A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: Boston tryout- Page 3

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/28/22 at 3:04pm

Due to COVID cases in the company, this week's performances are canceled (June 28-July 3). The production is now set to run through August 7.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 6/28/22 at 3:28pm

At this point, the cancellation of a week or two's worth of performances seems like its the part of the preview period of any new show.  They should just start scheduling this in and invite the cast to cough all over each other early in rehearsals or something.  I'm obviously kidding, but it's bananas.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/28/22 at 4:27pm

Is it a big show? What makes the show so expensive? Inflation? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/28/22 at 4:55pm

RippedMan said: "Is it a big show? What makes the show so expensive? Inflation?"

I don't know anything about the specifics of the financials beyond a capitalization of up to $20M, but it has A-class people in every key production position, probably a hefty upfront payment to Neil Diamond (in addition to royalties), and people like David Rockwell don't design on tight budgets for a big jukebox show.

$15M is pretty normal for a Broadway musical these days, and it wouldn't be crazy for $5M to go towards a commercially-produced out of town tryout. It's a high budget if they ever want to recoup, but not insane.

Updated On: 6/28/22 at 04:55 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/28/22 at 5:39pm

Just going off other budgets, it seemed large for the scale of the show. And Rockwell has been dialing it in lately and doesn't sound like this is anything special.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 1:19pm

https://ew.com/theater/neil-diamond-musical-a-beautiful-noise-will-swenson-first-look/

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 1:27pm

The first picture really reminds me of Beautiful.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 2:09pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "The first picture really reminds me ofBeautiful."

Yep. And I bet the team is very aware of that in trying to promote to that demographic. That yellow is working hard!

Hard to get a good sense of the scale and design of the show from these tho.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 3:44pm

Those pics remind me of Hollywood Squares!  Charo for the win!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 4:19pm

A friend of mine loved it, every moment of it. 

[Lina Lamont]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 11:23am

Does anyone know of any discount codes for this (while it's still in Boston, not for the NY transfer)?  I'm aware of the lottery already.

Updated On: 7/7/22 at 11:23 AM

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 1:07pm

everythingtaboo said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "From a Public Facebook post:

Musical numbers & band list(13-piece band)

Title page

Playbill cover. Wonder who this show is about?

Neil Diamond was apparently at the show last night, seated in a box."



Wait, is that American Idol winner Nick Fradiani in the ensemble?! How did I miss that!"

Didn't Nick do the tour of Bronx Tale?

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 2:05pm

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

 

They are on Goldstar now for the rest of the run.

 

[barcelona20]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:46pm

Saw this tonight.  In full disclosure, I do like a lot of Neil Diamond songs but I strongly dislike Sweet Caroline. 

The show received an instant standing ovation. I think I was in the minority as I thought the show was merely "fine".  The biggest problem for me is that Neil's life story is kinda blah.  He had two wives who loved him and he was not a good husband.  There really wasn't much more drama than that.  He finally found happiness with his 3rd wife who just happens to be 30 years younger lol.

I thought Robyn Hurder was the standout. Will was great as Neil but didn't get a lot of opportunity to really "act".  He was mostly the song man whereas old Neil did the acting.  Since everyone is comparing this to Beautiful, I thought Beautiful was far better and moving (although I do prefer Carole King's music).

[bdboston]

Posted: 7/11/22 at 9:02pm

I actually had the opposite reaction (saw the Sat. matinee show this past weekend):   I preferred 'A Beautiful Noise' over 'Beautiful.' I felt ABN was more buoyant and entertaining. 'Beautiful' has a more intriguing story, but for entertainment value, for me, ABN was superior.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 7/11/22 at 10:56pm

Positives:

1) Will Swenson captures then-Neil Diamond very well.  His singing voice, in particular, is close to Neil's voice from back in the day.  (I wasn't alive then, so I'm going by what I hear on recordings.)

2) Agree that Robyn Hurder is terrific, if not a little underused.

3) Clearly they know how to hit their key demographic - Baby Boomers/early GenXers loved this show.

4) The show is entertaining at parts, with the energy of Moulin Rouge but absolutely none of the sparkle.  

Negatives:

-1) The book is atrociously bad.  "Neil Diamond goes to therapy," as some have described it.  The overarching arc is supposed to be Neil's depression, but nothing moved the conflict along.  Then-Neil and now-Neil announced that the clouds were coming and going.  Great.  You don't really see the darkness and the emptiness that comes with the depression.  I saw more darkness in Will Swenson playing Earl in Waitress than I did him playing a troubled Neil Diamond.  I blame the writing.

-1a) I've never been at a show where people sitting near me in the audience were commenting on how bad the book is during intermission.  Until this show.

-1b) So much could've been done with the songs and the driving theme of this show, Neil Diamond's depression.  What a waste of, for example, Solitary Man.  I never saw the stage adaptation of Death of a Superhero, but I am not sure Anthony McCarten knows how to write a book for a musical.  (Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, and the Two Popes I enjoyed just fine.  We'll leave Bohemian Rhapsody alone.)

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

-1c) Everything felt episodic.  Neil meets second-wife-to-be.  Neil happy.  Neil Diamond fights with first wife, can't have both.  Neil sad.  Neil in bad deal with mob records.  Mob offers him way out.  Neil struggles with music, even sadder.  Neil finds breakthrough song.  Neil happy.  Sweet Caroline boom.  Come on.

-1d) The therapy structure had so much potential.  Instead, it comes off as a cheap way to have Neil narrate his own life.  It's like I'm watching a very boring narrated biopic.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

-2) Did they really need to spend ten minutes of Act II on Holly Holy, with absolutely no plot development whatsoever?  Spending a sixth of Act II doing absolutely nothing plot-wise is not a good look.

-3) This musical is going to get a rude awakening when it's not in a place where the audience can be pandered to by playing Sweet Caroline.  

[BOM]

Posted: 7/11/22 at 11:08pm

I'm 28 and knew only a couple of Diamond songs. I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I saw this on the 25th of June. it's not a very dramatic story, but the music more than made up for that. I'm glad I saw it and will be seeing it again on Broadway. It's better than most jukebox musicals that have opened recently. It's better than a certain jukebox musical starting previews in October... 

Updated On: 7/11/22 at 11:08 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/12/22 at 5:23pm

Opening night was on Sunday at the Emerson Colonial. 

The Boston Globe: "Will Swenson is a sparkling Diamond"

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/11/arts/beautiful-noise-will-swenson-is-sparkling-diamond/

 

[barcelona20]

Posted: 7/12/22 at 9:31pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Opening night was on Sunday at the Emerson Colonial.

The Boston Globe: "Will Swenson is a sparkling Diamond"

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/11/arts/beautiful-noise-will-swenson-is-sparkling-diamond/

It's funny that you linked that review out of all of the others out there.  It's actually the most critical, aside from the praise for Swenson.

 

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 7/12/22 at 11:44pm

Finally caught this and was not impressed. The book needs so much help. Will Swenson works well with what he's given but he's limited so much by the book. In theory, the therapy framing device should work (and at times, it does), but it leaves nothing for poor Mr. Audra McDonald to actually act. Instead of showing us his struggles, the older Neil just dictates what's happening. It's weird and Swenson deserves better. Robyn Hurder was out, but Jessie Austrian did a great job. Not sure if it's the fault of the book, but some of the supporting actors were....not great. The ensemble is used super weirdly throughout to make up for the lack of an interesting book, but they had lots of energy and lovely singing. There's a dance break in act two that is electrifying! 

Michael Mayer's direction is not great and I worry that between this and Funny Girl, he's lost his touch. It's just so uninspiring. Most of the set is ugly and when it does eventually open to the nicer, cooler set with the band, it immediately goes away. Weird choices all around. 

Sweet Caroline obviously plays super well and it does feel special being in Boston. Interested to hear how this will play out in NYC because I suspect the response will be different. I really hope they continue to work on this because it will (and should) be eaten alive by NYC critics. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/13/22 at 12:29am

HenryTDobson said: "Finally caught this and was not impressed. The book needs so much help.Will Swenson works well with what he's given but he's limited so much by the book. In theory, the therapy framing device should work (and at times, it does), but it leaves nothing for poor Mr. Audra McDonald to actually act. Instead of showing us his struggles, the older Neil just dictates what's happening. It's weird and Swenson deserves better. Robyn Hurder was out, but Jessie Austrian did a great job. Not sure if it's the fault of the book, but some of the supporting actors were....not great. The ensemble is used super weirdly throughout to make up for the lack of an interesting book, but they had lots of energy and lovely singing. There's a dance break in act two that is electrifying!

Michael Mayer's direction is not great and I worry that between this and Funny Girl, he's lost his touch. It's just so uninspiring. Most of the set is ugly and when it does eventually open to the nicer, cooler set with the band, it immediately goes away. Weird choices all around.

Sweet Caroline obviously plays super well and it does feel special being in Boston. Interested to hear how this will play out in NYC because I suspect the response will be different. I really hope they continue to work on this because it will (and should) be eaten alive by NYC critics."

Michael Mayer may have been consistent in the past, but I would never say he had  "a touch". He has more terrible shows than not in his resume.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 7/13/22 at 12:31am

^That's fair. When I think of Michael Mayer, I think Spring Awakening and Millie. You're definitely right though, not a consistent director by any means.  

[barcelona20]

Posted: 7/13/22 at 9:18am

HenryTDobson said: "Finally caught this and was not impressed. The book needs so much help.Will Swenson works well with what he's given but he's limited so much by the book. In theory, the therapy framing device should work (and at times, it does), but it leaves nothing for poor Mr. Audra McDonald to actually act. Instead of showing us his struggles, the older Neil just dictates what's happening. It's weird and Swenson deserves better. Robyn Hurder was out, but Jessie Austrian did a great job. Not sure if it's the fault of the book, but some of the supporting actors were....not great. The ensemble is used super weirdly throughout to make up for the lack of an interesting book, but they had lots of energy and lovely singing. There's a dance break in act two that is electrifying!

Michael Mayer's direction is not great and I worry that between this and Funny Girl, he's lost his touch. It's just so uninspiring. Most of the set is ugly and when it does eventually open to the nicer, cooler set with the band, it immediately goes away. Weird choices all around.

Sweet Caroline obviously plays super well and it does feel special being in Boston. Interested to hear how this will play out in NYC because I suspect the response will be different. I really hope they continue to work on this because it will (and should) be eaten alive by NYC critics."

Well said.

[BJR]

Posted: 7/13/22 at 10:12am

HenryTDobson said: "^That's fair. When I think of Michael Mayer, I think Spring Awakening and Millie. You're definitely right though, not a consistent director by any means."

And Side Man, Hedwig, and American Idiot. And I think his work on Head Over Heels shined that **** best anyone could.

[AllThatJazz2]

Posted: 7/13/22 at 1:11pm

Just saw on her Instagram that Robyn has COVID again. She’s out until the 22nd. Exchanged my ticket for tonight for a performance after she returns, since she and Will are the draws for me to see this. Hope she has a speedy recovery.