Beautiful – Carole King The Musical

Lorna Want and Ian McIntosh in Beautiful

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, the untold story of the legendary singer’s journey from school girl to superstar, opened at London’s Aldwych Theatre earlier this year.

It was nominated for eight Olivier Awards, winning two at last month’s ceremony for Katie Brayben in the title role and Lorna Want as Cynthia Weil, who along with her partner Barry Mann became Carole King’s songwriting peers and best friends. Also included in the Olivier nominations was Ian McIntosh’s performance as Mann in the Best Supporting Role in a Musical catagory. The show includes some of their songs, such as Up On The Roof and On Broadway.

I left this drawing of Lorna and Ian in their respective roles at the theatre and it came back, signed and dedicated. Beautiful!

Katie Brayben

West End’s newest leading lady, Katie Brayben, has just been nominated for an Olivier Award for her role as the legendary singer songwriter Carole King in Beautiful – the Carole King Musical.

Katie’s nod for Best Actress in a Musical is one of eight for the show, “I am absolutely over the moon,” she told Digital Spy.

Katie doesn’t read reviews, so in case she’s reading this, I won’t spoil it for her, other than to say her Olivier nomination would have the unanimous support of all the critics.

One of the most successful songwriters in pop music history, Carole King’s life story has been transformed into a hit Broadway musical, with 7 Tony nominations, winning Best Leading Actress for Jessie Mueller.

Carole was one of Katie’s idols and actually appeared at the curtain call on the press night. When Katie was signing my sketch at the stage door after Saturday’s matinee, I asked her if she knew Carole would be there and she said, “no, if I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to do it!”