“This will be a Broadway caliber show,” Michael J. Moritz Jr. said about “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which Youngstown Playhouse will stage this weekend at Powers Auditorium to start its centennial season.

Moritz would know. The Youngstown native and 2000 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate was one of the producers of “Beautiful” on Broadway, where it ran for more than 2,400 performances and received seven Tony Award nominations (winning two). It continues to tour in North America and internationally, and a film adaptation is in the works. Moritz’s theatrical career started at the Playhouse, and he served as music director on several productions there in the early 2000s.

“What a full circle moment to bring something home that meant so much to me on Broadway to the place that really set me on my career path,” he said. “If it weren’t for the Playhouse, I wouldn’t even know this was a viable career. … I can trace a straight line from my career now back to the Playhouse, so it feels great in so many ways to be doing this again.”

“Beautiful” chronicles the life and career of singer-songwriter Carole King, who penned some of the most iconic songs of the 1960s with her husband, Gerry Goffin. King became a star herself with her album “Tapestry,” which spent 15 weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and more than six years on the chart in total.

“Every person who comes to see this show says, ‘I cannot believe Carole King wrote all of this music for everyone,'” Moritz said. “It’s not just ‘Tapestry,’ right? It’s The Drifters and The Monkees and The Shirelles. She sold her first song at the Brill Building when she was 16 years old. It’s mind boggling to me.

“This is a true story about a real person’s life. This is not a jukebox musical, in my mind. It’s the story of a woman who wrote all of these songs. It’s her story told through her songs that were written by her own influences in her life. It’s an honest retelling of someone’s incredible life. And, you know, I think it’s pretty special.”

Moritz will be music director and lead the band for this weekend’s performances, and “Beautiful” is directed by John Holt, who worked with Moritz several times when both were at the Playhouse two decades ago.

Holt, who now lives in Virginia, said the chance to work with Moritz again was one of the reasons he said yes when asked to direct.

“We always had a really good working relationship,” Holt said, and that prior relationship made it easier with Moritz not starting work with the cast until last week. He heard the impact Moritz had when the cast had its first opportunity last week to sing with the band.

“There are a lot of scenes in this show, and most scene changes or transitions, you know, have an underscore to them,” Holt said. “Mike has a real uncanny ability to make those work kind of seamlessly to where the audience really doesn’t have a chance to get bored … With his general music knowledge and abilities there, he’s able to take the sound of a band and multiply it by 50.”

Moritz might not have been in town until last week, but he’s been busy behind the scenes. He brought 1,500 pounds of sound equipment with him from New York, he helped secure the set the Playhouse rented for the production, and he lured some Mahoning Valley talent back to the area for the musical.

“I called in every favor,” Moritz said. “It’s true. I am owed no favors.”

Khaled Tabbara from the band MUNNYCAT came in from southern California to play one of the Righteous Brothers. Other actors with local ties who mostly work in professional theater (Joshua Green, James Major Burns, Shawn Lockaton) also came back for supporting roles.

The cast is filled with local theater veterans and includes Sam Early, Brianna Rae Quinn, Connor Bezeredi, John Cox, Maureen Collins, Reia Frost, Mikayla Moore, Nikita Jones, Arielle Green, Lee Edwards, James Major Burns, Joshua Green, Christian Hall, Shawn Lockaton, Khaled Tabbara, Carla Gipson, Finlay Andrei, Candace DiLullo, Tommy DeLuca, Natalie Kovacs, Elizabeth Huff, Frank Carsone, Ryan Bedi, Jill Cataldi, Megan Keown, Megan Cleland, Rachael Cleland and Gia Ramsey-Moritz.

One of the youngest cast members is the star of “Beautiful.” Brooke May, a 19-year-old from Austintown entering her second year at Youngstown State University, plays Carole King.

“She has a maturity level that’s beyond her years,” Holt said. “Her acting chops are off the charts, and she has really, really good instincts. She takes direction extremely well and knows what to do with it. And she brings an emotional quality to this character that I think the audience is going to fall in love with.”

Moritz called Megan Cleland the MVP of the show. She is the choreographer and a featured dancer, but she’s done so much more.

“She’s been pulling triple duty on everything,” Moritz said. “She’s helping with costumes. She’s making sure the makeup is right. She brought in hair people. That has been one of the greatest discoveries on this show is having Megan involved.”

Holt said he’s enjoying working with Playhouse lighting designer Ellen Licitra once again.

“We’re both light freaks so there’s a ton of lights in this show,” Holt said. “Plus the set itself lights up, so it’s going to be cool.”

If you go …

WHAT: Youngstown Playhouse — “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Powers Auditorium, 260 W. Federal St., Youngstown.

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $40 to $50 and are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651. Post-performance meet-and-greet and VIP opening night afterparty tickets also are available.

Have an interesting story? Contact Andy Gray by email at agray@tribtoday.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.