On Tuesday, Feb 22, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical kicked off a six-night stay at the Academy of Music on the Kimmel Cultural Campus.

The musical will remain for five more nights, putting on seven upcoming performances ending on Feb 27. This is the third time the musical has been produced at the Academy of Music.

The production is directed by Marc Bruni, choreographed by Josh Prince, with original music written by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil, and Barry Mann.

Beautiful follows American singer-songwriter and composer Carole King’s rise to notoriety, spanning her early career in the recording industry up to her 1971 performance at Carnegie Hall.

The Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical from Douglas McGrath takes a look at King’s songwriting partnership with Goffin, whom she was once married to, as well as the songwriting duo of Weil and Mann.

Combined, the production features 26 songs written by the famed songwriters. Oftentimes their songs were performed by other artists, prompting consistent chart-topping successes. 

Beautiful carries its tale through a few periods, namely the late 50s, prominently the 1960s, and also the early 1970s — when King first found solo success.

To truly transport the audience, the jukebox musical features imagery, music, furniture, and costuming reminiscent of the time.

This was an intentional decision from the team, which includes costume designer Alejo Vietti, who collaborated with the actors, makeup designers, wig designers, and the rest of the crew to illustrate the characters, match color palettes, and demonstrate the several-decade perspective.

Vietti called it his role to “participate and collaborate with the director, my fellow designers in the storytelling.”

“It’s about me developing the characters. In costume design, character comes first, always,” said Vietti.

Vietti’s role

Alejo Vietti is a native of Argentina. A costume designer, he has designed for numerous on and off-Broadway productions.

Vietti has designed for Beautiful, Holiday Inn, and Allegiance on-broadway, and has worked in a number of theaters such as the Manhattan Theatre Club and the NYC Opera. 

The costume designer is the recipient of the 2010 TDF Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, and an Oliver and Drama Desk nominee. He is also a member of La Gente Network.

Vietti got into costume design about 26 years ago, but it has always been an interest of his.

“It was something I was always passionate about… I thought it would be, kinda, a hobby, but then I decided I wanted to make it a way of living,” said Vietti in conversation with AL DÍA.

The Beautiful designer thought it would be difficult to find costume design work in Argentina, so he moved to New York to pursue a dream of making his love a profession.

Similar to the title role of Beautiful, Vietti’s passion drove his motivation to pursue the arts. The journey was not easy, but reminiscent of many artists' start: the hard work came with achievement.

Vietti had been to New York before, and fell for the city’s theater culture. He knew designers by name, and whose work he enjoyed, but when it came to reaching out, Vietti turned to the phone book.

Slowly, Vietti got responses from designers in the city, and then his first job. Moving from one design job to the next, Vietti crafted a resume through hands-on experience.

One of Vietti’s first shows in New York was a production of Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig. 

When he was getting started, Vietti’s work was somewhat dictated by an American perspective. This did not initially get easier after he gained his citizenship.

“I had to behave professionally… what was expected from me to do as an American or U.S. designer,” said Vietti. “I had to kinda strip a little bit of whatever cultural baggage came with me… have a different approach, more of a Eurocentric or North American in a way.”

In the time since his start, Vietti believes these industry shortcomings and misgivings have changed, and are more welcoming to multicultural perspectives. 

He credits the changes to social justice movements and calls for better representation in the arts, but there is still more work to be done.

“When I was doing Beautiful, someone brought up that I was the only Latino designer represented on Broadway at some point,” said Vietti. “That is astonishing when you think about the Latino population of the country. It’s somewhere between 7-19%. So now, there’s a lot of movements working to change things.”

Vietti names movements such as We See You, White American Theater as proponents of change both on and behind the stage. 

“Creating the awareness of the lack of representation, I think, is a very big step,” said Vietti. “There is a big community of Latino and Latina-descendent performers, designers, technicians that should have the same opportunities as everyone else.”

Experience the illuminating Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Beautiful tells the true story of King’s journey through ever-changing times, the struggles of an early marriage, and the pressures of being an artist.

The musical is full of wit, lessons, uplifting moments, and charm; carried by Sara Shepard as King, James D. Gish as Goffin, Sara King as Weil, and Ryan Farnsworth as Mann.

“This is a fantastic show that has an incredible score,” said Vietti. “Music that… whether you’re American, or Latina, or any other nationality… you know, and songs that somehow have been part of the history of everyone’s life.”

Tickets for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Academy of Music are available online now. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 215-893-1999.

The Kimmel Cultural Campus has a safe & clean commitment. 

Safety procedures are in place at the Academy of Music. The Kimmel Cultural Campus is certified by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), and ranked as gold standard in safety. 

Patrons are required to bring proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, a valid photo I.D., and their own mask.

Remaining showtimes for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical include:

• Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7:30PM
• Thursday, Feb. 24, 7:30PM
• Friday, Feb. 25, 8PM
• Saturday, Feb. 26, 2PM
• Saturday, Feb. 26, 8PM
• Sunday, Feb. 27, 1PM
• Sunday. Feb. 27, 6:30PM