This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Carole King's songs may not be in Julia Knitel's generational DNA, but she inherited her love of the music from her parents anyway.
Knitel plays the singer-songwriter in the touring show of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical." The show, which opens an eight-performance run Tuesday in Salt Lake City, is the first musical to be performed at downtown's new Eccles Theater.
She understudied the role as part of the Broadway cast for the past 18 months, but says her relationship with King's music is more elemental. (In its 2014 Broadway debut season, the show won two Tonys, including Best Performance by a Leading Actress for Jessie Mueller.)
As the daughter of community theater directors and elementary-school music teachers, she's been listening to King's music all her life. "My parents have excellent taste in music and raised me on James Taylor and Joni Mitchell and The Beatles and The Monkees and Carole King, of course," Knitel says in an interview from the tour's Seattle stopover.
Knitel, at 23, is paired in the touring cast with 20-something Erika Olson, who plays King's songwriting best friend, Cynthia Weil. "The two of them are the youngest Carole and Cynthia we have had," says director Marc Bruni, "but they bring something really fresh to the roles."
Knitel "has found her way into the show in a way that's all her own," the director says. "Julia brings such joy to the part. Her vocal quality is very much in tune with Carole's music, and she's an extremely facile actress. She makes you believe this heartbreak she's going through is real."
"Beautiful" is a jukebox musical (with a book by Oscar-nominated screenwriter and playwright Douglas McGrath) following King from her days as a shy 16-year-old Brooklyn striver through her years of songwriting collaboration with husband Gerry Goffin and their friendly rivalry with the songwriters Weil and her husband, Barry Mann.
The heartbreak of her failed marriage leads to King's 1971 solo album, "Tapestry," the best-selling album that became the soundtrack of a generation. The musical ends by depicting King's success in her first live concert, which just happened to be at Carnegie Hall, and featured harmonies by her friend James Taylor.
"The goal of this show was to tell a very compelling story and to give people a window into an artist they think they knew," Bruni says.
Tour audiences respond enthusiastically because "these songs have embedded themselves into our culture," he adds.
In one scene, King goes to the piano to work out the lyrics to "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" When the actor plays the first few notes, the moment prompts a collective sigh from the audience, "and it happens every night, every time I've seen this show," Bruni says.
The musical's first act is "a zippy hit parade," according to San Francisco Chronicle's Lily Janiak, while the New York Times' Ben Brantley summarized "Beautiful" this way: "The show proceeds to chart (and chart is the word) a bumpy road to stardom, song by song by song."
Knitel says her Carole King has more of a spunky personality, as all of the actors who have played the role have been asked to not impersonate the singer, but to respect her iconic songs. "I've been given permission to make young Carole a little goofier then I've seen her play in the past."
That suits the actor, a New Jersey native who dropped out of high school at 16 after earning a role in the Broadway revival of "Bye Bye Birdie." "Singing 'So Far Away' has had a new meaning for me," Knitel says. "She actually wrote that song when she was on tour away from her children. I understand it now in an entirely new way."
On the road, Knitel and Olson are roommates who choose to stay in private rentals, rather then hotels, so they can cook their own meals. Bonding in the kitchen has strengthened their onstage chemistry.
In one scene at the top of Act 2, for example, the two characters share a sad moment. "It's a very honest moment, a nice way to check in and connect onstage," Knitel says. "It's different every night because it's fueled by the things we've actually talked about that day."
Knitel, who calls the role a behemoth, says she doesn't get tired of singing songs such as "Natural Woman" and the title song. And yes, before she took on the role full time, she met the singer in passing in the hallway of the Broadway theater during the show's 1,000th performance.
"She's such a singular human," Knitel says. "I don't think anybody else has come along in my lifetime who has such an ability to convey what she can through music. She stays humble and kind and puts herself last, to a fault."
Feel like a 'Natural Woman'?
The national tour of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" plays Salt Lake City.
When • Tuesday-Thursday, Nov. 15-17, 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, 8 p.m; Saturday matinee, Nov. 19, 2 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 20, 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Running time • 2 hours and 25 minutes, with one intermission
Where • Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City
Tickets • $45-$95 (plus fees of about $12); limited availability at 801-355-2787 or arttix.org