and Kevin Yates
Naomi Alade, Louise Francis, Adrien Spencer, and Amena El-Kindy
Molly Grace-Cutler and Tom Milner
Naomi Alade
Myles Miller
Louise Francis
Dylan Gordon-Jones and Kevin Yates
Dylan Gordon-Jones
Paul Sawtell and Sarah Travis
Stacey McCarthy
Richard Lodge
Dan de Cruz
Seren Sandham-Davies, Garry Robson, and Jos Slovick
Peter Mooney, Garry Robson, and Jos Slovick
Naomi Alade and Leah Hill
Molly-Grace Cutler and Sorrel Jordan
Leah Hill, Jennifer Lane Baker, and Nikolai Foster
Adrien Spencer, Jessica Jolleys, and Chris Coxon
Beautiful begins performances at Curve Leicester February 28, with a press night planned for March 3. Following the Leicester run, the production moves on to Theatre Royal Bath March 17-26, Theatre Royal Brighton March 29-April 2, Festival Theatre Edinburgh April 5-9, Southampton's Mayflower Theatre April 12-16, Newcastle Theatre Royal April 19-23, Orchard Theatre Dartford April 26-30, Malvern Theatres May 3-7, Cambridge Arts Theatre May 10-21, and Cardiff's New Theatre May 24-28.
The production will feature new orchestrations by Grammy winner Steve Sidwell and arrangements and musical supervision by Sarah Travis, a 2006 Tony winner for her actor-musician orchestrations for the John Doyle-helmed Sweeney Todd. Also on the creative team are set designer Frankie Bradshaw, costume designer Edd Lindley, lighting designer Ben Cracknell, and sound designer Tom Marshall. Casting is by Kay Magson. Tarik Frimpong will be associate choreographer, with Jennifer Lane Baker serving as associate director.
Inspired by the life and award-winning music of Carole King and featuring a book by Douglas McGrath, Beautiful premiered on Broadway in 2014, winning Jessie Mueller a Tony Award for her performance as King. Helmed by Marc Bruni, the production opened in London's West End in 2015, and has toured both the U.S. and U.K. in the years since. Foster's production will be the first new staging to tour the U.K. since a tour of the original production was forced to close prematurely due to the pandemic in 2020.
