Beautiful: The Carole King Musical OR How to Write a Hit Song with the Help of a Library Book

Before Carole King’s songs were recorded by Aretha Franklin, The Monkees and Amy Winehouse, before she released her chart-topping, mega-selling album Tapestry, and before she was named a 2015 Kennedy Center honoree, she was a teenage mother in Brooklyn, struggling to make a living in the music business.

She was—and remains—brilliant, though at 18 that brilliance had yet to be acknowledged. But she was also resourceful, as I discovered in her earnest and engaging memoir, A Natural Woman, and the more gossipy Girls Like Us. She had moxie.

The young mother was determined to write a string arrangement for a bold new song she and her lyricist husband, Gerry Goffin, were working on, though she had no experience. As a childhood friend recalls in Girls Like Us, “I came over to Carole’s house and she was sitting at the kitchen table, writing the score . . . using a book she checked out of the library, How to Write for Strings. She taught herself from a library book!”

The song, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” became a No. 1 hit for the Shirelles. (And yes, it featured King’s first string arrangement, written with the aid of a library book.)

It’s one of the many classic King songs in the musical Beautiful, which runs through February 21 at the Oriental Theatre. The current cast stars Chicagoland native Abby Mueller as King, the role her younger sister, Jessie, originated on Broadway.

Though King’s life contains enough drama for several musicals, Beautiful focuses on her early years, concluding with a triumphant Carnegie Hall concert following the release of Tapestry. Cast album standouts include the urban idyll, “Up on the Roof,” the rollicking “One Fine Day,” and Mueller’s soulful, dramatic interpretation of “It’s Too Late,” with shades of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple in her delivery—it’s more a declaration of independence than elegy for a failed marriage.

If you’re unfamiliar with King’s music or eager to reacquaint yourself, Tapestry is a great starting point. The 1971 album contains many of her most popular songs, including “You’ve Got a Friend,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and “I Feel the Earth Move.”

My favorite album, though, is The Legendary Demos, recorded in the early to mid-1960s. King was a young pianist who inspired many a young woman to rock out at the piano, and she lets loose here. I especially love the jazzier version of “It’s Too Late” with its adventurous chord changes and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” with King’s glorious harmonizing. The latter is a pop masterpiece with upbeat music by King and often cynical lyrics by her soon-to-be ex-husband. It’s both hummable and haunting, and my current favorite Carole King song.

What’s your favorite?