Katie Brayben Cast as Carole King in Beautiful

Katie Brayben will play Carole King in Beautiful. Photo: Craig Sugden

Katie Brayben has been cast as Carole King in the West End production of Beautiful - The Carole King Musical which opens at the Aldwych Theatre in February next year.

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical is the untold story of her journey from school girl 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. Along the way, she became one of the most successful solo acts in music history, and wrote the soundtrack to a generation.

Alan Morrissey will play King's husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, with Lorna Watt as song-writer Cynthia Weill, Glynnis Barber as Genie Klein, King's mother, and Gary Trainor as music publisher and producer Don Kirshner. Further casting will be announced shortly.

Katie Brayben is currently playing Princess Diana in King Charles III at the Wyndham’s Theatre and previously was seen in American Psycho: A new musical thriller at the Almeida Theatre. Her other theatre credits include Joking Apart for Nottingham Playhouse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ragtime for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, 13 for the National Theatre, Company for Southwark Playhouse, Return to the Forbidden Planet on tour in the UK and Mamma Mia! both in the West End and on tour internationally. The screen credits include Vera and This Way Out.

With a cast of 26 and an orchestra of 12, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical features the Carole King classics including So Far Away, It Might As Well Rain Until September, Take Good Care of my Baby, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Up on the Roof, Locomotion, One Fine Day, You’ve Got a Friend, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and I Feel the Earth Move, along with hits like You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway and Uptown from songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Multi award-winning Carole King 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. In a first for a female singer/songwriter, King’s album Tapestry won all three of the 1971 key Grammy Awards—record, song and album of the year. The same year King also won the Grammy for Best Female Vocalist. With more than 25 million records sold, Tapestry remained the best-selling album by a female artist for a quarter of a century. More than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles and 6 Grammy awards.

The two-time Tony award-winning Beautiful - The Carole King Musical continues at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway where it opened on 12 January this year and has subsequently become one of Broadway’s top selling shows, playing to capacity houses.

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