99¢ per month. Save 90%.
99¢ per month. Save 90%.

Even after defying gravity, 'Beautiful,' Carole King help Kennedy Caughell find her voice

Ilana Keller
Asbury Park Press

It's some kind of wonderful.

"Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" may have just closed on Broadway after a healthy run, but its lessons — and the show itself — lives on.

"I'm just glad that our tour is continuing to carry the torch cause it's such an important message for this time. I think all my friends that I talked to in the Broadway cast, yes, it is sad, but moreso than being sad, we're just all grateful that it happened as long as it did and as wonderful as it did," said Kennedy Caughell, who plays Carole King herself, from the tour's stop in South Bend, Indiana.

Kennedy Caughell, Kathryn Boswell, James Michael Lambert and James D. Gish star in "Beautiful," which hits the State Theatre in New Brunswick this weekend.

"Beautiful" hits the State Theatre in New Brunswick from Nov. 8 to 10. 

Caughell has a long history with "Beautiful," understudying the title role as well as other parts on Broadway.

"It's been really quite a gift because I got to study under some of what I think are the best Carole Kings that have been and understudy them and now I get to try my own hand at it. It's so much fun," she said. "Now I am the role so now I have to really make sure that I am respecting and homaging her life and what came before, while bringing part of myself to make it truthful."

Stay with for all things entertainment and much more. Download our app and consider a subscription to ensure you don't miss a thing!

She also says living in the role full time has given her freedom to dig much deeper.

More:Princesses and ingenues: Plus-size actresses fight for turn in spotlight

"Sometimes with understudying you get thrown on and you don't have much time to prepare, or especially the first time you go on as an understudy. Your job is to make sure you say all the right lines, sing all the right things, you know, get a little bit of acting in and make sure that you are right where you need to be for safety and making sure other people are getting what they need.

Kennedy Caughell stars as Carole King in "Beautiful," which is coming to the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

"But when you're the role, you can kind of live in it a little and you can settle and breathe life into her in a whole new way where the pressure is off because you're doing it eight times a week and you're not doing another track and then jumping in. As an understudy, sometimes it's few and far between when you do get to go on. So when you jump in, you have all those nerves and there's a lot of safety factors and specific things like prop-wise, you have to make sure you hit for the other actors in the show. But now I can relax into it. It's great."

More:'Come From Away,' fluffy lamb Loukoumi team up to change the world

Caughell has met King, and calls her "a magical human."

"So much of her life is inspirational in the way that you don't have to be stuck to the rules around you. You can succeed in a world that other people would think you can't. She was a woman who succeeded in a man's world, but she would never say 'I succeeded in a man's world as a woman.' She was like, 'I didn't think of it as a man's world or a woman's world. I just said, Hey, I could do that. Why not me?' And having that kind of  innocent confidence in yourself that tells you you can, that's so rare, especially in that era."

Caughell says even through's King's struggles, she maintained what is most important.

"How to be kind even when it's hard. I don't want to give away much of anything because (the show) does go into some pretty deep subjects about her life and her marriage. But she perseveres even through that in kindness and love first, which I think is more courageous than being mean," she said.

The Shirelles in "Beautiful," which hits the State Theatre in New Brunswick this weekend.

Caughell has played other strong women, including Elphaba in "Wicked" on tour. She says playing King takes a different kind of strength that stretches her versatility.

More:Magic of 'Frozen' keeps inspiring its stars, audiences ... and me

"I've always played fierce belting women characters. Obviously with Elphaba the main part is your voice. Can you sing? Can you sing that material and sing it eight shows a week and wow audiences as you're flying and defying gravity, you know, like reaching heights with your voice.

Kennedy Caughell and James D. Gish in "Beautiful," which hits the State Theatre in New Brunswick this weekend.

"But I think the beauty of Carole King is that she reaches these great heights, but it's not about her prowess, it's about her heart. And it's about her creativity and her longing to continue to create with other artists and how much she loves the people around her that speaks to her life. And so I'm not able to hide behind my voice in this role. I have to tell the story, which has grown me in so many ways."

"Beautiful" plays five performances at the State Threatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, from Nov. 8 to 10. For tickets and more information, visit

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacy and education, theater fundraisers and more through her column, "Sightlines." Her "about me" fact during icebreakers will always be that she rode a roller coaster with the original cast of "Hamilton." Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; 732-643-4260;