Is it time to rethink Neil Diamond? Maybe. But he’s not exactly cool, is he? As teenagers we thought he was really daggy. My mate’s big brother, who was a bit of a square, was into him. I remember a party at which the album Hot August Night was in high rotation on the turntable. I remember picking up the album cover and thinking that the image of Diamond looked like he was about to throw up.
I am thinking about Neil Diamond today after hearing that the smash-hit Broadway show A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: The Neil Diamond Musical heads to Brisbane next year, following a blockbuster Australian premiere and extraordinary audience response in Melbourne. It will open at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre on March 20, 2027.
I am more interested in hearing that news now than I would have been when I was younger. Back then it was all Velvet Underground, David Bowie, some Jethro Tull, Nick Drake and the like. Oh, and The Beatles, of course. But I have never owned a Neil Diamond record and none of my friends have either or, if they did, they did not admit to it.
But here’s the thing, I have mellowed and I think I can now appreciate his music. I know this because we went to the cinema to see Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman as a Neil Diamond tribute artist. Jackman is terrific, as always, and we really enjoyed that film. And the music, hey, it was pretty good. And guess what? I knew the words to all the songs and I’m not just talking about Sweet Caroline.
Diamond’s songs are embedded in my consciousness from hearing them on the radio back in the day. Listening to them again I found a satisfying depth. Great music, good lyrics.
The first Neil Diamond song I heard back in the early 1970s was I am … I said and, thinking about it now, hell, it’s almost existential. It makes me think of the English poet John Clare’s cri de coeur, I Am! “I am! yet what I am none cares or knows,” Clare wrote. He was a tad depressed.
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I never figured I would be mentioning Neil Diamond and John Clare in the same breath, but there you have it. Having been warmed up by Song Sung Blue, I’m ready for the musical. At least I know this musical will have good songs!
the uplifting true story of how a kid from Brooklyn became a chartbusting, show-stopping American rock icon
Presented in Australia by producers Paul Dainty and TEG Dainty (TINA – The Tina Turner Musical), Ken Davenport and Bob Gaudio, the acclaimed Broadway production arrives in Brisbane with some serious home-state pride attached – three Queenslanders will take to the stage, alongside a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
Created in collaboration with Neil Diamond, the show is the uplifting true story of how a kid from Brooklyn became a chartbusting, show-stopping American rock icon and one of the most successful and beloved performers of all time.
And what a story it is. With more than 140 million albums sold, a catalogue of anthems including America, Forever in Blue Jeans and the incomparable Sweet Caroline, induction into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and sold-out concerts around the world that saw him become a bigger live draw than Elvis, Diamond’s extraordinary life was made for the stage.
Like Jersey Boys and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical before it, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is a musical memoir.
“The idea of a Broadway musical about my life has always been a daunting one,” Neil Diamond says in a letter to his Australian fans. “It wasn’t until the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease prematurely ended my touring career that I started to seriously consider the prospect.
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“My friend and longtime producer Bob Gaudio had some success with his little show, Jersey Boys, perhaps you’ve heard of it? So I went to him for some guidance on where to begin.
“Bob brought in Ken Davenport and together they built the incredible creative team. When Anthony McCarten came on board, we spent hours talking. It was his idea to frame the show in the context of therapy sessions. I loved the idea and never shied away from talking about my years of psychoanalysis. There used to be a stigma around talking about mental health and, thankfully, through the years, it has become an important and accepted topic of conversation.
“Sitting in the theatre and watching the show has itself been therapeutic – reliving some joyful and some of the painful parts of my life, wishing perhaps that if I could only make a few edits in the script it would change some of the reality of what I was seeing. But, in the end, coming to terms with my life and accepting it has somehow come full circle.”
Neil Diamond has a bond with Australia spanning decades and that includes seven major concert tours. Live album Hot August Night spent 29 weeks at number one in 1973 and 1974 and 65 weeks on the chart, making it the third-longest charting album of the era in Australian music history.
The Australian cast for the musical is led in Melbourne by Broadway star Will Swenson in the titular role.
There is plenty of Queensland talent on stage and behind the scenes
Joining Swenson is an exceptional company of Australian talent, featuring principal cast members Terence Crawford (Neil Diamond – Now), Ashleigh Rubenach (Marcia Murphey), Monica Sayers (Doctor), Alana Tranter (Jaye Posner), Tim Wright (Fred Weintraub/Tommy O’Rourke), Paul Hanlon (Bert Berns/Kieve Diamond), Hannah Fredericksen (Ellie Greenwich/Rose Diamond), with Rob Mallett (standby Neil Diamond – Then) and Mark Owen Taylor (standby Neil Diamond – Now).
There is plenty of Queensland talent on stage and behind the scenes. Brisbane-born Hannah Fredericksen plays the dual roles of legendary songwriter Ellie Greenwich and Neil Diamond’s mother, Rose Diamond. Brisbane will mark an incredibly special first – her Queensland stage debut and the first time she has performed professionally in her home state.
Joining Fredericksen is Etuate Lutui, a 2022 graduate of the Bachelor of Musical Theatre at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, who delivers a moving, show-stopping solo moment. Brisbane-born Jordan Malone, a fellow Con graduate, and Maryborough-born Katrina Bickerton round out the Queenslanders on stage, while Brisbane’s Liam McIlwain is resident director.
The show is directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, choreographed by Olivier Award winner Steven Hoggett and written by four-time Academy Award nominee Anthony McCarten.
The design team for A BEAUTIFUL NOISE features Tony Award winner David Rockwell (scenic design), Tony Award nominee Emilio Sosa (costume design), four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Tony Award winner Jessica Paz (sound design) and Luc Verschueren (hair, wig and make-up design).
The production has music supervision and arrangements by Sonny Paladino, incidental music and dance music arrangements by Brian Usifer, vocal design by AnnMarie Milazzo and orchestrations by Bob Gaudio, Sonny Paladino and Brian Usifer.
A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: The Neil Diamond Musical plays the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, from March 20, 2027. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 9am on September 4.
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