Carole King’s sister is crushing it as the Pantages in Hollywood. Well sister of the stage Carole–Abby Mueller, sister of Jessie Mueller, Tony award winner for Broadway’s smash, “Beautiful.” Abby Mueller has taken over the role for the national tour. On Friday night she wowed the packed opening rapturous crowd last night. The sisters are part of a veteran Chicago theater family, actor parents Roger Mueller and Jill Shellabarger and their two actor brothers Andrew and Matt, (Abby’s twin). They are what the NY Post cheekily coined, “the closest thing we have to the Von Trapp family.”

Abby proved to be up to the task in a gargantuan way, warbling Carole’s songs with pure heart and sheer vocal talent which earned her a five minute standing ovation. The rest of the cast all were equal to her brilliance. Douglas McGrath wrote the book, which shines the light on Carole’s early marriage and creative partnership with the now late Gerry Goffin, as well as the friendly rivalry between them and the also married songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The Manns, who where there last night, proclaimed Abby’s performance as “extraordinary.”

The locals had fun with Carole’s line that she was moving to LA after her divorce from Goffin, “a place called Laurel Canyon,” where she would write the classic “Tapestry” that prompted hoots from the audience which included Carole’s daughter Sherry Goffin Kondor, Cheryl Tiegs, famed director Stanley Kramer’s widow actress/producer Karen Sharpe Kramer and their daughter actress/director Kat Kramer, actresses Brooke Bundy and Carole Cook, Leeza Gibbons, “DWTS” Edyta Sliwinska, songwriter Diane Warren and more. (Speaking about the prolific and supremely sublime Warren, when are we going to have the musical of her life and her super stellar career? No brainer on that one, it would be an instant smash. Broadway theater producers… you listening?)

Back to the wonderful “Beautiful.” If you live in LA or visiting, you must see this production which runs through July 17th. And the Pantages has even more A list shows lined up; “Cabaret” is next, then “Newsies,” followed by “Hedwig And The Angry Inch” as well as performances by The Monkees, Willie Nelson and Alice Cooper and more. Next year, “The King and I,’ “Finding Neverland,” “The Bodyguard,” “The Book of Mormon,” and the smash “Hamilton.” Bravo Pantages for keeping Broadway Theater thriving in the heart of Hollywood. For now though, go see Abby/Carole and feel the earth move under your feet, (pardon the earthquake pun LA readers!)

EXCLUSIVE kids. And I mean it. Al Pacino will star as Tennessee Williams in a new play called “When God Looked Away.” Coming to Broadway– maybe this winter, definitely next spring in time for Tony Awards consideration.

I am thrilled to tell you that Judith Light is Pacino’s co-star. She plays a longtime female friend summoned by Williams for help toward the end of his career. Light, a Tony winner, couldn’t be more terrific.

A workshop presentation will convene for rehearsal next week in Los Angeles. When it’s all sorted out, a decision will be made on the particulars.

The play is written by Dotson Rader, adapted from his 1985 biography of Williams. Robert Allan Ackerman, of Broadway and TV fame, is the director. The great Donna Granata is doing costumes. Eric Falkenstein (this year’s “Color Purple” and “Gin Game”) is lead producer.

Pacino had a bad time on Broadway this past year in David Mamet’s “China Doll.” But he is one of our finest actors, and a new recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. This production sounds like a total winner. I can’t wait to see it.

PS If you want a little shot of Pacino in good form, try Barry Levinson’s “The Humbling” on video. A great movie, had a terrible distributor. Worth it.

Big news and a surprise. SHUFFLE ALONG is closing on July 24. This is huge because it’s the latest blow. See my previous item about the closings of Fun Home and An American in Paris.

Shuffle Along has been doing decent business. But they were facing the exit of their star Audra McDonald from the start. The plan for what to do next was ill conceived, which producer Scott Rudin has grudgingly conceded.

Of course, Mc Donald was leaving from the get go. Originally she was set to depart for the UK on June 10, and perform her “Lady Day at the Emerson Grill” for three months. The producers of “Shuffle Along” knew this but proceeded to sell tickets as if the beloved six time Tony winner was really part of their show. She was not.

Then, as luck would have it, McDonald discovered she was pregnant. London was cancelled. But that still meant leaving “Shuffle Along.” And it explained her many absences during previews, which were ascribed to a “cold.”

Producers then came up with a plan to put the choreographer Savion Glover into the show even though there was no part written for him– and it might be hard to explain. They also hired a dynamite roots singer, Rhiannon Giddens, who has no theater experience per se.

On the 22nd, Giddens excitedly Tweeted: “Ok, first time taking a cab from rehearsal (walking the streets with two banjos and two bags not an option)…boy howdy is this slow!”

Today once the news broke, she wrote: “My heart is broken. Completely and utterly. Now to pick up the pieces.”

And that’s just the newest tragedy of “Shuffle Along,” which Rudin hoped would be considered a revival and win the Tony Award against “The Color Purple” (which did win) and “She Loves Me” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” Alas, the Tony committee considered “Shuffle Along” original, which meant certain death against “Hamilton.” Even Glover, who I thought might win for choreographer,  was run over by “Hamilton.”

When I saw “Shuffle Along” on April 1st, thanks to $40 tickets, it was clear what was wrong: three hours, no character development, lots of great dancing, but no coherence. George C. Wolfe did what he could– but the concept was undercooked.

Nevertheless, with Brian Stokes Mitchell, and McDonald, and Billy Porter and Brendan Dixon, there was a lot of talent.

Now, 10 of the shows listed on Broadway– roughly a third– of the shows currently playing will be gone by the end of the year. That’s a lot. Of course, new ones will come and replace them. But that’s a lot of money for marketing and production out the window.

I do hope Rudin tweaks “Shuffle Along” for a pared down, shorter, maybe off Broadway version. It would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

“An American in Paris” will close on Broadway on new Year’s Day. The show from 2015 won Tonys and had great reviews, but it’s too hard to maintain long runs anymore. The 2015 Tony winner “Fun Home” will close in September, after “Finding Neverland” takes its final bow.

Broadway is not for the faint of heart, kids.

Meantime. “The Humans” is moving from the tiny Helen Hayes Theater to the little larger Cort Theater. The Cort Theater is a normal size small theater. I love the actors in this play but the play itself plays like a TV show. I don’t get it.

“Bright Star” is wrapping up as well, and “American Psycho” is gone. “Long Day’s Journey” and “She Loves Me” were limited runs, and are closing soon.

But “Motown: The Musical” is coming back.

More theater news soon…