In the world of the jukebox musical there are shows that rise above the genre (usually because of a captivating book) like Jersey Boys but then there are others that are just for fans of the musician being profiled who want to his or her songs performed by a Broadway pro. The new Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise is strictly the latter but as his songs are quite catchy it’s an entertaining enough night of theatre. Your mileage may vary depending how big of a Neil Diamond fan you are (I kept thinking about that quote in What About Bob? “There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.” Everyone at Eccles theater where the national tour of A Beautiful Noise is performing definitely likes Neil Diamond, and I guess I do too because I had a good time.

The best way to look at this musical is as an extended concert. In fact, I wish they took the Ain’t Misbehaving route and just went full-on musical revue because that’s what works in the show. Diamond has a lot of hits stretching over many decades and it’s a lot of fun to hear the songs, well sung by young Neil played by Nick Fradiani. The highlight is of course “Sweet Caroline” which we find out literally saved him from a deal with the mob. “Cherry, Cherry” and “Cracklin’ Rose” are also highlights (btw I hate that the program has the songs in alphabetic order not in order sung.)

The ensemble seemed a little wasted and outside of his wives and a few managerial type roles, I didn’t really need any other performers on stage. Director Michael Mayer delivers the big spectacle on the concert scenes and the costumes by Emilio Sosa are very impressive with some extremely quick costume changes.

My big gripe with the production is the decision to surround the songs with an annoying narrative device of older Neil (Robert Westenberg) telling his problems to a therapist (Lisa Renee Pitts.) There’s no other way to say it but this was completely cringe and I hated every time they went back to it. Worst of all they kept trying to sell these great insights about loneliness and somehow kept bringing up frogs and kings and I had to work to contain my groans. Luckily they get back to the songs rather quickly but what an unnecessary and ineffective aspect of this musical! The songs are of course by Neil Diamond with a book by Anthony McCarter.

Still, if you are a fan of Neil Diamond than the music will definitely entertain you, which is the main point of going to a show like A Beautiful Noise. It is playing at the Eccles until January 25th and tickets can be purchased here.

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