and welcome back this weekend juanita k
hammonds is featuring another broadway
touring production from beautiful the
carol king musical we have sarah shepard
and james d gish with us how are both of
you this morning
great thank you yeah we're great happy
to be here uh well thank you for joining
us we do appreciate it what what what's
it like working on a touring show i mean
first of all most actors are krakanoon
people which means you got up early to
do this interview what is it like
working in a touring show
uh i mean it's exciting we're sort of
constantly on the move but um it's such
a joy to actually be able to share this
particular show and this story with
people all over the country it's it's
awesome we're having a great time yeah
yeah i would think so these are two
people that so many of us have grown up
listening to their music
if you will talk to us about your role
how about we'll we'll we'll start with
you mr gish uh what's your role about in
this show
so i played jerry goffin the husband of
carol king who in their professional
relationship was the lyricist to her
compositions and um it's a lot of fun
you know um the show has has a great
energy and it's it's fun to to get to
follow carol and uh and jerry from you
know when carol is like a 16 year old
pitching her very first song when she's
like opening at what carnegie hall you
know her her one-woman show and
everything and it's it's cool to get to
to play a part in that and especially
coming out of this time jerry's um he's
he was a very complex human and
he dealt with a lot of sort of mental
health issues before that was something
really anyone discussed and i think
coming out of this time too that's um i
don't know it's it's cool to get to
portray a character like that on stage
you know when you think about the
dynamic between your two so many people
they just out and out know carol
sarah what's it like you know having to
inhabit that kind of icon and maybe
teach people
things they've never known about carole
king
oh my god it's well it's i always say
like it's just an honor
honestly to play her it's um it's
incredible to be able to sing all of
those songs which as we know from
tapestry are just like hit after hit
after hit
and then actually to step into her shoes
as a 16 year old kid
and get to kind of go on the ride as she
meets jerry
they write together they find success
together and then that relationship
starts to fall apart and then we see
sort of this new carol born again she
finds her powers she finds her voice and
then we see tapestry and so that is just
like it's incredible to be able to do
eight times a week yeah it's really
exciting okay what about the songs in
the show which do you feel are the most
popular
or you know the ones
that people react to the most in the
show
i would say
it when it's too late finally hits in
the second act is that has recently i
feel like has gotten started to get some
applause because people know tapestry is
coming
what do you i mean all this stuff in
them
well
there's a lot it's a hard question
there's so many good songs in the show
you know when our band just plays the
heck out of them and we've got a full
ensemble and you know in the show and
people who play drifters and charels and
the righteous brothers and so they sing
like oh yeah well you still love me is a
big one
when the shirelles come out and do that
is like everybody loses their mind
because obviously that song is such a
huge hit and righteous brothers
oh yeah
guys don't even do anything and then
they just stand there people start
cheering it's hilarious and like they're
places where we have learned that we
just have to like hold for a second
because the audience will like oh you
know what i mean
and i think it's too late might actually
be the biggest one too because without a
spoiler there's a big plot turning point
before that and so everybody's really on
carol's team i mean you are the whole
time obviously yeah everyone's like you
know really really in her corner for
that moment it's a really cool energy
every night it also has to be something
for you to know that basically every
song that you all are going to be doing
in this show
is a big hit you don't have to grow this
music and it amazes me the huge amount
of
of work that came out of your two
characters and even beyond that uh that
people probably aren't even aware of
oh for sure i think about when we first
started putting the show together i was
a part of the original broadway cast and
when
when the show was being built and we
were doing act one i was like they wrote
the locomotion i mean i had absolutely
no idea so
um and i'm sure people walking in to see
the show that happens all the time
they're like wait they wrote this they
wrote this so uh yeah that's just a cool
just a cool part of this show is that we
sort of get to introduce carol i think
in other ways to people too
oh go ahead go ahead well i was going to
say this is much more than just the
music this is the story of people
and their growth through the years too
oh yeah and i think that's what makes
this particular show in terms of a
jukebox musical really special because
we didn't just shove songs or sorry yeah
well we didn't just shove songs into
sort of a made-up plot we get to
actually meet these humans and see the
real story of how this music was born
and especially for an artist who's so
beloved by people i i think that is what
keeps bringing people back to the show
besides the music
all right well sarah shepard james d
gish starring in beautiful the carole
king musical december 3rd through the
5th at hammond's hall
thank you so much for taking your time
out waking up before the crack of noon
and being with us today and i hope you
have a great time
thank you so much thank you so much