INTERVIEW: Marrick Smith portrays Gerry Goffin in Paper Mill’s ‘Beautiful’

Photo: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical features, from left, Marrick Smith and Kyra Kennedy. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Daniel / Provided by The Press Room with permission.

---

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical had a multi-year, successful run on Broadway, and a new production directed by Casey Hushion has landed at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. The musical tells King’s story, from her early days as a songwriter to her monumental album Tapestry. Along the way, audience members are treated to such tunes as “So Far Away,” “Locomotion,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “It’s Too Late” and “I Feel the Earth Move.”

One of the pivotal characters in the show is Gerry Goffin, who co-wrote many of the words and music of these iconic songs. Marrick Smith, who appeared in Broadway’s Fun Home and the national tour of Dear Evan Hansen, portrays Goffin on stage at the Paper Mill Playhouse, where Beautiful continues through July 3.

“The audition came through my agent at the time,” Smith said in a recent phone interview. “I’ve loved this role for a very, very long time, and it was an immediate yes on my part because I had been wanting to do it.”

Way back when Smith made it to the callback stage for the Broadway engagement of Beautiful. Before heading in for those auditions, he decided to buy a ticket and watch the musical in person. “I just remember being so surprised how well the script leapt off the stage because it doesn’t always happen like that,” he said. “I was really surprised at how well they concealed where the show was going. I remember being delighted and also shocked at how many songs those four songwriters in the show actually wrote because there are many more than are even included in the show, so to see music history captured like that was really, really cool.”

Those other songwriters, besides King and Goffin, are Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Together they wrote the soundtrack for the United States throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

“My introduction to Carole King came through my mother,” Smith said. “She was a huge, huge Carole King fan and had Tapestry on repeat in our house growing up. That was my first introduction to Carole’s music, and then I didn’t really even know about Carole as a songwriter until honestly this show. I was very young when I first started hearing Carole’s music. I remember thinking, oh, it’s interesting that there’s a Carole King version of ‘Natural Woman’ and an Aretha Franklin version. My initial thought was that Aretha Franklin had covered it from Carole King and not the other way around and then realizing that, oh, Carole wrote that song for Aretha and that whole situation there. That was my introduction to Carole’s music.”

Hushion shared several books with the company members, including Kyra Kennedy who plays King, to better understand this slice of music history. This reading material helped Smith better understand the time period being depicted.

“There is this wonderful book called Girls Like Us that’s all about Carole, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell that had really fascinating information about their lives in Brooklyn, which is not too far from where I grew up,” he said. “I grew up over in Staten Island, so my parents were born right around the time this play starts. I remember going into the audition. … I went in pretty neutral dialect-wise, and Casey was like, ‘Can you throw a little Long Island in there for me?’ I was like, ‘Oh boy can I.’ It’s the ghost of my father creeping around this stage now. It’s wonderful and nice.”

Before premiering this new production before a paying audience, Smith had some nervousness, which he said was a good thing. Nervous energy, in his mind, is an invigorating part of the job.

“It’s part of why I have been acting for so long,” Smith said. “I enjoy the thrill of not knowing exactly what’s going to happen. It forces you to be a lot more present as an actor, to really listen and rely on your cast-mates. … I find the best acting, the best art happens when you’re really present, really listening and also making something feel brand new, which the way Casey is approaching this show, it does feel very new.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, featuring Marrick Smith, continues through July 3 at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.