There is a cruel irony in that Neil Diamond, whose songs have made millions of people feel “so good, so good, so good,” felt so bad about himself for much of his life.
Diamond has spoken openly about his persistent depression and loneliness, but even his most ardent fans could be forgiven for being surprised that his struggle forms the narrative backbone of “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical” now playing at West Herr Auditorium Theatre through Sunday, April 26.
Anyone expecting a traditional biographical show about a superstar will find a classic and sometimes clumsy jukebox musical framed by an extensive therapy session between an aging Diamond and his psychologist.
The approach was endorsed by Diamond, who writes in a letter in the playbill, “There used to be a stigma around talking about mental health and thankfully through the years it’s become an important and accepted topic of conversation.”
The curtain rises on Diamond (Gene Weygandt) and the therapist (Lisa Reneé Pitts) sitting opposite each other in armchairs. It is established that he’s been seeing her for months at the insistence of his wife and children, who find him hard to live with, but that the sessions aren’t helping.
His therapist only begins to peel back the layers on Diamond after he tells her, “I put everything I have into my songs,” and she conveniently reveals a giant songbook containing his entire portfolio. No one will accuse Anthony McCarten, who wrote the book, of subtlety with this script.
As songwriter and therapist delve into his catalog, they retrace Diamond’s journey, watching his younger self go from writing hits for others, like “I’m a Believer” for The Monkees, to the swaggering chart-topping showman everyone knows, belting out hits like “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show,” “Crunchy Granola Suite” and, of course, “Sweet Caroline.”
Nick Fradiani plays the younger Diamond in this traveling production. If his name sounds familiar, that could be because he was the 2015 winner of “American Idol.” He does a serviceable job with the spoken script, which doesn’t give him much to work with, portraying Diamond as sullen and woe-is-me when he’s not on stage.
But Fradiani shines as the showman, conjuring a near identical impersonation of Diamond’s unique voice, which the famed music producer Ellie Greenwich (played with sass by Heidi Kettenring) comedically described as “gravel wrapped in velvet” and as if Diamond had “rolled out of bed and tripped over an ashtray.”
Neil Diamond, 84, has been out of the spotlight since 2018, when he announced his retirement from touring following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. But he has stayed in the zeitgeist thanks to the ubiquity of his songs and the touring production of this energetic musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2022.
His image received another boost recently with the hit film “Song Sung Blue” starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson (who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of one half of a down-and-out duo who form a Neil Diamond tribute band). Throughout the film, Jackman bemoans the demand for “Sweet Caroline,” noting that Diamond has so many other memorable, meaningful and catchy songs.
Indeed, Diamond cut 39 albums that sold 120 million copies and had 40 singles reach the Top 40 chart during his career. “A Beautiful Noise” weaves 29 of them into the show to crowd-pleasing effect. Most of them act as mileage markers, reflecting where Diamond was in his life when he wrote them and what inspired them.
The best use of the material occurs during the breakup scenes with his first two wives. Diamond originally wrote “Cherry, Cherry” about a relationship with an older woman, but its lyrics of “She’s got the way to move me” and “Tell your mama, girl, I can’t stay long,” deftly illustrate the pull Diamond feels between the devotion to his first wife, Jaye (Tiffany Tatreau), and the woman who would become his muse and second wife, Marcia Murphey (Mary Page Nance).
Both actresses deliver memorable numbers of their own, with Tatreau singing a touching “Love on the Rocks” when her marriage ends, and Nance belting out a dynamic “Forever in Blue Jeans” when she feels neglected by her constantly touring husband.
When the show closes with “Holly Holy,” signifying that Diamond has come to terms with the ups and down of his incredible life, it feels heavy-handed; like the show was more for him than his fans.
But the audience’s bobbing heads, clapping hands and impromptu singalongs throughout the performance suggested his fans got as much out of it as Diamond.
At intermission, a woman sitting in front of me was trading text messages. I didn’t mean to pry, but it was impossible not to see the words in oversized font on her screen.
Someone had written her, “Are you crying yet? lol,” presumably in reference to the show.
The woman replied: “SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!”
