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It’s a good guess that ticket buyers walking into the Golden Gate Theatre will anticipate a rip-roaring concert of Neil Diamond’s greatest hits – and the show absolutely delivers on that front. But the surprising twist that immediately confronts the audience is witnessing this beloved icon confront the lifelong depression he’d quietly battled. It is both striking and deeply moving, adding a depth that most jukebox musicals often lack.
Playing now through June 22 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre, A BEAUTIFUL NOISE is a powerful testament to love, healing, the talent of a tormented man, and the women who, through their love, became his muses and guided him through the darkest times of his life.
So how did the show come about? The Playbill program features a “Letter from Neil” in which he says that he and playwright Anthony McCarten spent hours talking and that it was McCarten’s idea to frame the show in the context of therapy sessions. Back in the 1960s, when Neil was first dealing with depression, psychotherapy was a different proposition altogether. But an older Neil, grappling with the loss of his career due to Parkinson’s, was ready to give it a try—both in life and in the show.
McCarten delivers a beautifully wrought musical about the mega-watt talent that is, and always was, Neil Diamond. It’s a lovefest of sing-along tunes and get-on-your-feet, upbeat favorites. But again, hidden just under the surface of some of his biggest hits, is a lonely man searching for answers through song. His music acts as a break in “the clouds,” his personal term for depression. For Neil, music is what feelings sound like.
The show opens with the older Diamond (Neil – Now is played with aching resonance by Robert Westenberg) and his therapist (Lisa Reneé Pitts is brilliant) seated in leather wing-back chairs. Neil is visibly uncomfortable, and she’s clearly frustrated at not being able to get him to open up.
It’s only when she confesses her unfamiliarity with his songs and begins to look through a book filled with his lyrics that the first crack of light shines through the darkness of the session. Then, seemingly from the depths of her chair, the cast (aka The Beautiful Noise) pours onto the stage and begins a beautiful homage montage, naming Diamond’s biggest hits. The exquisite and extraordinary choral medley begins with “Song Sung Blue,” which could have also served as a fitting title for the musical.
It’s also fitting that Neil – Then started out at New York’s iconic The Bitter End coffee shop on Bleecker Street in the Village, given what we now know about his depression. (Nick Fradiani’s portrayal of the young Neil Diamond is Tony-worthy. He effortlessly captures the icon’s heart and angst, as well as Diamond’s signature whiskey-soaked and honey-smooth sound. He is simply fantastic.)
His rising career is certainly cause for celebration, especially for his wife Jaye Posner (Tiffany Tatreau charms), who by this time is expecting their second child. What she doesn’t know yet is that there’s also a possible second wife waiting in the wings: Marcia Murphey (Hannah Jewel Kohn shines).
Near the end of the first act, Neil is not only dealing with depression but also the very real possibility that his career is ending. Holed up in a hotel in Memphis, he needs to come up with a hit song. Marcia, who does become his second wife, encourages him to try and reconnect with the guy she first met who had 50 songs in his pocket. He ends up writing “Sweet Caroline,” and the rest, as they say, is history!
Act Two brings fame and sequins (courtesy of Emilio Sosa) to Neil Diamond. Suddenly, there’s more money for concerts and world tours, and this is reflected in David Rockwell’s elevated (literally) set design, which is complemented by Kevin Adams’ signature lighting design and Jessica Paz’s sound design. The hits continue, accompanied by heartache, including the bittersweet ending of his second marriage when the song “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” is sung by him and Marcia.
The pivotal moment comes when his therapist works with him toward a final breakthrough. It’s a beautiful, flawlessly cathartic moment where Neil – Then and Neil – Now sing “I Am…I Said” together. I saw audience members wiping away tears.
Neil Diamond once described his song “Holly Holy,” which is the last song to be played, as a “stream-of-consciousness” song, explaining that audiences were not intended to focus on the lyrics but rather on the feelings the song evokes. A BEAUTIFUL NOISE is something of a stream-of-consciousness musical in that you realize the feelings it evokes (despite the well-known, well-loved lyrics) were, and are, the point. Diamond’s music was the soundtrack of so many people’s lives from the late 1960s through at least the 1980s. And if you were lucky enough to be named Caroline, like one of my older cousins, well, that was just sweet!
Greenwich Village’s The Bitter End is where he started, but through therapy, Neil – Now and Neil in real life, though facing a difficult diagnosis, has found peace and healing, marking a happy new beginning to this part of his life.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel
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