‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ Stars Perform Socially Distanced Version of “You’ve Got a Friend”

Castmembers from various productions of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical banded together for a socially distanced performance of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” The video, which was made to raise awareness and funds for The Actors Fund in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, premiered Tuesday on CBS This Morning.

The performance features King herself, along with Chilina Kennedy, Abby Mueller and Tony winner Jessie Mueller, among others, singing from inside their homes. The video also includes a special message from Broadway vet and The Actors Fund chairman Brian Stokes Mitchell, who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, but assured fans last week that he was “over the hump.”

“You’ve always got a friend at The Actors Fund,” Stokes Mitchell says in the video. “Please continue to help us care for others and donate today. Thank you.”

The Actors Fund is a national human services organization dedicated to meeting the needs of the entertainment industry and theater professionals in times of crisis. The Broadway community has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, which has forced many performers and behind-the-scenes workers out of jobs since all of New York’s Broadway theaters have shuttered to help keep the coronavirus from spreading.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical opened on Broadway in January 2014 and took its final bow at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in October. Its fifth year of a national tour kicked off last fall.

Watch the performance of “You’ve Got a Friend” below.