Beautiful The Carole King Musical now on stage at MusicalFare to March 24 is, indeed, beautiful in every way. It celebrates the early days of Carole King’s illustrious career, first as a songwriter with her husband Gerry Goffin and then as a solo singer-songwriter. She was – and still is – an icon in pop music.

STOP: By the time you finish reading this review, you may miss your opportunity, so go to www.musicalfare.com right now to grab your tickets.

OK, resume reading now.

Part jukebox musical and part overview of how pop music was made back in the day, Beautiful features a cast of 18 with a superb back up band led by music director Theresa Quinn.

It’s the young and ambitious Carole who opens the show by nudging mom (Debbie Pappas Sham) away from the family’s upright piano so she can finish writing the song she wants to ‘sell’ to storied producer Don Kirshner (John Kaczorowski). He knows a pop hit when he hears it and soon makes space in his stable of writers for Carole and boyfriend-about-to-be-husband Goffin. They start churning out the hits for the biggest names in ‘60s pop. Along the way they meet rivals/best pals Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann where they grow as artists and then grow apart as a couple.

Maria Pedro and Sean Ryan are out front as King and Goffin and they shine. Gretchen Didio and Josh Wilde are Weil and Mann with the perfect combination of peppy and nebbish. I loved this dynamic. The rest of the cast are the radio stars who made these songs soar. David P. Eve, Jake Hayes, El Tyner, and Derrian Brown are The Drifters with that cool sound, snappy wardrobe and precision choreography.  Brett Jackson and Marc Sacco (love how their voiceparts cross) are the Righteous Brothers with Jackson doing double duty as Neil Sedaka. Lily Jones, Janae Leonard, Timiyah Love, and Ember Tate are the Shirelles. Sacco comes back as Lou Adler, the producer who made King’s 1971 album Tapestry the staple in every teen girl’s record collection. King’s legacy endures but this story stops telling at Tapestry’s rise to fame, when King is empowered by confidence as an artist and a performer.

Director Randy Kramer must have had a blast with this cast and crew. Dyan Burlingame built a set that took you back to the funky shapes and colors of the era. The sisters Drozd nailed the look with Kari’s teeny bopper chic and granny gowns for Carole and sophisticated stylings for Cynthia and shiny satins for the performers, and Susan’s hairdos from curly to sleek.

Sound was paramount here and Chris Cavanagh had it all in good balance. For once I was glad to not have his clever projections: this was a show about people and their music and the staging and music was all your needed to revel in this experience.

Am I overselling? Nope.  Just get a ticket and before the overture is over, you’ll say to yourself “Something Tells Me I’m Into Something Good.”

Beautiful The Carole King Musical runs a little more than two hours with an intermission. And I’m serious about grabbing your tickets now. Don’t wait until “It’s Too Late.”