A Beautiful Noise – Book by Anthony McCarten; Music and Lyrics by Neil Diamond. Music supervision and arrangements, Sonny Paladino. Choreography, Steven Hoggett. Directed by Michael Mayer. Design team: David Rockwell (scenic design); Emilio Sosa (costume design); Kevin Adams (lighting design) and Jessica Paz (sound design). Presented by the Ambassador Theatre Group at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St. Boston through August 7th.
by Mike Hoban
It seems only fitting that the producers of the Neil Diamond musical bio A Beautiful Noise would stage the pre-Broadway run in Boston at the historic Emerson Colonial Theatre. Not only was the venue home to debut performances of iconic Broadway shows like Anything Goes, Porgy and Bess and Oklahoma! (and more recently, Moulin Rouge), but Diamond is forever bonded to Boston since his pop hit “Sweet Caroline” was adopted by the Red Sox as a theme song for the 8th inning stretch in 2002. The song, with its audience participation lyric, “SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!” became so wildly popular with fans that Diamond performed it on April 20, 2013, in the emotional first game back at Fenway Park after the Boston Marathon bombings. With that kind of passionate connection, maybe the Boston audience isn’t the best barometer of the quality of the show, but A Beautiful Noise – a joyous blast of fun with a surprisingly poignant book – seems destined to be a crowd-pleasing smash.
What separates this production from cookie cutter jukebox musicals is the book by two-time Oscar nominee and longtime Diamond fan Anthony McCarten. When the play begins (following a brief but thunderous opening that will cause some patrons to spill their drinks) we see a present day Diamond (Mark Jacoby) sitting in a chair across from his new therapist (Linda Powell). He’s been sent there by his third wife Katie McNeil, presumably to address his lifelong depression, which the play references throughout. He’s reluctant to be there and doesn’t want to talk, so the therapist suggests they use the lyrics from his voluminous songwriting career as a jumping off point for their work. It’s a clever framing device that works well, and provides some depth to the production that most musical bios lack.
The first act takes us through his early career as a struggling Tin Pan Alley songwriter, where Diamond (in a spectacular performance by Will Swenson) found success after pairing up with equally prolific songwriter and producer, Ellie Greenwich (a terrific Bri Sudia). After a successful 2 minute audition, he begins writing songs for Jay & the Americans, Elvis and others, including the Monkees, for which he churned out a slew of hits, most notably one of the most joyous pop songs of the sixties, “I’m a Believer”. She encourages him to sing his own material, after discovering that he has a unique voice and style, telling him, “Nobody out there right now sounds the way you do, Like gravel wrapped in velvet. Like you just woke up and tripped over an ashtray.”
He shows up at the Bitter End, the legendary folk/rock club in the heart of Greenwich Village, and is enthusiastically encouraged by fellow songwriter Marcia Murphey (blonde bombshell Robin Hurder, who audiences may remember from her Moulin Rouge character Nini, a role that she originated), but she suggests that he amp up his stage persona. He reveals that he suffers from what we would now recognize as industrial grade depression, something that she also suffers from. Attracted to the sadness in each other’s eyes, the two soon begin an affair that leads to the dissolution of Neil’s marriage to his first wife and mother of his two girls, Jaye Posner. But it isn’t long before his performing career ignites and he catches fire with audiences, launching his career as a major arena star, complete with garish sequined outfits, reminiscent of Elvis. McCarten repeatedly and questionably draws comparisons between the two performers in terms of stature , (although Diamond apparently often matched him in terms of ticket sales. )His success comes at a price, however, and we learn that all of the fame and money still can’t fill the hole in his soul.
The marvelous performance of Swenson really drives this show. His energy, uncanny vocal impression and stage performance is wildly infectious and, during Act II, it’s difficult to distinguish the play from an actual Neil Diamond concert – complete with rabid fans being driven into a frenzy as he belts out the hits. The rendition of “Sweet Caroline” propelled the audience into a fervor usually reserved for a religious tent revival – only one of unbridled joy. Swenson is well supported by the cast, not only the aforementioned players, but Michael McCormick and Tom Alan Robbins in a variety of comic roles. The ensemble is first rate too, aided by the explosive choreography by Steven Hoggett and the wild 60’s and 70’s costumes by Emilio Sosa.
The show is anchored by the strong storytelling element, and when present day Diamond (who stopped performing publicly in 2018 due to Parkinson’s Disease) has a breakthrough in therapy at the show’s end, it feels genuine, punctuated by an unexpected and touching rendition of “I Am I Said” by Jacoby, which brings down the house. I spoke with a number of theater veterans at intermission and after the show, and even those who were not particularly big fans of Diamond were unapologetically enthusiastic. A Beautiful Noise is about as much fun as you can have at the theater these days. See it before it leaves town for Broadway. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com
