Jessie Mueller Stars in ‘Beautiful’ on Broadway January 12

Producers of the Carole King musical, Paul Blake and Sony/ATV Music Publishing made the announcement that Jessie Mueller will star in the Broadway production of Beautiful on Broadway.

Though previously slated to begin previews in 2014, the  show will debut at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre September 24 – October 20, 2013. It will then begin previews on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on November 21, 2013. This is all in preparation for an opening date on January 12, 2014.

Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller was most recently seen in Nice Work if You Can Get it opposite Matthew Broderick. She has astounded audiences in the shows The Mystery of Edwin Drood and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever which was her Broadway debut opposite Harry Connick Jr. in 2011.

Mueller is set to play Grammy award winning singer and songwriter Carole King in the musical. A show representative revealed that Mueller is currently taking piano lessons to prepare for the role. She will tell the story of King’s journey to the top which includes her beginnings as a Brooklyn girl, her musical partnership with her husband, and her rise to becoming an incredibly successful solo artist during her generation.

Marc Bruni is in charge of stage production, Josh Prince will handle choreography for the show, and Jason Howland will be the show’s musical director. Additionally, the score for the show is comprised of songs that King wrote with her Brill Building collaborators Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. Such musical hits include, “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and more.

King was previously quoted as saying, “What’s so great about this for me is that musicals were a major influence on my songwriting. In fact, when Gerry and I first met, we made a bargain that I would write music for the Broadway show he wanted to write if he wrote lyrics for my rock ‘n roll songs. The songs took off, and the show idea never came to fruition. Now that our songs have merged with a Broadway show, we’ve come full circle.”

Other show news and casting information is set to be released in the near future. Tickets for the Broadway production will be released for sale in the next few weeks.