It’s not too late, baby, for one more: ‘Beautiful’ at Drury Lane Oakbrook

Samantha Gershman. Photo by Brett Beiner.

Drury Lane’s go at “Beautiful” is the latest production of the Carole King bio-musical in Chicagoland after both Marriott and Paramount had their turn. It’s understandable if the discerning theatergoer feels somewhat fatigued, but there’s more than enough going on in Oakbrook Terrace to recommend theirs as more than just easy listening.

The already-intimate house is made even snugger by Misha Kachman’s curtain of acoustic rugs, in front of which director Jane Lanier effectively stages most of the show. It’s less like Carnegie Hall, more like the glorified cubbies where, in the Sixties, King and her lyricist husband Gerry Goffin wrote pop hits with the regularity of an assembly line but with a sophistication and maturity well beyond the “be-bop-a-lulas” of the prior decade. Surprisingly, the smaller pit band (music direction by Carolyn Brady; arrangements by Carey Deadman; conducted by Chris Sargent) further underscores the artistry orchestration can bring to a tune that we’ve just heard banged out on an upright piano seconds before.

Samantha Gershman and Alex Benoit do well as King and Goffin, respectively, the latter as he learns success can prove to be its own kind of cage and the former as she learns to quite literally find her voice and begin performing her own material. As their friendly rival writing team, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Andrew MacNaughton and Alexanda Palkovic prove capable foils to King’s marital storminess (and get the best wisecracks in Douglas McGrath’s otherwise affectionate book).

Carole King’s songbook only gets better the more it’s played. I don’t see how the same shouldn’t apply for “Beautiful.”

Beautiful runs through Mar. 23 at 100 Drury Ln, Oakbrook Terrace. For tickets or more information, please call (630) 530-0111 or visit drurylanetheatre.com.

For more reviews on this or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.