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Rousuck's Review: "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" at Hippodrome

Julia Knitel as Carole King in "Beautiful"
Photo by Joan Marcus
Julia Knitel as Carole King in "Beautiful"

Julia Knitel as Carole King in "Beautiful"
Credit Photo by Joan Marcus
Julia Knitel as Carole King in "Beautiful"

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuckjoins us every Thursday with her reviews of local and regional productions. This week, she's here with her take on Beautiful – The Carole King Musical , the touring-company production of the Broadway hit that's now on stageatHippodrome Theatre through Sunday, January 29th.   Beautiful tells the story of King’s extraordinary rise to stardom.  It follows the arc of that career from the late 1950sto the early1970s:  from her role in a hit songwriting team with husband GerryGoffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. We watch King's emergence as one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.  Featuring an inspiring litany of treasured songs written by GerryGoffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “ You’ve got A Friend” and the title song,Beautifulhas a book by Tony Award®-nominee and Academy Award®-nominated writer Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, and choreography by Josh Prince. The musical has won two 2014 Tony Awards® and a 2015 Grammy® Award.Beautiful - the Carole King Musical runs through Sunday, January 29th at Hippodrome Theatre. 

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Host, Midday (M-F 12:00-1:00)
J. WynnRousuckhas been reviewing theater for WYPR's Midday (and previously, Maryland Morning) since 2007. Prior to that, she was the theater critic of The Baltimore Sun, where she reviewed more than 3,000 plays over the course of 23 years. Her feature coverage for The Sun included a comprehensive series chronicling the development of the Tony Award-winning musical, “Hairspray.” Judy got her start at The Cleveland Press and at Cleveland’s fine arts radio station,WCLV. Her broadcasting experience also includes a year as an on-air theater critic for Maryland Public Television.A member of the Artistic Advisory Committee of Young Audiences of Maryland, Judy is also a freelance teacher for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and the Hippodrome Foundation, Inc. (the Hippodrome’s non-profit partner, which focuses on education and outreach). She was a faculty member at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Critics Institute in Waterford, CT, for two decades; she is a former National Endowment for Humanities Journalism Fellow; and she was a visiting student at Brown University (2007-2008), under the mentorship of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Paula Vogel. Judy and her husband, Alan Fink, share their home with two dogs, who enjoy hearing their “Master’s Voice” on WYPR.
Rob Sivak joins the WYPR Maryland Morning team as Senior Producer after a 36-year career at the congressionally funded global broadcaster, Voice of America, where he honed his skills as a news and feature reporter, producer, editor and program host.
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