A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: Boston tryout — Page 2

I don't see any similarity to Escape to Margaritaville, at all. That wasn't a bio-musical.

TaffyDavenport said: "All the things people are saying about a Neil Diamond musical could have been said about a Carole King musical, and that did alright for itself, didn't it?"

The big difference is that BEAUTIFUL ended up being an empowering, feel-good show for which the target audience was women ages 45+ –– which sits squarely in the key Broadway ticketbuying demographic. It's not a matter of knowing who the artist is; it's a matter of convincing people to care about seeing a story of Neil's life that he doesn't actually appear onstage in.

Of course, on paper, one could say the Janis Joplin musical should have had the same success as Beautiful because of those demographics. So who knows! The success of a jukebox musical is kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall, and can also depend on the overall quality of the show + the season it opens in.

Updated On: 6/23/22 at 11:03 AM

I mean, it's hard to debate because I'd think a Cher musical would be a big fat hit, but it just depends on execution.

Mamma Mia - as much as people hate it - remains the standard, to me. The story was engaging and the staging/direction was fun.

In my teaching days a student gave ME a "graduation gift" of two tickets to a Neil Diamond concert at the Forest Hills Stadium. Of course he expected me to bring him along as my +1, which I did.

I enjoyed the concert very much and have been a Neil Diamond semi-fan ever since.

I plan on seeing this show.

Updated On: 6/23/22 at 05:09 PM

Mark_E said: "Anyone know of any rush/lotto policies for this in Boston? I have a very last minute trip this Saturday (flight attendant off standby) and potentially the opportunity to catch this."

I could only find $25 student and veteran rush, but no general rush. Lucky Seat has a $39 lottery but it looks like the next available lottery to enter is for Monday's show.

Just got back from the 3rd preview. Went in with medium expectation and would probably rate it a solid B/B+. My mom (late 60s) and myself (early 30s) agreed the we would rank it just below Beautiful.

Will Swenson, Mark Jacoby and Robyn Hurder all give great performances. Robyn is particular gets some great solo numbers where she also gets to dance. The ensemble is great, really high energy.

The audience was filled with people close to my moms age and they really loved it. I think this could run for a while if that crowd shows up in NYC.

A couple of friends of mine saw the show tonight. Their initial thoughts:

“To be honest it does need a little work. However, we both really enjoyed it. The audience loved it also. Will Swenson is incredible as Neil Diamond; can’t believe how much he sounded like Diamond!. The premise is a therapy session with flash backs of his life. Older Neil (Mark Jacoby) also did a great job but I think that’s the part that needs more work. I would love to see it again near the end of the run to see what’s been changed.”

I for on find therapy to be a boring narrative. And how does this cost that much?

TaffyDavenport said: "I think it's worth noting that a quick look at Telecharge shows that the advance ticket sales for A Beautiful Noise are significantly better than Almost Famous, Kimberly Akimbo, and Some Like It Hot in each of their first months, particularly the weekend matinees. For those performances, I'd say that it'ssold more than the other three shows combined."



TD is this all you do everyday and do you work for BroadwayWorld lol?

(Warning --- Numerous Spoilers!!!)

Saw the show Saturday, 6/25. Let me preface this by stating I am a lifelong fan of Neil Diamond's music. I agree with the general consensus so far. I give the show a solid B.

First the good: Will Swenson is excellent as Neil Diamond. He has the right voice for the part and has down many of Neil's mannerisms. Excellent casting. The songs are (of course) great, and most transfer really well to a musical. The most difficult thing for me was hearing other characters sing Neil's songs when I am most used to Neil singing them himself. But it mostly works (with a single exception mentioned later). The Older Neil casting is also spot on.

The Challenge: The most challenging this about this show is that Neil Diamond didn't have the most interesting life (at least what I took out of it from the show). There just isn't a ton of drama. Not to give too much away, but his story as portrayed just isn't as interesting as say, Tina Turner or even say Michael Jackson. And for that very reason, both those shows are more engaging.

What doesn't work: Comments already have been made about the therapy sessions... I would say, for the most part they do work. What doesn't work for me is they go basically through his whole career (and three wives) and then towards the end of the second act, go back to him as a child. Why go through in chronological order just to go back to the beginning? (SPOILERS). My guess is they (#1) wanted to end the first act with Sweet Caroline (which works wonderfully). If they started off with Neil as a child, Act One would probably be too long. But the real reason I believe they did this was to get "America" towards the end of Act 2. There are multiple problems with this. First of all, by the time they decide to once again delve into Neil's past as a child, the older Neil himself (as well as the audience) are like "What this again?!" It is just too much when it feels like the play should be coming to a conclusion. And when they use the young Neil to finally get to the hit "America", it is only presented as an ensemble piece (instead of Neil singing it). And this my friends is THE big mistake. You can't have the hit song "America" without Neil Diamond (the character) singing it. I'm sure the producers realize this, as they do try to (rightfully) reprise the song during the encore.

But once again, they make the same mistake. They do not allow Neil Diamond to SING America. It is a ensemble piece of only the chorus with the audience and Will's voice just blends in with everyone's. (Granted Sweet Caroline is TOO, but this is the second rendition of the show). Once again, you can't have a Neil Diamond show without having Neil Diamond at least lead and sing SOME of the lyrics of America. And this is where I believe the production blows it. When they bring out Will Swenson (or reveal would be a better way of putting it) and if he went into a full rendition of America, that would have been awesome. But they don't do that.

My solution: Scrap the child Neil part. Act 2 runs long and there is no need to go with it just to get to an ensemble of America. Instead, they can still do their brilliant ending (the ending before the encore is great) without the young Neil bit. They can still have the same ending without having the child Neil.

I would then have the ENCORE with Neil Diamond coming out to lead a FULL rendition of America and then the shortened ensemble piece with Sweet Caroline and the audience.

You can't have a Neil Diamond play without having Neil Diamond sing America. Why on Earth the producers didn't realize this Day 1 is beyond my comprehension. Also, why don't they have Neil Diamond come out draped with the American flag? Have these producers ever actually been to a Neil Diamond concert? Or is it now too political?

Otherwise, this IS a feel good jukebox musical (despite Neil Diamond's sometimes lonely and depressing personal story.) I do think they can fix this up and make it really good. Fixing the issue with "America" would be a good start. The good news is that Will Swenson NAILS it.

Updated On: 6/26/22 at 12:30 AM

V2David, do they have the orchestration at the beginning of "America," at least?

Updated On: 6/26/22 at 08:13 AM

TaffyDavenport said: "V2David, do they have the orchestration at the beginning of "America," at least?"



They do, and it is hinted at a few times, but it isn't "featured" if that makes any sense. Once again, "America" is an ensemble piece which is once again (rightfully) brought back in the encore. But Neil Diamond isn't featured.

The big moment where the interlude plays and then Neil comes out with the spotlight on him just doesn't happen.

Having seen Neil multiple times through the years, THIS is the moment at every concert. Sure "Sweet Caroline" has perhaps become his biggest hit, but "America" IS Neil Diamond, and Neil Diamond IS America.

I would hate to think the producers have decided to back away from the song for political reasons. But I personally think it is one of the greatest songs about America ever written. And it was written for Everyone. Doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal. And to not give Neil Diamond THAT moment in the show which is about him is a tremendous lost opportunity.

Updated On: 6/26/22 at 02:58 PM

ACL2006 said: "Can someone explain Robyn Hurder's role? It is a dancing role?"

She is featured pretty heavily as Marcia Murphey, Neil Diamond's second wife.