Neil Diamond bio makes a lot of Noise, some of it Beautiful

CRUNCHY GRANOLA SUTIE: Nick Fradiani is Neil - Then surrounded by the ensemble known as The Noise in A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musicalat San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. Photo by Jeremy Daniel

There’s a pretty simple formula for jukebox musicals: if you like the pop (or country or rock or whatever) music being repurposed for a theatrical experience, chances are you’ll have a good time at the show. Occasionally, a musical bio like Jersey Boys has the power to turn you into a fan of the person/group/songwriter whose work is being featured, but most of these endeavors serve to make fans happy.

As we work our way through the giant cosmic jukebox (thank you, Cher, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Tina Turner, Four Seasons, Donna Summer, Gloria Estefan, Temptations, et. al.), we have made it to Neil Diamond, whose A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, ran on Broadway from 2022 to 2024 and is now on tour.

If you start tapping your toes or singing along with the likes of “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” or “Cracklin’ Rosie” (as I most certainly do), you will find this show’s two-plus hours to be highly enjoyable – an ersatz Diamond concert made with love for its subject and crafted with a whole lot of theatrical flair to disguise the fact that it doesn’t have a whole lot to say.

Now at the Golden Gate Theatre as part of the BroadwaySF season, A Beautiful Noise embraces the fact that it’s a pretty ordinary tale of a singer-songwriter’s rise to superstardom and the pressures and tolls fame and wealth take on a person who’s really just an earnest guy from Flatbush, Brooklyn. Book writer Anthony McCarten doesn’t have much of substance to deal with, so he employs a sturdy if unimaginative narrative device wherein older Neil (played by Robert Westenberg) is psychoanalyzed by a character known only as Doctor (Lisa Reneé Pitts), who pores through a weighty volume containing all of Diamond’s song lyrics and delves into their connection to his troubled psyche.

I AM I SAID: Fradiani’s 'Neil - Then' confrtonts ‘Neil - Now’ played by Robert Westenberg. Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Director Michael Mayer and especially choreographer Steven Hoggett take that framework and turn it into a spectacular revue featuring a rambunctious and irresistible ensemble (known as The Noise) and a younger version of Neil (played by a startlingly accurate Nick Fradiani). And it’s all performed for the benefit of Neil and his psychiatrist (and, of course, the audience).

So the singing and dancing are fun. But when that revue of Diamond’s songs turns into actual musical theater, the cheesiness is almost unbearable. For instance, when Diamond’s first wife (of three) confronts him about the stress in their marriage, she sings “Love on the Rocks.” For the second wife’s departure, it’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” Ick. Before, that, though, the second wife (played by Hannah Jewel Kohn) tries to assert herself in “Forever in Blue Jeans,” but that song is so cringe-y, it’s almost impossible to appreciate the energetic performance.

I’M A BELIEVER: (Center left) Tiffany Tatreau as Neil’s first wife, Jaye, Fradiani as younger Neil and Kate A. Mulligan is Ellie Greenwich. Photo by Jeremy Daniel

This show is definitely at its best showcasing Neil (and Fradiani’s impressive sound-alike vocals) as a performer (however reluctant he initially was to take on that mantle). Numbers like “Kentucky Woman,” “I’m a Believer,” “Shilo” and the sequin-drenched “Stadium Medley” (comprising “Soolaimón,” “Thank the Lord for the Night Time” and “Crunchy Granola Suite” ) crank up the energy and the groovy dance moves of the ensemble. “Sweet Caroline” is fun once, with its “so good, so good, so good” and “bam bam bam” call-and-response with the audience, but its reprise for the curtain call makes you wonder if that unexpected, internationally beloved anthem’s time has come … and gone.

The only real complexity to the character of Neil comes from his brooding nature – he refers to his gloominess and bouts of depression as “clouds” and people around him jokingly refer to him as Hamlet. I am I said? That is the question.

The show does eventually address Diamond’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease in 2018 that led to his retirement from touring, but not in a significant way – more as fuel for his psychiatrist to dig deeper, which ends up feeling pretty shallow. If Diamond, who was involved in the creation of this show and describes it in a program note as “coming full circle,” is no longer performing, then this show in many ways represents the final chapter of his performance career. It’s a virtual Diamond but still an outlet for his fans to gather and express their love and admiration for the man himself. Jukebox musicals can become part of their subject’s legacy, but this one ultimately feels too glancing and glittery to be anything more than a cheerful Broadway footnote in Diamond’s decades-long career.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical continues through June 22 as part of the BroadwaySF season at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor St., San Francisco. Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes (including one intermission and two sing-alongs to “Sweet Caroline”). Tickets are $52.92-$265.01 (subject to change). Call 888-746-1799 or visit broadwaysf.com.