www.mycnews.com • Community News – St. Louis County • March 2, 2016
SUDOKU:
Fill in the blank squares in the grid, making sure that every row, column and 3-by-3 box includes all the digits 1 through 9.
See solution on page 13
‘Beautiful’ brings the music of Carole King to the Fox Theatre By Mathew DeKinder As a child of the 70s, I grew up with Carole King’s “Tapestry” seemingly always playing in the background. The singer/songwriter’s smash album was a slice of mellow, AM radio gold that defined pop music’s pre-disco era. What I was unaware of at the time, when my mother was cranking the LP on the stereo while she cleaned the kitchen, was “Tapestry” was King’s crowning accomplishment in a long and impressive career in the music industry. King’s fascinating story gets the “Jersey Boys” treatment and is the basis for the rousing, excellent musical “Beautiful,” subtitled “The Carole King Musical,” that is now playing at the Fox Theatre through March 6. When we first meet Carole (impressively played by Abby Mueller, whose sister Jessie won a Tony for originating the role on Broadway), she is a 16-year-old living in Brooklyn with big dreams. It is then when she sells her first song “It Might as Well Rain Until September” to record executive Don Kirshner (Kurt Bouril), who sees promise in the young musical prodigy and hires her on. Carole is able to easily come up with winning melodies, but she struggles with the lyrics. This all changes when she meets Gerry Goffin (Liam Tobin), a handsome young playwright who sweeps her off her feet as the two become romantic and professional partners. They struggle at first and quickly get married when Carole becomes pregnant; but it’s not long until Carole and Gerry are cranking out hits for the likes of The Drifters, The Shirelles and Little Eva. Carole and Gerry strike up a friendship with another songwriting couple Cynthia Weil (Becky Gulsvig) and Barry Mann (Ben Fankhauser). Carole stays true to herself throughout, content with family life and staying away from the excesses and temptations of the industry. Gerry, not so much. While this relationship drama is the focus of the story, the heart and soul of the production is the music and the joy of the creative process. Seeing these songs we’ve known by heart for decades come in to being around a single piano is a joy to watch. Mueller does a great job of handling the emotional weight of the musical, but also matches King’s earnest, straightforward vocals. By the time she’s come into her own with the “Tapestry” hit parade of “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” you can see the transformation from a wide-eyed teen to a wise and soulful artist is complete. “Beautiful” is a wonderful musical. It is built on the back of hit songs, but it’s got a big enough heart and a compelling enough story to be so much more than a simple jukebox musical. Don’t miss it. “Beautiful” is now showing at the Fox Theatre through March 6. For tickets call (314)-534-1111 or go to metrotix.com.
Learn & Play
9
By Cindy Moore
Moore On Life
Too many crooks in the kitchen If you think like I do, the kitchen contains many frightening objects that should be avoided at all costs. Take for example the gas stove. Think about it, a box hooked up to combustible vapors with flames shooting out from the top. Now that’s just an inferno waiting to happen; and it typically does every time I’m forced to use it to heat up a can of soup. Then there’s the scary kitchen gadget called the mixer, or more aptly referred to as the beater. Who wants to even approach something with that kind of creepy nickname? That would be like dating a man named Ralph who also goes by, The Furious Felon. Back. Away. Quickly! And even the seemingly innocent electric can opener can be hazardous. Used incorrectly, it can trim a cuticle down to the first knuckle. I much prefer the dreaded blender if I’m going for an in-house manicure. It trims the nails much better. I might add, the cheese grater, when used improperly, works wonders as an exfoliator scrapping past the seven layers of skin for that painfully raw, just-peeled look. Now, let’s move on to the true implements of torture: turkey basters, salad tongs, whisks and spatulas. All weapons waiting to be used by some crazed serial murderer after a break-in. And don’t even accuse me of being delusional. Just recall if you will the terrifying rampage caused by Curtis
the Cutlery Killer who terrorized an entire city with a sharp melon baller. How about the pressure cooker? I already feel enough pressure to be a cooker in my house and I’m failing miserably. I got rid of this dangerous device after a friend filled hers with potatoes and subsequently blew it up. That little culinary catastrophe texturized her walls entirely in lumpy masses of starchy goo. She found spud chunks in between the cupboards and atop the kitchen cabinets for months afterwards. I imagine it looked as if Curtis had dropped by and wreaked mayhem with his beater. So I’ve stripped my kitchen down to the only safe contraption--the microwave, simple and safe. It’s a harmless little object for heating up doggy bag leftovers and luckily, too heavy for the Cutlery Killer to use as a weapon. Cindy Moore is the mother of three superlative kids, servant of two self-indulgent felines and wife to one nifty husband. Her ficticious occupation? Archeological Humorist: someone who unearths absurdity and hilarity in strange and unusual places including public restrooms, the lint filter, and church meetings. Most recently, she excavated a find in her neighbor’s bird feeder. The opinions expressed in this column are Cindy Moore’s alone and do not reflect the opinion of the owners or staff of Community News.
Crossword Puzzle Theme: Pop Icons ACROSS 1. Peyton Manning signal 6. *Lindsey Vonn’s tool 9. Pressed on the gas 13. Synthetic fabric 14. Manhole cover, e.g. 15. “Peanut Butter ____ Time” 16. Emergency pedal 17. Beehive State native 18. Use blunt end of pencil? 19. *Raunchy Amy 21. Conjoined 23. *Sir ____-a-Lot 24. Distinctive flair 25. Symbol of strength 28. Top of Kilimanjaro, e.g. 30. *Oscar Madison’s employer, “New York ____” 35. Major-leaguers 37. Part of McDonald’s logo 39. 2 halves of a diameter 40. “____ what you sow” 41. Scrabble pieces 43. The Destroyer in Hinduism 44. *Ayn Rand novel, “____ Shrugged” 46. “____ of Eden” 47. Rubber bulb on an old bike 48. Card game 50. Osiris’ wife 52. Shining one in “America the Beautiful” 53. Attention-getting interjection 55. Fleur-de-____ 57. *Playboy octogenarian 60. *Homemaker extraordinaire 64. Like ricin 65. Legal org. 67. *Annie Oakley starred in it 68. *”Independence Day” star 69. High craggy hill 70. Alex Haley’s “saga of an American family” 71. *Lassie and Rin Tin Tin 72. Kimono tie 73. Church recesses DOWN 1. Globes and balls, e.g. 2. Painter ____ Chagall 3. Indian nursemaid 4. Nonsense 5. Low hemoglobin 6. Talk like a drunk 7. American Girl ____ Kittredge 8. Utopian 9. Evening in Italy
10. Surveyor’s map 11. “Do it, or ____!” 12. Food coloring, e.g. 15. *Caitlyn née Bruce 20. An American in Paris, e.g. 22. Morse Code dash 24. “...I heard him ____, ere he drove out of sight...” 25. *Media mogul, actress and trend-setter 26. Mountain ridge 27. Aussie “bear” 29. Famous canal 31. Poison ivy symptom 32. “Bye” to Banderas 33. Book in Paris 34. *Honoree of “Candle in the Wind 1997” 36. Practice in the ring 38. Deputy Führer Rudolf ____
42. Circus prop 45. Stop the flow 49. Female pronoun 51. *Bogart, star of “The Treasure of the ____ Madre” 54. Muse of love poetry 56. One clean one? 57. Main Web page 58. Off-ramp 59. If the shoe does this? 60. Delhi wrap 61. Commotions 62. Network of nerves 63. Coin throw 64. Medicinal amt. 66. *Jamaican Ras Tafari follower
See answers on page 13