Sundance 2011: Carole King proves she’s still a ‘Natural Woman’
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A small crowd, mostly baby boomers, gathered at an intimate Main Street music venue in Park City, Utah, on Sunday, packed in tightly to catch a glimpse of an unlikely Sundance Film Festival visitor: Carole King.
‘I can’t believe I’m seeing Carole King at Sundance,’ one awestruck audience member whispered to another.
King, 68, played a small concert for a few lucky festivalgoers at Cisero’s in support of a documentary she’s featured in that premiered at the festival this weekend. The movie, ‘Troubadours,’ centers around King and James Taylor -- as well as folks like David Crosby, Jackson Browne and Steve Martin -- during the period in the 1970s when singer-songwriters flocked to the Troubadour club in West Hollywood.
In an interview earlier Sunday -- look for more from that sit-down later in the week -- the press-shy singer said she was moved by how well the Sundance audience received “Troubadours.”
“I was sitting in the back, and people were riveted — and what is it, 91 minutes? Every minute, they were riveted, and they laughed at the funny lines and they cried at the moving parts,” she said. “It was just thrilling to be there. Morgan [Neville, the director] did such a great job representing not only us — the troubadours and singer-songwriters — but the Troubadour club and the context in history of this whole thing. I couldn’t be happier.”
During the concert, King warmly interacted with the crowd and played a handful of her best-known songs: ‘So Far Away,’ ‘Up on the Roof,’ ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ and concluding with a rousing version of ‘Natural Woman.’ Throughout the set, she interspersed anecdotes about the film, detailing when the song she was playing on stage appeared in the documentary.
Even comedian Chelsea Handler looked on fondly from the audience, in between continually locking lips with the man she was with -- and no, gossip mongers, he wasn’t rapper 50 Cent. When her date began talking while King was speaking to the crowd, Handler shushed him.
‘Shh! I want to hear what she’s saying,’ the talk show host said.
--Amy Kaufman in Park City, Utah
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