A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: Boston tryout- Page 4

[downhillskier]

Posted: 7/16/22 at 9:06am

Lina Lamont said: "Does anyone know of any discount codes for this (while it's still in Boston, not for the NY transfer)? 

Any new promo codes? So much availability, and no discounts? 

Just wondering...Those that have attended, how full is the house???

 

[Lina Lamont]

Posted: 7/16/22 at 9:32am

I was in the mezzanine Sunday night- Opening Night-  and I’d say it was 80% filled.  Mine were lottery tickets, and I suspect quite a few around me were as well.  The balcony looked mighty unsold- can’t speak to the orchestra.

I agree with most of what’s been said upthread.  The songs are fun enough and the “target audience” was loving it.  The two women in front of me were dancing, swaying, and seeking high fives from anyone around them for most of the uptempo numbers; they certainly weren’t alone in their enjoyment.  But the story is just not that compelling, and the plot lines feel underdeveloped.  The “signing with the mob” bit is billed to us as “the worst mistake Neil ever made,” but never actually feels dangerous and is wrapped up in a goofy fashion with a rousing “Sweet Caroline” singalong.  It’s clear the real Diamond has no desire to slander any of his ex-wives (good on him, that’s certainly not a criticism), but the smoothing over of the dissolution of these marriages means there’s no real emotional punch.  Most baffling, though, was the show’s climax: 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

The therapist ascertains that Neil “can never tour again” and Neil-now has a dramatic moment of wrestling with whether or not he can live with this.  Not being a Neil fan, I had NO IDEA what they were talking about, and had to use Google after the show to figure out he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.  I don’t think they need to mine his disease for content- but perhaps they could at least make it clear why the man is in therapy for the duration of the show?

I don’t mind jukebox musicals when they’re done well, but you could feel the writers taking a little Jersey Boys and a little Beautiful and hoping for the best.  I don’t see this one lasting too long in it’s current form.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/22/22 at 9:13pm

I saw this last night with 6 other people.  All six loved it, but they were all Neil Diamond fans.  I am not particularly, although I like a lot of his music.  The theatre was only about 60% filled, whereas the last summertime tryout I saw at the Colonial -- an incredibly beautiful theatre -- was jammed.  I do not know whether this is due to ridiculous prices or lack of interest in a musical about Neil Diamond.

My opinion: it is a terrible musical, partially redeemed by three things:  Neil Diamond's songs, Will Swenson's performance, and the decision to end Act 1 with Sweet Caroline, and then re-sing the song in the curtain call.

What's bad: the book, the sets, the movement / choreography, and the direction. 

The book is just plain uninteresting and boring.  The psychiatrist visits premise is just dreary and does not have any payoff to me.  We knew that these sessions were successful because the older Neil (Mark Jacoby) starts to sing at the very end of the show; it was good to hear Jacoby sing, because his role until then was so dreary that I wondered why he even agreed to be in the show.  The relationships with the first two wives are uninteresting.  Just awful.

For the older folks, you may remember the TV show 'Hullabaloo'.  The costumes and movement / choreography reminded me of that show, which is not a compliment.  I considered myself too 'sophisticated' to watch it when I was in my late teens...the current version is no better.

The sets are hideous.  Since David Rockwell won a Tony for some of the best scenic design in at least the past 10 years, I was distressed to see what he came up with.  They were ugly.  For some reason, he had a lot of kitchen ceiling light fixtures descend periodically (probably 30 of them or so); their presence served only to raise the question...'what the hell are they supposed to represent?'.

Lots of bad staging decisions.  For example, I agree with a prior poster who complained that Neil did not sing America.  I saw the reason -- his parents were immigrants, proud to be Americans -- but it was just not exciting, as it should have been. It seemed too short to build any sort of momentum, and it should have turned the song over to Neil to complete or at least to participate in in a serios way.  Act 1 ended with Sweet Caroline, which is such a joyous song that the audience still loved it despite tacky staging and scenery changes.

Re other performances, no one stood out.  Robin Hurder was fine, but her role was just uninteresting, i.e., the understanding wife whose understanding ways diminish, as he ignores her.  Anyone with a modicum of talent could have played the role.

Despite this. I did actually enjoyed a good amount of the show, because of Swenson and many of the songs.  Swenson is a very charismatic stage presence and sang the role beautifully.  His role was diminished, however, by the time allotted to the older Neil.  Towards the end of the show, he essentially disappeared for awhile, due to the lengthy last shrink scene, and that was a mistake. 

At intermission, I said to my wife, who indicated that she loved it that I thought that it was 'atrociously bad'.  That is probably not fair, given Swenson and the songs, but I did wonder whether it would be a much more enjoyable entertainment as a tribute show, i.e., Swenson just sings the songs in a one-person concert.

I do not believe this is salvageable, which is a shame.  I hope Swenson gets the opportunity to star in a show worthy of his charisma and talent.  I expect this to be a mega-flop, if it intends to move quickly to Broadway, as there would not be enough time to re-think it.

I should mention that I once told a friend not to bother seeing the original production of Annie while on previews, because I was convinced it would not be a hit.

 

[Emma_Pillsbury]

Posted: 7/23/22 at 4:30am

I clicked on the link for the song list provided by Owen22 but it directs me to a blank page. Can someone provide a list of the songs performed in the show? 

[Lina Lamont]

Posted: 7/23/22 at 10:57am

The program lists the songs in alphabetical order.  Many of these are short snippets rather than whole songs (with intermission, the whole show was about 2:10):

“A Beautiful Noise”

“America”

”Brooklyn Roads”

“Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show”

”Cherry, Cherry”

“Cracklin’ Rosie”

“Crunchy Granola Suite”

“Forever in Blue Jeans”

”Hello Again”

”Holly Holy”

“I’m a Believer”

”I Am… I Said”

”I Got the Feeling (Oh No, No)”

”I’ll Come Running”

”Kentucky Woman”

”Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”

”Love on the Rocks”

”Play Me”

”Pretty Amazing Grace”

”Red, Red Wine”

”September Morn”

”Shilo”

”Solitary Man”

”Soolaimon”

”Song Sung Blue”

”Sweet Caroline”

”The Boat That I Row”

”Thank the Lord for the Night Time”

”You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”

Updated On: 7/23/22 at 10:57 AM

[Emma_Pillsbury]

Posted: 7/23/22 at 2:16pm

Lina Lamont said: "The program lists the songs in alphabetical order. Many of these are short snippets rather than whole songs (with intermission, the whole show was about 2:10):

“A Beautiful Noise”

“America”

”Brooklyn Roads”

“Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show”

”Cherry, Cherry”

“Cracklin’ Rosie”

“Crunchy Granola Suite”

“Forever in Blue Jeans”

”Hello Again”

”Holly Holy”

“I’m a Believer”

”I Am… I Said”

”I Got the Feeling (Oh No, No)”

”I’ll Come Running”

”Kentucky Woman”

”Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”

”Love on the Rocks”

”Play Me”

”Pretty Amazing Grace”

”Red, Red Wine”

”September Morn”

”Shilo”

”Solitary Man”

”Soolaimon”

”Song Sung Blue”

”Sweet Caroline”

”The Boat That I Row”

”Thank the Lord for the Night Time”

”You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”"

 

Thank you for providing the song list Lina Lamont. I am looking forward to seeing this and how they utilize each song within the show. 

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 8/8/22 at 12:12pm

We went to the final performance yesterday, 3PM Sunday Matinee.  Had Goldstar tix in the 2nd row of the Balcony, way over on the side so were closer to the stage than the rest of the Balcony and most of the Mezz (Dress Circle).  Mezz appeared 1/3 empty, balcony was also pretty empty on the sides, most of the Orchestra was filled.

Average age of attendees was around 65.  VERY few folks under 45 or so, not many over 80.   As predicted, "If this is the kind of show you like then you will like this show".  We both "like" Neil Diamond's songs, we knew most of the ones that were played.  I never heard "Cracklin' Rosie" but the song list shows it is included so I guess I did hear it, just didn't remember.

 

Will Swenson scarily sounds like Neil Diamond.


The story is silly, but I guess a jukebox musical can't just be "and here's a song from my 1969 album" so we get the story.  A common one to first generation immigrants.  Run time was still 2:20 although there was a lengthy post-bow speech by WS and a whole lot of Behind the Scenes folks came on stage to be recognized, which was nice. Intermission felt long.  Sets are minimal, cast is big.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 8/9/22 at 5:56pm

This is anecdotal, but when I looked up Anthony McCarten on Amazon, all the auto fill options were related to this show. And I've never looked up a Neil Diamond thing on Amazon in my life.