Broadway’s Carole King coming to Sonoma!

Photo: Sarah Bockel performs “Natural Woman” in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Tell us about the music in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical.

You will be shocked at how many songs you know!! One of my favorite things about performing this show is hearing the audience react with recognition to every song intro. I won’t ruin all the surprises, but I think one of the most surprising parts of Beautiful is the fact that Carole was writing hit songs at age sixteen!!!

Tell us about playing Carole King?

It’s funny, I’ve been involved with Beautiful for almost 10 years. I’ve related to so many parts of her journey throughout the last decade. Carole has a line at the beginning of the play that goes like this, “sometimes life goes the way you want and sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes when it doesn’t, you find something beautiful.” And that hindsight has really been hitting me lately… I’m so grateful to be able to look back on my life and see how the biggest losses led me to my greatest lessons or experiences.

What can Sonoma audiences expect with Beautiful?

Audience feedback is so important! I LOVE to hear if you’re having a good time. Of course you must respect your fellow audience members, but it’s so much more fun to have that energy going back and forth from audience to performers.

What was it like to meet Carole King?

Meeting Carole King was surreal – they say don’t meet your heroes, but that is not true of Carole King. She was gracious and kind and warm – everything you think she’d be. She was so generous with her time, even made sure everyone who wanted an autograph got one. For years, I traveled with a Tapestry record hoping she’d visit. She signed it, “For Sarah” and I now have it framed! I’m truly so grateful she was willing to come out and spend time with us.

Photo: Carole King meets Sarah & cast of Beautiful

Carole King signs Sarah’s album of “Tapestry”

Who will enjoy Beautiful – The Carole King Musical?

I truly think there’s something for everyone in Beautiful. It’s a true story of someone who overcame tremendous obstacles and persevered to great success. Specifically, I like to think of the women in the audience, my goal is always to inspire them to keep going, keep pursuing your passions, that beauty really is based on how you feel inside. 

Sometimes I imagine there’s a little girl in the audience who’s never heard of Carole, maybe her mom or grandma brought her to the show and we’re creating a new generation of Carole King fans.