WATCH: Carole King and the cast of ‘Beautiful’ sing ‘You’ve Got a Friend’

Carole King and the cast of ‘Beautiful.’ Image by Getty/Slaven Vlasic/Stringer

By PJ Grisar April 8, 2020

Carole King and a crew of her onstage doppelgangers have given us a special quarantine gift.

In a new video, which premiered April 7 on CBS This Morning, cast and musicians from numerous productions of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” serenaded at-home listeners with a lushly-orchestrated rendition of King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” — all while maintaining the proper social distance from their respective homes.

If you missed the show during its four-year run on Broadway, now is your chance to see Tony winner Jessie Mueller, her sister Abby Mueller and Chilina Kennedy belt King’s ballad of camaraderie alongside an all star-supporting cast.

One feels the bonhomie — and also sees a lot of pets, cute children and insanely gifted musicians (not all of whom are wearing pants where the screen cuts off).

Donations for the en masse sing-a-long benefit the Actors Fund, which, since the widespread closure of theaters, has been providing performance opportunities and relief for professionals in the performing arts. Other endeavors include the twice daily “Stars in the House” cabaret performances and the recently launched “Plays in the House” series of readings.

If you have the time, definitely give this a listen and — if you have the means — consider a donation. It’s not everyday, after all, that Broadway and Brill Building legend Carole King come to you.

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at [email protected].

PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO