Carole King On Broadway

I always admired her. Well, at least since I knew that she had written Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, one of my favorite songs. When her name was still Carole Klein she went to that high school in Brooklyn that was the hotbed of the rock'n roll of the sixties, the James Madison High, where, among others, Phil Spector, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Jeff Barry and Mort Shuman spent their teenage years. Neil Sedaka wrote Oh Carol to charm his cass mate when she was 16. When Carole Klein became pregnant she married her boyfriend and songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin. They left college and took daytime jobs, Goffin working as an assistant chemist and King as a secretary, while writing songs together in the evening at an office belonging to Don Kirshner's Aldon Music at 1650 Broadway opposite the Brill Building. From there, Carole and Gerry fought their way into the record business. By the time Carole reached her twenties, she had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll. But it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice. Her album Tapestry which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks belonged to the soundtrack of my life in the 70's. Now the story of Carole King’s remarkable rise to stardom has been turned into a musical called Beautiful that will open at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Broadway on January 12th, 2014. Previews start on November 21st, 2013.