“Sweet Caroline.” I cannot hear this song without reaching out, pointing to you, and then to me, shouting out “Sweet Caroline, bum-bum-bum…” at every ballgame, wedding, or bar. It’s an anthem to many. To me, it’s my namesake song. You can play this song at my funeral, and I’d be happy.
Years ago, I saw Neil Diamond perform at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. I’ve been a fan ever since, but only Tuesday night at Broadway at the National’s top-notch presentation of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical did I learn that he wrote “Sweet Caroline” in a half-hour, in deep despair, in a motel room in Memphis after breaking up with his first wife. He was pressured to write three songs under a sleazy contract with Bang Records, a mobbed-up music label. He spotted the name Caroline on an old magazine cover, strummed two unexpected chords, and his future was sealed “where it began…” and music history was made.
The framing of A Beautiful Noise is a therapy session between the aging and ailing Neil Diamond (a spirited Robert Westenberg) and his psychologist (Lisa Reneé Pitts), who must pry the facts of his depression from him via his songbook and give us a full-blown life story via his lyrics and songs. Created in conjunction with Diamond, A Beautiful Noise was launched after Parkinson’s disease “prematurely ended my touring career… ‘prematurely’ because my heart and soul and would tour until the day I die,” as shared in the Playbill’s touching “Letter from Neil.”
From a lonely childhood with immigrant parents in Flatbush, Brooklyn (the inspiration for
“America”), to his breakthrough moment at the famous Brill Building in Manhattan with his first song sale, “I’m a Believer,” performed by The Monkeys, and on to being one of the most popular recording and performing artists in the world — he boasts he was the biggest box office draw in the world, ahead of Elvis — A Beautiful Noise gives a high-flying overview of Diamond’s life.
But what gives this bio-musical about a chart-topping hitmaker true heart is the revelations of loneliness, depression, and despair woven throughout.
With Nick Fradiani, the 2015 winner of American Idol, as the younger Diamond, the musical gives us the life of a great performer from the vantage of his life’s lowest points. Diamond’s voice, described as “gravel wrapped in velvet” by Ellie Greenwich (played by Kate A. Mulligan, pitch-perfect, in her fast-talking New York yenta-producer role), soars from Fradiani. His voice is big, and just gravelly and velvety enough.
As the young Diamond, he is a charmer through and through. At the end of the first act, Fradiani brings down the house with the all-cast rendition of “Sweet Caroline” (I’m not sure how many times I can mention this song in one review!).
There is so much more — from “Kentucky Woman,” showing us Diamond’s musical grit (and Fradioni’s range) to the duet of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” with his second wife, played with a scene-stealing voice and stage presence by Hannah Jewel Kohn (originally performed between Diamond and Barbra Streisand, his high school classmate), to the poignant end scene with the older Neil Diamond having a therapy breakthrough moment when he realizes that he will never perform again and he is okay with that as he shares in a faded, soulful voice, “I Am…I Said.” It’s a beautiful noise, making music together, and it keeps the wolves of loneliness and despair at bay. This reviewer would add that it brings us together in a way few things do anymore.
And “Sweet Caroline,” well, after the play officially ended, there were two encores, and one included an all-cast, all-audience sing-along to “Sweet Caroline,” bum bum bum….
A Beautiful Noise doesn’t quite end. The band, under the direction of conductor/keyboardist James Olmstead, which had given a knock-out performance, rocking all night, played us out of the National Theatre. It’s where it began.
Running Time: Two and a half hours with a 15-minute intermission.
The North American tour of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical plays through December 8, 2024, at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington. Tickets ($75–$245) are available online, at the box office, or by calling (202) 628-6161.
Enter the Digital Lottery for a chance to purchase $29 tickets. Learn more here.
The cast and creative credits for the touring production are here.
COVID Safety: Masks are strongly recommended but not required for all ticket holders. For full COVID protocol, go here.
