By Sarah Duarte
Photo credit Jeremy Daniel
It’s been en-vogue in the past years, I’ve noticed, for biographical-jukebox musicals to grace the stage. (think “The Cher Show” and “Tina”) Using the songs made famous by their leading lady or lad, these shows give the audience a brief window into the artist’s life as well as a walk down memory lane of their famous, possibly less known, and infamous contributions to the music world. The Neil Diamond musical, “A Beautiful Noise” is the latest to continue this tradition, and they did indeed make some beautiful music.
“A Beautiful Noise” is on tour currently, but I had the pleasure of seeing it as part of the BroadwaySF season at the Golden Gate Theater. The show opens in what can only be described as painfully awkward silence as we watch an aging Neil Diamond sit in a therapy session. Seriously friends, it got to the level of time in silence on stage that I genuinely wondered if something had gone technically wrong. That being said, I see that the silence was used as a devise to really make the opening music pop. Speaking of the first musical sounds that happened (there was dialogue beforehand) it was a really interesting overlapping of ensemble voices that each joined the stage one by one. As a choir teacher, I was just so impressed by the acapella chops that this ensemble had!
The show continues to follow Neil- Now (played by Robert Westenberg) and his therapist (played by Lisa Renee Pitts) as they delve into a book of the lyrics of his songs. This loose plot of the therapy session helps to allow for a bevy of flashbacks where Neil and the Doctor both get a chance to look back on Neil’s life, his rise to stardom, the people that helped him get there, and the ones that he hurt in the process.
And now… onto the review!
Cast: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The figurative, and literal, shining star of this show was Nick Fradiani who played Neil- Then. A former “American Idol” winner, Nick Fradiani was the original Neil- Then on Broadway in “A Beautiful Noise” and was just born for the role. There aren’t many people that can wear so much bedazzling and still not be upstaged. Nick’s voice was so smooth and gravelly in all the best ways. One of the ushers had “warned” us ahead of time that it really was them singing and not a recording of Neil Diamond himself. I thought this was a silly note to include until I heard him. Side note, the friend that attended the show with me and I both now are in desperate need of rhinestone diamond shoes.
With all that razzle dazzle coming from Nick, I can only say that it is a credit to her extreme talent that Hannah Jewel Kohn made her performance of Marcia Murphy equally as shining. Kohn brings so much energy to her performance, but in a way that the audience is immediately endeared to her and rooting for her from the start. This gal is a true triple threat and someone that I hope to see in more roles in the future.
Finally, the ensemble just killed it. This is not an ensemble where you can sit back and relax. This is you, dancing, singing, and playing no less than half a dozen roles in one act alone. Ensemble peeps – you were noticed and you were amazing!!!!!
While the doctor and Neil had a lovely progression of their relationship, as Neil- Now opens up more and more, it was a little odd that Neil- Now had such a different voice. It was completely different from that of Neil- Then which is the voice that I think of as “Neil’s Voice” traditionally. While not a huge thing among all of the outstanding pieces of this show, it was enough that it took me out of the story several times.
Theater: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you’ve been to the Golden Gate theater, you know what I’m going to say – it’s a lovely theater in an unlovely part of town (a diamond in the rough? – Yes! Second Neil Diamond pun achieved!) It was a night where I didn’t want to eat or grab a drink nearby because the area just doesn’t feel safe to me, so if you’re going here, my recommendation is to make a day of it and grab your libations early somewhere else and then head to the theater just for the show.
The sound in the space was great. We were seated near the back in the orchestra level, but every word could be heard, and the seats are staggered so I didn’t have any problems with seeing anything either.
Other notable pros – lots of bathrooms, lots of snack lines and seats that are pretty roomy by SF theater standards.
Other cons – getting a rideshare afterwords is a mess and snacks are super pricey ($56 for one wine, water and popcorn)
Production: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
AJ’s not here, so I will have to talk about the lighting. And let me just say, I noticed how amazing the lighting is (and you all know that I hardly ever pay much particular notice of lighting) but the lighting turned out to be the shining moment of production (pun intended). There were a variety of rich tones used throughout the show. The lighting designers did not shy away from creating the color palette of the show through lots of colored lights. Additionally, there was a staggered line of drop down lights, a variety of shapes, styles and sizes, that were moved up and down vertically during the show to signal a variety of scenes. I thought that this was rather clever as there was not much scenery in the show to speak of.
Complimenting the wonderful vocals, the band, conducted by James Olmstead, was on stage (covertly) the entire show on two tiers in the back. They were well balanced and gave the songs the energy they deserved without overpowering the singers. This is, of course, could only be attained with a strong sound design by Jessica Paz.
The costuming had a lot of bold, iconic looks, with a distinct progression of rhinestones as Diamond’s career went on. Emilio Sosa was able to capture the iconic looks while still integrating them with an ensemble that had a range of costumes that seemed to change from scene to scene. While all of the costumes were wonderful, some of the excessive number of ensemble costumes almost detracted, for me, from the music numbers with the combination of colorful lighting and energetic songs battling with them for the spotlight.
A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical runs through June 22 and tickets are available here.
Broadway with AJ and Sarah 
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