Home Show Beautiful 2019

A
This is beautiful, what is that, Elvis?
If you are hearing the sound of my voice, it means you are greatly appreciated because
you check out the Clubhouse podcast, you are one stop shop for all things pop culture, live
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stuff I found out this week, or this past week, because it's time for another home show,
gonna do another home show, it's a home show.
Number 468, for those of you playing the home game, welcome, my name is Rob on the executive
producer of the Clubhouse podcast, and are things better the second time around?
You're gonna find out in this episode, joining me in the studio in the co-host chair is
a man that I think just just now caught his breath.
He is Alex, welcome sir, I don't know if I fully caught it, how long have you been working
on that intro, the combination, since we got to the studio, that's it, I very rarely
prepared, that broke me, the combination between your smooth, smooth sing and the, that's
beautiful, my smooth sailing if you will, whatever we do one of these is to review something,
and this is no exception, another great time had at the Windspir Opera House, because
beautiful, the Carol Kane musicals back in town, and we want to send a shout out to everybody
at the AT&C Performing Arts Center, the Windspir Opera House is such an amazing place
to see a show, and all of Cindy and everybody over there is so great to us, and we cannot
thank them enough for just being awesome.
So I said the second time around, and this is true, if you saw our Instagram post the
night before we recorded this, or even you see the description of this episode, it's been
almost three years to the day, since beautiful it was in town last, you don't like that
about the shows though, where they'll give it time to breathe, oh, and they did, Charlotte
Kane with me the last time, and when she found out this was back on the docket, she said
I am calling dibs, and one of my sister calls dibs, there's only one person that can,
has veto power over that, and she lives in this house, and she said nope, I'm good, and
you can take Charlotte.
This is based on the life of the great singer songwriter, Carol Kane, who many people
know as the mastermind behind the tapestry album, which from what I have read is the very
first album to be covered track by track in history, in the mid-90s it was called tapestry
revisited, and I have it, and it's amazing, like so far away done by Rod Stewart, Amy
Grant does, it's too late, wow, Blessed Union of Souls is on there, way over Yonder's
what they do, Richard Marks does beautiful, Celine Dion does, you make me feel like a natural
woman, BB and CC Winons, and Aretha Franklin do, you've got a friend, wow, yeah, it's
pretty, that's a stack, tapestry's done by all for one, and the 90s hit R&B combo eternal
it does, I feel the earth move, but it's great all the way through, and this is one of
the great albums of our time, and hearing the range of artists that were working on this
should tell you enough of this, and there's even more than that, it's just ones I know
off the top of my head, yeah, but when you go all the way to the point of like pulling
out Blessed Union of Souls, you need to know their cover, I am as well, but and people know
her for tapestry, but what they don't understand is the number of songs she wrote, and the musical
begins when she was 16, and in her freshman year of college, because as they, as well
documented, she skipped two grades, and she is trying to sell her first song, and she
winds, it's turned down like 12 times, and she winds up in the office of one Don Kirschner,
who buys her first song, and gives her her first big break, but she's basically known
as a composer, and she meets a cool kid by the name of Jerry Goffin, who ends up being
her partner in life and in music for many, many years, and just to run down some of the
songs that they wrote, you're looking at stuff like, will you love me, will you still
love me tomorrow, stuff like up on the roof, the locomotion, oh god, you know, one fine
day, Pleasant Valley Sunday, they wrote, they wrote, you know what's really funny is
hearing these, and not being as familiar with Carol King, but knowing the music, but not
knowing the attachment, how many songs did she write that just wound up becoming like
a theme song in the name of a movie, oh dozens, the list is long and distinguished, and
then there you also have, Cynthia Whale and Barry Mann, who were their best friends slash
co-workers, slash professional rivals, and they wrote things like, you've lost that
love and feeling on Broadway, but it's about Carol King and her journey, and now the
first time this came through town, the young lady that played Carol King was the sister
of the girl that originated the role on Broadway, and destroyed, I mean, destroyed.
So the bar was pretty highly set, and going in, I really didn't want to do a lot of research
because I didn't want to remember if it's the same cast, and in terms of this is a new
cast, this go around Carol King is played by Sarah Bockel, I feel like I've heard that
name before.
She's actually toured with the company before, but she was an ensemble member of the first
go around, let's see what else is she done, she did a million dollar quartet in Chicago,
she understudied for some productions of Les Mizz, let's see, she went to Illinois Wesley
in University, so I wonder if I happen to catch her doing a part of a million dollar quartet.
You may have, she's amazing, because as much as strong of a supporting cast as we have
here, and it's pretty strong, this is her show, right, and when you have a focus like
the individual, you need a talent that stands out like that, and what I really dug about
her performance is it's not like this actress played her at 16, this actress played her
at 30, she played the same all the way through, she played Carol at every point in her life.
Did they do any adjustment to her appearance?
Of course, yes.
I didn't know if it was one of those where it was just this is the person we're going
follow her.
But she nails it.
Great.
I mean, from mannerisms to diction, to performance, to everything, she envelops Carol King.
And you feel her pain when she wants you to feel her pain, and you feel her joy when
she wants you to feel her joy.
And for me, the, the moment that I was waiting for, which was my favorite moment when I saw
it the first time, because not a lot of people know that you make me feel like a natural
woman almost didn't make the album.
Really?
She didn't want to put it on there.
She's like, we have enough.
And it was her producer, Lou Adler, who was like, just give me one take, see where it
takes you.
Because at this time, she was still trying to heal from her, from her, from her marriage.
Okay.
And this is, this is just a song that's so much different than the rest of that album.
They're like, no, we want to song it's going to celebrate, love it for sight and things
like that.
And she's like, okay, we'll do one take.
And it gave me chills the first time I saw it.
Because that song is a masterpiece, in my opinion.
Okay.
You can get Aretha Franklin to sing your song.
And she destroys it as she does.
And Celine Dion's cover is also amazing to hear someone do it in the style of Carol King
because it's a little bit less soulful, but it's still powerful.
That was the moment I was waiting for this go round.
And I told Charlotte that going in.
And would you say it delivered?
Absolutely.
Like, did it raise the bar for you?
I will say it raised the bar.
It was on par.
And that was my thing with this production of it.
It wasn't better.
It wasn't worse.
The vibe was just different.
And maybe it's because I had seen it before and I knew what was coming.
But one of the things I really dig about the way this musical is written is when they
start to write a song, whether it's Cynthia and Barry or it's Jerry and Carol.
As they start to write a song, it morphs itself into that artist taking the stage and doing
the song.
That's really cool.
Whether it's the drifters, whether it's the charelles, whether it's the righteous brothers.
You know, it's really cool the way they do this.
And it just, and it works so well.
And one of the things I didn't know that the charelles, you know, will you still love
me tomorrow?
Basically Don went to both couples and said, you have to write something for the charelles.
First one wins.
First one finished or the first one that gives him a good song wins.
Okay.
So they write, will you see the love me tomorrow?
Then bring it to the charelles and the charelles are like, look, we need this to be bigger
because this is just too, too teeny-bopper for us.
Do something different with it or we're not recording it.
And Carol came up with the idea of putting strings to it and they said, can you get it done
tomorrow?
She's like, well, absolutely.
And then Jerry says, well, what do you want to do?
She's like, we need to go to the library.
He's like, why the library?
She's like, because I got to get a book on how to write string arrangements.
So it's just so well executed on every level, yes, sir.
So you said it's on par, just very different.
I would say very different.
It's just different.
Well, it's just different, but you do have a very high opinion of the first time you
saw it because it really got you.
Is there a potential that this is one of those where distance made the heart grow fonder?
Like you hadn't seen it and you built it up in your mind because let's be honest, not
everything we see is great, so a really good one is.
I would say no, because I wouldn't say technically they didn't do anything different, technically
everything's exactly the same, but the set design and execution is top notch.
It's gorgeous.
It's really well put together.
It's not real complex.
There's no big video walls.
Everything is practical.
The opening scene where she, well, the second scene, because the opening scene is, because
it flashes back.
It starts with her carnagey hall and then flashes back to when she was 16.
So you're opening for the narrative, basically?
Correct.
Okay.
I will tell, and I'm not going to ruin it, but when you see her at 16 and living room
with her mom and she's trying to convince her mom that she can go to Times Square and
she turns on Bandstand.
It's one of those moments that, because it's a very popular song that they play, and
as this scene progresses, I went, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, well, that's a thing.
Okay.
And I don't want to ruin it because I want people to see this, but it's a very subtle
moment, but it kind of takes, it's kind of like what we call a comedic grenade where
you throw it and you hit and you wait.
Yeah.
It is like, and I'll tell you off again.
I think you got your comedic time bomb where you're just waiting for the fuse to light.
I'll tell you off there.
Okay.
But this thing is amazing, and it's completely worth time, and the longer it goes and
the more songs that come out, I just sat there and was just like, I'm just going to take
this all in because this is some of my favorite music, and to say, and I said this in my written
review, currently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
That's our website.
To say like something, oh, this is the soundtrack of my life, like this is literally the soundtrack
of her life, you know, and if you, even if you're not a person of a certain age, you'll
know at least a handful of these songs, right, and that's what I was alluding to before
of how many of the tracks that are attributed to her wound of becoming movies.
So someone say for me may have not been, let's say, in my prime at that point, but I still
recognize it being used because we all have those songs that are so good that they hang
on in different variations, so we all know.
Well, you think about like, you've got a friend, which that song wrecks me anyway.
But people know that, you know, she wrote it, James Taylor just made a popular, right?
The locomotion, if you're a person of a younger age, you know, Kylie Minogue, that was her
first big hit in the 80s.
Right.
You know, and it's just, you've lost that love and feeling.
If you've seen Top Gun, you know where I'm going.
You don't even have to.
If you've no Top Gun exists, you know, that's long.
Which oddly enough, not originally released on the soundtrack of Top Gun.
It was not on the soundtrack until they did the 20th anniversary edition, because people
make bad decisions sometimes.
Well, that wasn't on there, and great balls of fire wasn't on there either, originally.
Because I had to cassette, it was the first cassette I ever bought.
I have a feeling that I think there's a story behind the great balls of fire, like they
couldn't get it for some reason.
I forget.
That's weird, but it is what it is.
Anything else you need to know?
Well, I'm very curious to know.
So a lot of times when you see shows that are so similar, you tend to fall into a lull
at different points where you know what's coming.
Did you have any lulls on this second go around?
I did not, because I was waiting for the next songs to come.
I was fully engaged.
So you already had that internal clock, like when we did back in the day, when we had CDs
and cassettes, we knew what was coming next, and it starts playing in your head before
it really hits.
You had that go.
I mean, the show opens with so far away that her playing at Carnegie Hall ends.
That song is so gorgeously written and so wonderful.
And you can tell the cast really loves the material they're working with.
It's just...
And that resonates.
Absolutely.
And especially in a beautiful room like the Wind Spear Opera House, it's just...
If you are a person that loves music, there's no way you won't get something out of this.
It's just not possible.
And in the age of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man, make this into a movie.
I would be totally okay with it.
I could see that.
Just don't screw it up.
That's my whole thing.
Do it right.
Well, that's the hard part.
Do it right.
That's my whole thing.
Because this is such a great...
Her story is so powerful and seeing her writing evolve and how it layers itself, you
know, no pun intended with tapestry, but and how it evolves to the point where she writes
tapestry.
I would like to see because they don't really go into that.
They allude to the process, but I would like to see a deeper dive into that because
that album is so singular and so amazing and works on so many levels.
Do you think that it...
Like, how long does the production run?
With the intermission two and a half hours.
So that's pretty brief.
It can be too long.
It's a standard.
But what I'm saying is for something that could have that much more, do you think they
hit a point on the clock and they're like, you know what?
Everybody likes tapestry.
We don't need to go into it.
No, I think that I just think that with tapestry, that would be better suited for the
screen.
Okay.
I'll get you.
Because you would definitely hit a low, I think, in trying to tell that story.
It's Jackson being Jackson again, over there.
I was trying to keep it off there, but we people know that we have cats in this house.
Jackson's just...
He's a kitten.
All right, so let's get to the final analysis.
The way we do the final analysis on the show, we're not going to give you thumbs up, thumbs
down.
There's number grades, Grammys, anything like that.
Can I say number grades?
Yes.
Technically, that's right.
Two questions.
Question number one is, would I see this again if the answers know them were done here?
But if the answer is yes, since this is a stage production, the question becomes, where
would I be willing to sit?
Now Rob.
Yes, I'm going to change this up just a little bit for you.
Would you be willing to see beautiful for a third time?
Abs of freaking Lutely.
Well, that sounds already like a ringing endorsement, but how far would you go?
So, Charlene and I were in about the 11th row of this center, almost dead center.
That was perfect.
Because I could see everything, I could take everything in, just get in the building, man.
Just get in the building, because this is not just a musical, it's an experience, and
it's amazing.
It is beautiful.
The Carol King musical currently at the Winsor Opera House, but this is on its North American
tour.
So, catch this if it comes to a city near you, and again, we want to thank everybody at
the AT&T Performing Arts Center, Cindy and everywhere, they're so amazing.
We love our vendors, especially when we can do press nights.
Absolutely.
Makes me feel kind of important.
And on top of it, it's something that you know they care about sharing this.
Oh, they add.
Absolutely.
It was coming up at the Winsor Spirit, not just musicals.
Oh, really?
John Lake was almost coming to town.
They're doing a night with Steve Martin and Martin Short, I believe, coming up in September.
All kinds of cool things, and it's not just the Winsor, it's the Wiley, it's the Khalida
Humphreys, it's their entire network of theaters.
And now they have a partnership with DSM coming up next year, which is going to be awesome
as well.
And it's just amazing community that Dallas shares.
Absolutely.
Make sure you check out our website for all the written reviews and so much more at www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
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The official fact checker of this show is Don Ford.
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You can email me, questions, comments, concerns.
Tell me to go pound sand.
I am Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Chad is Chad at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Charlotte Parker, who was with me last night, and she very much enjoyed it.
You can find her on Pinterest.
Faith is with Don.
She wasn't feeling well last night, so we hope she's feeling better.
Shannon is with Chad, and I know that she's been under the weather, too.
So it seems to be going around.
And Sean is probably just waiting on you, or she's not.
No, she's home and healthy.
Oh, that's good news.
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We appreciate all of you for being a part of the Empire, tell everybody you know about
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So just be ready for it every Sunday night.
So until next time for Alex and the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.
There's plenty of room for Britney Palmer in this.
We need plenty of room, I'm just saying.