$
Melissa Benoist
Melissa Benoist

TV Star Melissa Benoist Joins Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Star of the hit CW show Supergirl, Melissa Benoist, is set to make her Broadway debut in the long-running hit musical Beautiful—The Carole King Musical. Benoist, who plays the title character in the popular television action-drama, will assume the role of Carole King this summer for a limited engagement starting June 7 through August 4, 2018.

“The stage has always felt like home to me,” said Melissa, “and the fact that I will be joining the amazingly talented Beautiful family for my Broadway debut is wish fulfillment at its finest. Carole’s music was a mainstay in my household growing up, like it was for so many people.  It will be an honor and a pleasure to sing her music and portray her inspiring resilience to audiences every night.”

Benoist has long held an interest in musical theatre, perhaps best demonstrated by her two seasons on the musical theatre oriented television program Glee. For seasons four and five of the hit show, she portrayed Marley Rose, giving audiences an opportunity to experience her vocal chops and her flair for the diva dramatic. She has also appeared on Homeland and The Good Wife and co-starred in the critically acclaimed feature films Whiplash and Patriot’s Day.

“We are over the moon to welcome Melissa into the Beautiful family this summer,” said the producers. “We’ve always loved Melissa‘s singing on Glee and, added to that, her great work as Supergirl promises that our audiences are in for a special treat at the Sondheim”.

The current Broadway cast of Beautiful includes Chilina Kennedy as Carole King, Evan Todd as Gerry Goffin, Jessica Keenan Wynn as Cynthia Weil, Ben Jacoby as Barry Mann, Paul Anthony Stewart as Don Kirshner, Tony® Award nominee Liz Larsen as ‘Genie Klein’, and an ensemble that includes Kerissa Arrington, Kennedy Caughell, Adam Dietlein, Kevin Duda, Sidney Dupont, Gabrielle Elisabeth, Matt Faucher, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Douglas Lyons, Stephanie Martignetti, Paris Nix, Kris Roberts, Nic Ryan, Sara Sheperd, Yasmeen Sulieman, Salisha Thomas, Daniel Torres and Melvin Tunstall. Chilina Kennedy will be returning to the role in August.

Now in its 5th-year at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical includes a book by Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, and choreography by Josh Prince. The score is composed of pop standards written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil.

Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.

Learn More About Beautiful: The Carole King Musical