Spring Awakening,” recalls the actor, who
is single. “I left school, did a year on tour
and joined the actors’ union. After going
back to school and finishing my senior
year, I moved to New York.
“When Newsies was having a premiere
in New Jersey, I got into the show and did
that for the summer. About three months
later, they announced the show was going
to Broadway and asked me to join. I made
my Broadway debut with that in 2012 and
stayed with it for 2½ years.
“After two weeks of audi-
tioning, I got into the first
national tour of Beautiful.
I had a year off before the
tour began and went to
Sacramento to do the show
Big River, which is one of
my favorite musicals. Then,
I went to North Carolina
and did Next to Normal. In
between, I took acting classes Carole King
and studied voice. I also did
some teaching and private coaching.”
Fankhauser met King and Mann after
he was on the road. King saw the show in
Boston.
“Barry sent me an email on my open-
ing night in Providence a year ago,”
the actor explains. “A couple of months
ago, we spent some time together in San
Francisco. My scene partner and I got to
sit with Barry and Cynthia for some time
and just chat and pick their brains.
“Barry is a soulful artist, and I think I’m
a soulful artist. He’s inspired by love and
good music, and I think I’m inspired by
those things. He wants to make better art,
and I want to make better art.
“I identify with his struggle to have suc-
cess in his field. Just like in songwriting,
I find there’s a ton of us in acting and few
slots to fill. Everyone is in competition to
get that next big thing. That’s a lot of what
Beautiful is about.
“My character in Beautiful provides a
love story and comic relief,” Fankhauser
says. “The tour is doing really well so
there’s no end in sight. As long as people
keep buying tickets, we will keep going to
other cities.”

*

BEAUTIFUL

C

arole King, who learned piano
from her mother and whose
songwriting career started in her
teens, has a strong tie to Michigan.
Aretha Franklin vocalized one of
her most important chart-topping
hits — “(You Make Me Feel Like) A
Natural Woman.”
It is just one of 400
songs King wrote
that were recorded
by more than 1,000
artists around the
world and can be
counted among 100
hit singles. A Natural
Woman became
the title of her 2012
memoir.
King, who changed
her last name from Klein, was 17
and living in Brooklyn when she
wrote her first hit song, “Will You
Still Love Me Tomorrow,” a col-
laboration with then-husband
Gerry Goffin and recorded by the
Shirelles. The team, who worked
for producer and publisher Don
Kirshner, wrote dozens of hits top-
ping the charts throughout the
1960s. Those included “Take Good
Care of My Baby,” “The Loco-Motion”
and “One Fine Day.”
King made her solo debut with
a song called “Baby Sittin,’” and her
demo of “It Might As Well Rain Until
September” placed in the charts in
the early ’60s. Tapestry, a solo album
released in 1971, won four Grammy
Awards and sold more than 25 mil-
lion units.
The awards kept coming and
include being a Kennedy Center
honoree in 2015. Since the early
1980s, she has lived on an Idaho
ranch and is active with organiza-
tions working for wilderness pres-
ervation.
King, 74, has been married four
times and has four children.

*

TOO HOT TO HANDEL

THE JAZZ GOSPEL MESSIAH!

A hand clapping, soul stirring holiday celebration!

ONE SHOW ONLY!

Alfreda Burke

Saturday December 10, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
At the Detroit Opera House

Presented by the Rackham Choir
and the Detroit Opera House

Tickets start at just $20

$

Rodrick Dixon

Photo: Dan Demetriad

Fankhauser, second from left, in Beautiful

PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

15TH ANNIVERSARY

99

FAMILY
K*
AC
4-P
DES
INCLU
!

Karen Marie
Richardson

Alvin Waddles

G

PARKIN

FOR TICKETS AND PRE-PAID PARKING CALL

For Group Sales, call 313.965.4631

313.237.7464 or michiganopera.org

*Limited quantities

2076470

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December 1 • 2016

47