Review: A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL at Ohio Theatre

According to Sonny Paladino, the music supervisor and arranger, of A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE Neil Diamond MUSICAL, there are two kinds of families in the world: ones whose parents listened to Diamond and ones whose parents didn’t. Like Paladino, I grew up in a Diamond impoverished family, whose RV’s library of music consisted of three eight-track tapes: The Harper Valley PTA soundtrack, a collection of Christmas songs, and the Ohio State marching band’s greatest hits.

Yet those who are of a similar Diamond-less background will thoroughly enjoy the bio-musical that runs April 22-27 at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State Street in downtown Columbus). The stellar cast accommodates theater goers on both sides of the Diamond spectrum and by the end of the two-act musical the average music fan will be surprised by how many Diamond songs he or she knows by heart and how good some of those songs truly are.

The preface of a visit to the psychiatrist’s office provides a perfect launching pad for Diamond’s story. As the curtains open, Neil Diamond NOW (Robert Westenburg) is debating with his long-suffering doctor (Lisa Renee Pitts) about his need for therapy. To chisel away at Diamond, she pulls out a phone book sized catalog of the singer’s works and asks him to pick out some of the songs that are “the most personal to you, seeing that you put so much of yourself into them.”

When Diamond balks, she says, “I did see one I knew.” Diamond gives her an incredulous look that reads “Only one?”

Seeing she has offended her client, the doctor backpedals, “I’m sorry. I don’t know your songs.”

“Oh no, no, no, Don’t apologize,” he counters, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. He waits a beat and then asks, “You don’t know any of them?”

His therapist aside, nearly everyone knows a Diamond song, even if they don’t realize it is his. Diamond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, has a net worth of over $300 million and is responsible for 38 top 40 hits, including 10 number ones. Diamond is so big that BEAUTIFUL NOISE must cast him twice, Neil NOW (Westenburg) and Neil THEN (Nick Fradiani), the latter being Diamond at the pinnacle of his career.

A BEAUTIFUL NOISE falls right in line with JERSEY BOYS, which traces the climb and fall of New Jersey residents Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons, and BEAUTIFUL, which tracks the career of Manhattan’s Carole King. The success of the show relies on the singer’s ability to emulate the star. Fradiani, the American Idol winner in 2016, doesn’t just sound like Diamond. For all intents and purposes, he IS Neil Diamond, at least for two hours. Fradiani flawlessly pitches classic after classic and goads the audience into singing along with him on “Sweet Caroline” and “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime.”

However, like JERSEY BOYS and BEAUTIFUL, the story needs side players to make it all work. Tiffany Tatreau (who plays Diamond’s high school sweetheart and first wife Jaye Posner) and Hannah Jewel Kohn (who plays Diamond’s second wife Marcia Murphey) are as important to the narrative as any other performer on stage. Diamond says at the beginning of the musical he wrote nearly every one of his early songs about Jaye and the interplay between Tatreau and Fradiani reflects that soft innocence. Yet as soon as the brassy Marcia appears on the stage, you sense the demure Jaye is going to lose her diamond.

Kohn delivers a walloping version of “Forever in Blue Jeans,” a song about how money talks but she’d much rather be “forever in blue jeans” if it means having her husband at home. One of the most effective sequences of the show is a montage of concert performances by the globe-trotting Diamond interspersed with Marcia’s lamenting how the singer keeps extending his world tour.

Both Tatreau and Kohn deliver heart-wrenching farewell duets with Fradiani as their love affairs end with Jaye singing “Love on the Rocks” and Marcia delivering the coda with “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” Ironically, Diamond’s third wife Katie, who encouraged him to seek therapy, is alluded to but doesn’t make an appearance on stage.

Another standout performance is Kate A. Mulligan’s droll portrayal of Brill Building song writer Ellie Greenwich, who helps Diamond make a name for himself. When Greenwich asks the singer for his name, Diamond responds it doesn’t matter because he’s going to change it. “I was thinking about Ice Cherry.” With a side-eyed glance, Greenwich deadpans, “You got something else? Anything else?” Diamond offers up Noah Cominsky because “it has weight and seriousness.”

After the singer reluctantly reveals his name is actually Neil Diamond, Greenwich breaks into a toothy grin and says, “Well I have to say this is a switch. Normally I meet guys with a name like Noah Cominsky who want to become Neil Diamond. Now I have a guy named Neil Diamond who wants to change it to something people have never heard of before.”

Although the scene between Diamond and Greenwich is less than 10 minutes long, it exposes the breadth of the singer’s talents. Fradiani rolls off hits Diamond wrote for others, like “I’m a Believer” (a hit for the Monkees), “The Boat I Row” (a signature piece for Lulu),  and “Red, Red Wine” (which later became a smash single for SKA band UB40).

Behind the performance of the actors is the solid orchestration by conductor James Olmstead. Olmstead and Nancy O’Connor play keyboards with support from Ben Thomas Taylor (guitar), Aamir Juman (bass), Morgan Parker and Josh Priest (drums), Alex Gabriel Calixto (reeds), Siya Charles (trombone), Paul Baron (trumpet), and Chaeyoung Son (viola and violin).

If there is a knock on the show, it is the costuming. When his therapist points out Diamond seems to have everything – a wonderful wife, great kids, great money, world tours, he counters that the only thing fame leads to is more time on the road and “more sequins.”  Lots and lots of sequins. Judging by the number of bedazzled outfits Diamond wears through out the show, the song should have been titled “Forever in Sequins.” Those gaudy outfits and the fact his wife is named Marcia conjures up images of the Brady Bunch episode when the family starts up a band.