Beautiful - The Carole King Musical

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's Erica DeLong with Behind the Curtain, and I'm so excited, so beautiful
the Carol King Musical coming to NCTheater. So it's Raleigh Memorial Auditorium at
the Martin mary At A Center forthe Performing Arts. Those tickets are on
sell at NCY Theater dot com Octobertenth through the fifteenth. And I'm excited.
I have Kate and Nick here withme. And you gotta tell everybody
who you are because you're fabulous whenyou walk in the doors, like,

(00:21):
let's be friends. So Kate,yes, tell us all the things because
you've done so much. I evendid a dive into one of your videos
a little time in NYC. Ithink it was very I love it so
I lived in I did, andI was like, she's fabulous. It's
a fourth person to ever watch it. I appreciate you so much. I
love living Live on Broadway and demandwe should share it because it needs more

(00:44):
than four and had way more thanfour views, y'all. That's very sweet
of you. Yes, okay,my name's Kate low Prest. I'm originally
from Chicago, Illinois. I've beenbased in New York City for about twenty
years now. So you're a NewYorker now officially I think so, I
say, char pandemic. Yeah,you survive that I did, I did
and twenty years. So yeah,I always say that. I always say

(01:08):
that Chicago has my heart, butNew York has my guts. Yeah,
it makes you tough. We areNew Yorkers are an interesting breed for sure.
I play Cynthia while in this productionof Beautiful. This is my second
time doing it, and my secondtime doing it with Nick and with a
couple other members of our cast.I'm super super excited about it. I

(01:29):
also work as an acting coach andentertainer, a host, and I have
my own television show called Living SmallNYC, which is about people living in
small spaces in New York City andhow they make it work. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean really small spacesat times. If you've ever seen those
little studio apartments like this is acloset, but you man't work, Yeah,
you might have seen the episode thathappens in Q Gardens, which is

(01:52):
kind of outside of New York City. But my friend Paul's a singer songwriter
and he lives in a studio.They had to airlift that piano in and
out of the apartment in order toget it in there. And yet seriously,
and he inherited some a lot ofhis grandmother's mid century modern furniture.
So he's literally living in like anineteen sixties like it would be Barry in

(02:12):
Cynthia's house for sure, for surein Q gardens with a cat and like
twelve instruments under the bed in thecloset. And I love piano. Yeah,
he's awesome, all right. Andthen you have Barry. Hello,
Barry Man. Well that's not yourNick. It's so it's like, yeah,
you go by both, but thisis your second time as well,
and so you're well versed in likeall things, Barry. Your chemistry is

(02:36):
amazing together. But tell us aboutyou, Nick, Oh gosh. Yeah.
So my name's Nick Molton. I'moriginally from the Woods of New Hampshire
and slash Boston. Uh. Yeah, I've been living in New York for
a little over ten years now.I'm an actor, a musician, mental
wealth excuse me, a mental wellnesshealth advocate, and I'm also a graduate

(02:57):
student studying clinical mental health counseling.I saw that, I was like,
okay, so you're busy too,that's right. Yeah. I also like,
I have a bunch of other venturesas well. Have a freelance mixologist
in New York City. I havea creative director of an app that I'm
currently in development for. So yeah, we don't, we don't stop,
we don't. We just gotta keepkeep running because the minute used to get
tired, you're going to stop.Do you exhaust? Your family and friends

(03:20):
are like how do y'all do this? Like how do you keep up with
oathing? Absolutely? Oh are youkidding me? They're like when, why?
Why are you doing this? AndI was like, you got one
life to live, sweetheart, youbetter about resting when we die one day,
like let's just right go all theway. And we were just talking
about this in the car and Iwas like, I think I'm burnt out.
This is what it feels like.I should drink more coffee. But

(03:43):
then you sit for one day andyou're like, okay, refreshed, ready
to go. Yeah. I wouldsay the turn over times like crazy different
from other people. You know,people are used to like the two day
weekend and you know the occasional threeday weekend, and optimistically we have one
day, yes, So we're justkind of used to a different turnover.
You learned to like love your mornings, love your nighttime. After the show
and you roll through and it's reallyabout like something that I got of the

(04:04):
conversations that I cultivated is about iscultivating that space and time for you,
whatever that means, because everyone's gonnahave a little bit different. Some people
love golf, some people love writing, some people love like bird watching.
Whatever it is for you, you'llfind that thing that fills your cup.
You just need to find it,find the time to do it, and
go outside of your work hours,just like anyone else is. It's just
kind of the opposite of what everyoneelse works. So and married up?

(04:27):
You're married up? What about you? Heck no, okay, now so
good. So you have some freedom. There's a ring on my finger.
It's my niece's name, and Inever got the ring re size to go
on another one, but like sometimesthat's a good thing to feel like I
would not like to have this conversation. Yeah, right now, Well,
how do you manage life balance?You know with traveling and then like you're

(04:48):
doing the show, you're gone forhow many weeks? Now you're gonna be
gone for the shows at three weeks, three weeks, three weeks, and
I just came from another contract,so I had three weeks on I was
in Fort Worth, Texas doing ashow, and then I had a week
off off and then kind of wrappedup a bunch of things in New York
and then now I'm here for threeweeks as well. It's learning to be
transient and knowing how to take homewith you to kind of refill that cup

(05:13):
and separate that time. But definitelywith my partner it's it's you have to
budget that time and say cool,when are you free? She works on
Broadway too, so she's got herown schedule that's extremely demanding, okay,
and so it's really just budgeting thetime. You got to sit down,
like with a calendar and say cool, when are you free? And you
have to budget in and which doesn'tfeel very like No, it's life.

(05:33):
Yeah, that's life. I'm nottraveling anywhere. Me and my husband have
to budget our daily stuff. I'mlike, oh, hey, my name's
Eric, and nice to me.Yeah, I get it. Oh sorry
you. My husband's so beautiful isgoing to be huge, such a beautiful
story. Tell us what we canexpect and how did you get involved with
your role, Like, what madeyou say I need to do this?
Yeah? Yeah, okay, youtake it. Well. When did Beautiful

(05:57):
start on Broadway? Twenty was?Twenty thirteen is when it started, and
then twenty fourteen was when it twentythirteen twenty fourteen is when it originated in
New York, and it had somelife outside of New York and San Francisco
particularly, and then it came toopen up Broadway, I believe September twenty
fourteen fact check. Yeah, butI'm like ninety five per cent sure of

(06:20):
that. I believe you. Yeah. I started auditioning for it from the
very beginning, and it was oneof those things that I would keep going
in and keep going in, andI would just miss it by a little
bit. And then the tour cameand I would miss it for this reason
or that reason, and I waslike, why am I not connecting on
this? Because I It's one ofthose things when you read a script,
sometimes you're very close to your materialand sometimes you're like, Wow, I'm

(06:42):
far from this, but I'm reallyinterested in working on this character. I
remember initially just like reading the scriptand being like, oh, there you
are, Peter and by that,I mean like, oh, there you
are, Kate, Like I feelvery connected to who to her vibe and
even the writing of hers like i'dget this person cut to it didn't.
We didn't actually end up connecting untilwhat was it like eight years later or
something like that, like when Ifinally got to actually step into the show

(07:03):
shoes of doing it. So it'ssomething that's been on my mind and in
my horizons for a long time,but finally connected to be able to do
the role this year, which Ithink we actually got cast in November of
last year, December or something.You know what I like about that too?
You said it was eight years later. Yeah, it just shows like
whatever you're working on in your life, whether it's Broadway or you know,

(07:26):
just don't give up. You justkeep pushing and if you manifest it,
it's going to happen. Like youyou kind of walked into this role even
though it was eight years you know, at a different time. Well,
and they say that, like also, things happen when they're supposed to happen,
and this our production that happened earlierthis year and the group of people
that we got, it's just sucha like strong magical, awesome group of
people, and I was like,Okay, this was I was supposed to

(07:49):
be here right this show, rightnow, with this group of humans,
and we like each other so muchwe were like, let's do it again.
Not really, I mean the kindof like here we are in Raleigh,
like doing it again. And thesepeople have become very close to me
and even my family. Like Ijust had a big birthday party. I
just turned forty and you were there, and Elina was there, and everybody

(08:11):
was invited. Jesse O, ourmusic director, was there and involved,
and so it It's a really greatgroup of and it makes a different on
stage, makes a difference on stagebecause you can kind of really see that
chemistry when you're out there performing.Yeah, definitely, especially with our characters
in the show. Barry Man andCynthia, while are definitely a major focal

(08:33):
part of this story and there Iwould say, unless you're a music file
from like that era, you probablydon't know them, but you know them
because they have. What I wouldlove to say about the show is that
you are going to know almost everysong in the show, if not every
song, you just didn't know whereit came from. Okay, So like
You're Gonna be Oh my god,I love that song. Oh my gosh,

(08:56):
oh my god. That my grandmotherplayed that song when I was growing
up. My mom loves this song. Whatever it is, you're gonna have
it. I toured with the showfor two years around the country and through
Canada as well, and it wasevery time you'd walk out there and everyone
would say, without fail, thisone. It brought me back to my
childhood. You've reconnected a such avisceral part of my life and this is

(09:20):
what her music did for me.And then two I learned so much about
what I didn't know I knew.I thought I knew so much, including
myself by the way I thought Iknew so much, And then doing the
show and then people walking out ofthe show they know so much more about
that era. And basically, tosum it up, Carol King, Jerry
Goffin, Cynthia While and Berry Manwere essentially the Beatles of that time yea

(09:41):
like the Beatles were actually at thattime, but also in terms of like
America and non rock and roll reallythat they were such an integral part of
what the music industry became, andparticularly because of Carol's vision of and Cynthia
of being strong women and saying,this is an extremely male dominated business.

(10:03):
And they said, I don't care. They said rules, I don't know
the rules to do this. Ifyou don't know the rules, you can't
break them, baby, right.And so they just went in there and
they charged ahead, and they youknow, powerful women. They set the
end the standard for the industry,and they allowed it for everyone else,
like Laura Nero was another, likethe next really big artist to come up
out of it, and it wasjust the starting point. This was the

(10:24):
match that lit an absolute bonfire forwomen in the music industry. Do you
have a favorite song? I dookay, I do okay? You immediate
lyric yeah, and you're like,yeah, me too. Well, it's
kind of like, now if Ihad kids, it would be like which
one is your favorite? That's whatI feel like, which one is your
favorite child? Because you're like andyou can decide that at least, but

(10:48):
everybody does. No. I've readon the internet that people actually have it.
I I like, I like walkingin the rain. What I was
gonna say, it's not a Carolkicks on, but I mean, I
guess it's apropos It's topical. It'stopical for us. Yeah, I love

(11:09):
that. I love that song somuch and I really like when you sing
we got to get out of thisplace. You guys need to come and
hear Nick wail on this song.And let's hope this time that the guitar
doesn't break in the play the guitar. Bro that's right, that's right.
Well, I am a musician aswell, so when I there's a lot

(11:31):
of stories with this. When Iwas on tour, we COVID happened,
and then I actually had to goin the pit and play the guitar for
the show at the Kennedy Center inDC, which is like wild. Yeah.
First of all, yeah, Ijust learned it on a whim when
I was on the tour. Iwas like, I should just know it
because I want to represent the actualinstrument. Got to play at the Kenny
Center. And so I was playingit at the last production we did and

(11:54):
first note of literally strum one chordand the guitar just falls. So what
did you do? I picked itup and it kept playing sweet exactly.
The show has got to go.Well. I had a strap on the
right and so the strap the strapbasically like broke and then so I just
went played from a knee like Iwas slash. It was dear, and

(12:18):
all of us are like, wedon't know how to help. I think
I think Miles, who played ourJerry, was like trying to do something
yeah, And I think my eyeswere like as big as saucers because I
was like, I don't know howto help you. It's this was the
time where this is the quintessential versionof saying this is what communication without talking
means. Yeah, You're just youare screaming with your eyes at everyone being
like, what's going to happen?Yeah? It was. It was the

(12:41):
ultimate yes and yeah, which isa term that we use radio. Yeah,
we use it in theater and inlife. Anyway, it was the
ultimate yes and it was brilliant.But so yes, it's definitely a departure
in the show. It's a departurefrom the style, which is really refreshing.
And for me, I grew upsinging rock music. I actually never
thought I'd do musical theater, andso I come from a very different world,

(13:03):
very different I would say training,but I didn't train growing up,
so it's just a different experience.So I love bringing that part of me
that the newer I would say,like the younger part of me into it
and bringing that like really visceral aspectof it into the show. But I
also do love in Act one,will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Carol's

(13:24):
version, she does this gorgeous versionon piano, really stripped, incredibly raw.
I'm getting goose bumps just I know. I'm like, I can see
that the show is written really well, but the people and the show that
just know how to channel that experience, to bring that moment to life,

(13:48):
that rawness of like what it's liketo really love someone and to hate them
at the same time and and dowhatever you can to like fight for what
you believe is right in that moment. Elanta is such a beautiful job with
it, like no pun intended,but really incredible work, just so exposed,

(14:09):
and you know for us, likethat's it's hard to get there?
Does it flawlessly? She's incredible.Yeah. Well, Also when you begin
the show with so Far Away,I remember seeing the show on Broadway and
I you can you get much betterthan so Far Away? I mean you
can because we're you're going to seethe Carol King fuckle up. But you
begin. I remember she comes outon stage and she hits the chord on

(14:31):
the piano and you're just like,oh, did you have to go this
hard? Oh no, right,yeah, right away, You're you're You're
in. I think that I thinkthat Carol King is I think she's who
she is in the world because Ithink she's a prophet of positivity and she's
one of those people that's been ableto transcend generations of people. My grandparents

(14:54):
loved Carol King. My parents,Look, I love Carol King kids,
don't you know, Like younger kidsknow who she is, and generations now
from this musical. And I thinkthat I think, I think that this
is a beautiful showcase of where thatpositivity came from, Yeah, in her
Yeah. And that's definitely really woventhroughout the story too. It has everything,

(15:16):
like it is incredibly emotional, it'sincredibly funny, and really educational too,
in the way of like not likeknocking you over the head with information.
It's really smart. It moves verywell. You don't feel like it's
the you know, a typical twohour, fifteen minute musical or whatever it
is. It moves so brilliantly thatyou just kind of don't want it to

(15:37):
stop, and at the same timeyou feel like you got what your money,
You got your money's worth because there'sso there's so many hits back into
the score is like forty songs longor something like that, and it moves
so well in between it. DougMcGrath wrote the book of it, absolutely
incredible book, just very smart,very witty, and also like added in

(15:58):
every piece of information that you needto know about their lives that brought them
to the full story of starting atyou know where she began as a sixteen
year old girl in Brooklyn, andthen going all the way to Carnegie Hall.
Okay for the family right now,so you know, you've got one
spouse it's like we're going, You'regoing with me. But then maybe the
other spouse is like, I don'tknow anything about Carol King. Why do

(16:18):
I need to go to this show? What do you tell that person why
they have to see you all onstage? Because you know that happens the
house divided. Sometimes you got oneperson's like, oh my gosh. Absolutely,
then when they go, they're like, Okay, I'm glad that I
went. I'm gonna say because it'salmost as much of a concert as it
is. I think some people arevery shy about going to see a play
right, particularly like a musical,because I think they think they're going to
get like, I don't know,cats or something like that, you know

(16:41):
what I mean. I love cats. I love catsts. I was in
a production of Cats in the Roundwhere we had to climb over the audience
to get on stage. Not everybody'sinto that, you know what I mean.
Yeah. We were also making sixtydollars a week because it was not
equity, not goals please, Idid whatever I want in that contract.
It was great, yes, Andbut it's as much of a concert it's

(17:04):
in. I think that it's ait's a social activity and who doesn't want
to go listen to some great musicfor a little while. Also, you
don't have to talk to anybody.It's not like you have to like interact
with people. You just sit thereand you have this you listen to some
great music for a while. Ifeel like you get all the fields too,
every field. Yeah, like that'swhat I was trying to. You

(17:26):
said it so much better than Idid. When did Let's cut it cut
that? Come on? It givesyou every feel it gives you the laughs,
the cries, like the positivity,it gives you everything. And Kate
did say it very well. Itdoes not feel like a musical. It
is not fantastical in the way thatyou don't have people that just break out

(17:47):
and singing. We're singing songs becausewe're writing them, right, So it
doesn't feel if you. It isreally grounded in reality, and that's I
think really refreshing, especially for peoplewho hear musical and they're like, oh,
I'm gonna have people walking around acat soon, they're gonna be jumping
out at me right. No,it sits in the world of we are

(18:07):
real human beings that are telling areal experience and writing this. As the
show goes on, and and there'sthere's moments where we're shooting in the show,
it's you know, you're shooting aTV spot for like American Bandstand,
and then another time it's you know, you're in a studio, And so
it gives you these like really honestmoments that feel a lot more like a

(18:29):
concert, but you're still hearing thisstory and living this story that's been fold
It gives really does give you thebest of both worlds. NC theater dot
com get your tickets October tenth throughthe fifteenth. You just got to rally.
What's rehearsal like between now and showstart chaos? You let us know
because we start rehearsaling. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm just talking your

(18:52):
head off over No, no,you know what's gonna happen. We are
literally three weeks start to finish onthis, like starting today and we end
on the fifteen leaf fly in,fly out, three f and fly out.
When we did this in Fort Worthearlier this year, we learned the
entire show start to finish in sixdays. No, we learned it all
in five days and did a fullrun through on the sixth. Correct,
So pay us more. No,do you get a day to go and

(19:17):
and experience anything, because you'll behere during the North Carolina State Fair so,
which is like very big here.So we get a day off not
to oh they get to go.Oh okay, they get to go.
You get to go to that.Awesome thanks mom, people watching fair seat
foods. Yeah. So yeah,we'll do six days or whatever to get
through. We'll do a run throughand then we go through something called tech

(19:38):
tech is the process of adding allthe technical elements into the show. So
whereas it's just us standing in ourstreet clothes kind of pushing furniture around and
singing songs, we're going to addlights, costumes, hair, sound,
all those things, and that takesanother couple of days, and then we're
literally going to throw it up onits feet and try to run it from
start to finish. Maybe we'll haveto stop, maybe we won't. And

(19:59):
then and we're gonna do it forpeople. I love it. Thank you
so much, Ncytheater dot com.Get your tickets. I'll be there.
I was like, I know,we can't. We just see you in
the audience. You're gonna love it. Thank you both so much. Thank
you. This is a pleasure.This is behind the curtain. I'm Erica
DeLong and grab those tickets to seeBeautiful The Carol King Musical October tenth through
the fifteenth at Ncytheater dot com.