Beautiful Matinee

After church yesterday the lovely Robin and I headed to Cincinnati's Aronoff Center for a matinee performance of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. And everything about it was beautiful: my seatmate (especially), the music, the performances, and the nostalgia.

Julia Knitel and Liam Tobin performed beautifully as Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Understudy Aashley Morgan (that's not a typo) turned in a stellar performance as Cynthia Weil. Ben Fankhauser was excellent as Barry Mann. And everyone else, from the Drifters to the Shirelles and beyond, delighted the crowd. Julia Knitel's vocals reflected Carole King without duplicating her, and while I knew much of the story I still learned a lot and loved the Mann/Weil compositions in the show, which I hadn't expected. The only slight disappointment was the sound quality, at least what reached the first balcony, where Robin and I sat; I've never heard a problem at the Aronoff, so I suspect it wasn't our location but something in the sound design that produced over-modulation and muddiness at times. Except for that, the whole experience was memorable, delightful, and...yes, beautiful.