The setting: Carnegie Hall. The performer: Carole King, fresh from releasing her hit album Tapestry. Opening with a lone woman performing on stage, the musical took the audience on a rollercoaster ride from the late 1950s to 1971.

The life of Carole King, from a shy but determined 16-year-old unfolded to a world-famous singer songwriter, is best told through the music which she wrote as a solo artist and in partnership, most famously with husband Gerry Goffin (Kane Oliver Parry). The story mattered, of course, and there was unexpected enjoyment from the friendship and rivalry with the life-loving Cynthia Weil (Amy Ellen Richardson) and hypochondriac Barry Mann (Matthew Gonsalves). But really it was the music we had all turned up for and the quality of performance did not disappoint.

King herself, played by Bronté Barbé, was superb. The hits just fell from her piano: 'Some Kind of Wonderful', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow', 'One Fine Day'. The frequent appearance of the Drifters, along with other 60s groups: the Shirelles, the Righteous Brothers and – brilliantly – Little Eva (did you know King and Goffin wrote the 'Loco-Motion'?!) provided the context of a fast moving music scene. Although dancing in the aisles was left until the encore, the audience were bopping in their seats throughout.

If you don’t know Carole King’s story, I’m not here to spoil it for you: suffice to say that the tinge of sadness in some of her music is there for a reason. The quality of music was matched by the energetic performance and seamless staging. The musical finished where it started, in Carnegie Hall. Except now the New Theatre was transported to New York and we, the Oxford audience in 2018 were King’s adoring audience in 1971, applauding the greatly respected songwriter, newly and hugely successful as a performer in her own right.

You couldn’t help but feel that the musical Beautiful was created and performed by people who love King and her music dearly. The audience certainly do and would not have gone away happy with anything but a fitting tribute. The feisty, sad and ultimately joyous Beautiful certainly met that test.