A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL - Reviews & News Thread- Page 15

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/2/24 at 1:52pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Just learned that original castmember Jordan Dobson rejoined the company in November, this time in a different track as a swing, after leaving to star in Bad Cinderella. (He also has a not-insignificant scene in MAESTRO)

https://playbill.com/article/jordan-dobson-on-the-challenges-and-rewards-of-being-a-swing-on-broadway"

Jordan is leaving soon.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/2/24 at 2:55pm

Open call for the next Neil Diamond. Nick did an Instagram Live video on Wednesday and was asked about doing the tour. He said he's focused on the Broadway production now.

 

"We’re searching for #ABeautifulNoise's next NEIL DIAMOND for the upcoming North American Tour and international productions. See the details for the #opencall and #selftapesubmissions below!

 

📍 The Bitter End (147 Bleecker Street)

📆 Tuesday, February 13th

⏰ 10am-4pm ET

✏️ Sign-up begins at 9:15am ET. First come, first serve basis.

 

To learn more about what to prepare & about our self-tape submissions, please click here: www.abeautifulnoisethemusical.com/open-call-for-neil-diamond"

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/13/24 at 5:32pm

Max Sangerman is the latest OBC to leave. He'll be apart of off-Broadway's Dead Outlaw.

 

 

 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/13/24 at 8:26pm

Nick Fradiani is going back out on a short tour "soon". Expect a closing notice within the next couple of weeks.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/15/24 at 9:12am

Congratulations on 500 performances!

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/26/24 at 5:40pm

It appears Chris Marsh Clark (Escape to Margaritaville tour, Jersey Boys tour) will be Neil-Then for the upcoming tour. He's done appearances for the tour when Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Hartford announced their seasons. Unknown if Chris will be Neil-Then full-time, just the standby/alternate or an understudy. Alec Michael Ryan also promoted the tour prior to joining the Broadway cast as a Neil-Then u/s.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 11:52am

Nick Fradiani will be appearing on Idol this week.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/20/24 at 7:20am

ACL2006 said: "Nick Fradiani will be appearing on Idol this week."

It was announced on Idol last night that Nick will be doing the tour for most cities.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 8:25am

Confirmed from someone in the ABN Facebook group that no online lottery or in person rush will be available for the final performance. Standing room only may be available.

 

Best availability to see the show this final week is either Thursday or Friday evening.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/27/24 at 1:05pm

Some seats have popped up for the final performance if anyone needs a ticket.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 9:34am

Happy trails to this amazing show!! Attending the show again for the closing (10th time). Despite the mixed reviews, it'll have run for 657 performances and will end up as the second longest running show from the 2022-23 season. Anyone else going to the closing show today?

FYI, as of yesterday, the box office wasn't sure they would be selling standing room only. No rush tickets though.

Updated On: 6/30/24 at 09:34 AM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 6:33pm

I wasn’t there today, but I did hear that Katie Diamond was, and she FaceTimed Neil from the stage for the final “Sweet Caroline” encore.

This show will do gangbusters on tour. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 8:34pm

On my way home. Yes, Katie Diamond was there and FaceTimed Neil for the encore of Sweet Caroline. Most alumni were there including Will Swenson and Robyn Hurder. Audience was fairly well behaved and the ushers were tough on anyone trying to film.

Standings ovations were given to the ensemble after the Stadium Medley. To Amber after Forever in Blue Jeans, to Nick after Brother's Love's... and to Mark Jacoby after I Am, I Said. The entire audience was standing during Holly Holy which featured all of the swings and standbys coming out.

For unknown reasons, Paige Faure did not perform this final week but came out with the cast during bows.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 8/12/24 at 8:39am

Complete casting has been revealed for the upcoming national tour. Among those joining the previously announced Nick Fradiani is Robert Westenberg (yes, Broadway’s original Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods) as older Neil Diamond.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Full-Cast-Set-for-A-BEAUTIFUL-NOISE-National-Tour-20240812

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/12/24 at 8:54am

I honestly thought more cast members from the Broadway show would go on to do the tour. But it's only Nick and Alec Michael Ryan(Neil-Then u/s).

[MatthewS1]

Posted: 8/12/24 at 9:23am

Robert Westenberg definitely just upped my excitement for this. This star-studded season of tour casting continues.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/26/24 at 2:37pm

Reviews for the tour are better than the Broadway reviews.

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-National-Tour-of-A-BEAUTIFUL-NOISE-THE-NEIL-DIAMOND-MUSICAL-20240926

[nightnic0012]

Posted: 11/20/24 at 8:54pm

Saw this on tour today in Chicago, and I did not enjoy it much at all. Cast was solid. Standouts to me were Robert Westenberg as present Neil and Hannah Jewel Kohn as Marcia. But overall, I found it to be boring. I'm unfamiliar with many of Neil Diamond's songs, so maybe I am just not the target audience, but I have to admit, I rolled my eyes, very hard, when they would illuminate the audience on chorus they wanted them to sing along...

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 12:08pm

Not much was changed from the Broadway production to the tour outside of the band being slightly smaller. The tour is selling extremely well so far. I do believe Nick Fradiani will be out this Thanksgiving weekend as he's doing shows at Mohegan Sun instead.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 9:49am

Congratulations to Chris Clark who made his Neil-Then debut this weekend.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/14/24 at 5:42pm

ACL2006 said: "Congratulations to Chris Clark who made his Neil-Then debut this weekend."

FYI, if anyone is seeing the tour next week in Philadelphia, Nick is out on vacation.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 1/8/25 at 4:06pm

I caught the tour in Durham last night. These are my thoughts:

We’ve seen countless jukebox/biographical musicals over the years. They’ve all had different approaches. This one in particular does something unique. The book by Anthony McCarten, who’s no stranger to writing about musicians from having penned 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and 2022’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody, has an interesting framing device. The story begins with a present day Neil Diamond, retired from touring due to his Parkinson’s diagnosis, in a therapy session. During it, the therapist brings out a book of all of his songs. As he looks through them, memories come back to him from his career. Act I follows how he became a recording artist. Act II follows his life as a global superstar. Not to mention that some of the songs are reimagined as book numbers quite effectively.

Under Michael Mayer’s direction, everyone in the cast brings the house down with such enormous amounts of energy that successfully feeds off the audience. Even the ensemble, credited as ‘The Noise.’ Starring as Neil Diamond – Then is 2015 American Idol winner Nick Fradiani. When it comes to the musical performances, they all come naturally to him thanks to his background as a recording artist. Yet as an actor, he delivers a very charismatic star turn. In his bio, he mentioned that his parents took him to his very first concert when he was 3 years old to see Neil Diamond. So it feels like destiny for Fradiani to now be playing the legendary singer/songwriter. Appearing as Neil Diamond – Now is Robert Westenberg. It almost feels poetic seeing him take on this role. As an actor, he was previously very prolific from the 1980s to the 2000s, with appearances in the original casts of Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and The Secret Garden. This tour marks his first major acting credit in years as he’s spent the past decade and a half teaching musical theatre at different colleges. Westenberg has some of the meatiest material in the show which he absolutely nails. He didn’t sing anything until near the end, and when he did, it gave me chills.

At the performance I attended, Ginger Hurley went on for Hannah Jewel Kohn as Neil’s second wife, Marcia Murphy. She did a wonderful job in the role while also providing killer vocals and dancing. Other highlights of the cast include Tiffany Tatreau as Neil’s first wife, Jaye Posner; Tuck Milligan as producer Fred Weintraub and gangster boss Tommy O’Rourke; Michael Accardo as songwriter/record producer Bert Berns and Neil’s father Kieve Diamond; and Kate A. Mulligan as singer/songwriter/record producer Ellie Greenwich and Neil’s mother, Rose Diamond. I’d also like to highlight Steven Hoggett’s lively choreography, Emilio Sosa’s retro costumes, and Kevin Adams’ excellent lighting.

For my first show of 2025, A Beautiful Noise was ‘so good, so good, so good!’ Baby boomers may get the most out of it, but youngsters should still find themselves toe-tapping countless times throughout the night. This not only serves as a nice throwback to a bygone era, but also as an empowering tribute to a music icon.

Click Here for My Full Review

Updated On: 1/10/25 at 04:06 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/12/25 at 4:45pm

I caught the show when it stopped in Philadelphia last month. Nick Fradiani was on vacation that week, so I saw Alec Michael Ryan as Neil-Then. It's still a solid, fun show. Alec is just too young to play the role. Hannah Jewel Kohn was a bit weak vocally as Marcia. Otherwise all of the other leads were fantastic. This ensemble is working their butts off. It's one of the unsung highlights of the production. 

There's only some slight changes from the Broadway version. 

1. The quick change in the opening segment is gone
2. There's no rising platform during Sweet, Caroline.
3. The band is reduced to just two tiers instead of three.
4. The lift in Blues Jeans(cut during Bway previews) is back in.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/12/25 at 4:47pm

On another note, OG cast member Max Sangerman had a terrible loss happen over the holidays. A GoFundMe was started to help raise funds. Click the link below for more information.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-sangermans-remembering-pegg-caring-for-mike?attribution_id=sl:6051130e-a350-4bff-b743-af2e29def691&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/15/25 at 12:05pm

Emergency covers at the A Beautiful Noise tour! The Broadway cast members have joined the tour.

Mary Page Nance was called in to swing and cover Jaye/Marcia since the two understudies are currently sick/injured.

Ninako Donville will be a vacation swing for four weeks.

Vanessa Aurora Sierra has joined the cast as an additional swing until further notice.