(Dr. Phillips Center, Walt Disney Theatre; Orlando FL) The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise kicked off its first of a 6 night run (Feb. 4 - 9, 2025) to a sold out Walt Disney Theatre on its opening night this past Wednesday.
The musical centers around a high-level overview of the Grammy Award winning singer Neil Diamond, who retired from touring in January 2018 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The story tells of how he was initially discovered, how his music was then made famous through the voices of other popular singers at the time, his eventual push into the spotlight, and then his eventual retirement. I did find the narration of the story to be an interesting one, as it was done so through a present-day 'Neil' and his conversations with his therapist.
Prior to this evening's show, I had no idea how introverted Neil Diamond was. The show conveyed this, but I found that the manner in which the character was being unraveled, it was very difficult for me to be empathetic or have much feeling toward the main character. I did however feel emotions toward the other characters on stage, but perhaps that was a deliberate effort by the writers?
Hannah Jewel Kohn (portrayed 'Marcia Murphey', Neil's 2nd wife), was the one in the show who made me actually feel sad. She was beautiful onstage and, at first, I had the impression that she had only a shallow appreciation for Neil and his fame. Through very few words, her facial gestures and body language forced me to feel like Marcia really loved Neil, and wanted only to be with Neil and have more time with him. Her beautiful duet in 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' was delivered exceptionally well, and was the most emotionally climactic moment of the show.
Katie A. Mulligan (portrayed Ellie Greenwich) was funny, energetic, and believable. Her portrayal brought me back decades to a simpler time when flipped hair was all the rage, and I felt this maternal and coaching spirit from her that made me happy to see her as I found myself hoping to see her appear more in every scene. She was the hidden gem in this production.
Lisa Renee Pitts (portrayed Neil's doctor therapist) was collected, and funny. She was real, and I really enjoyed her performance.
Robert Westenberg (portrayed present-day Neil) had vulnerable moments in which he made the audience feel the difficulties that patients in general could have during sensitive therapy sessions. He was funny in his humanness, and I could feel his character's frustration without him overacting. I was also very surprised by his wonderful singing voice!
Nick Fradiani (portrayed 'Neil - Then') was the 2015 winner of American Idol. I was shocked by how similar he sounded to Neil Diamond. For any Neil Diamond fan out there, you can essentially watch 'A Beautiful Noise' and be treated vocally to as close to a 2 hour current day Neil Diamond concert as one can get.
You have a few more evenings yet to catch this one in Orlando!
--Bailey Guinigundo
The musical centers around a high-level overview of the Grammy Award winning singer Neil Diamond, who retired from touring in January 2018 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The story tells of how he was initially discovered, how his music was then made famous through the voices of other popular singers at the time, his eventual push into the spotlight, and then his eventual retirement. I did find the narration of the story to be an interesting one, as it was done so through a present-day 'Neil' and his conversations with his therapist.
Prior to this evening's show, I had no idea how introverted Neil Diamond was. The show conveyed this, but I found that the manner in which the character was being unraveled, it was very difficult for me to be empathetic or have much feeling toward the main character. I did however feel emotions toward the other characters on stage, but perhaps that was a deliberate effort by the writers?
Hannah Jewel Kohn (portrayed 'Marcia Murphey', Neil's 2nd wife), was the one in the show who made me actually feel sad. She was beautiful onstage and, at first, I had the impression that she had only a shallow appreciation for Neil and his fame. Through very few words, her facial gestures and body language forced me to feel like Marcia really loved Neil, and wanted only to be with Neil and have more time with him. Her beautiful duet in 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' was delivered exceptionally well, and was the most emotionally climactic moment of the show.
Katie A. Mulligan (portrayed Ellie Greenwich) was funny, energetic, and believable. Her portrayal brought me back decades to a simpler time when flipped hair was all the rage, and I felt this maternal and coaching spirit from her that made me happy to see her as I found myself hoping to see her appear more in every scene. She was the hidden gem in this production.
Lisa Renee Pitts (portrayed Neil's doctor therapist) was collected, and funny. She was real, and I really enjoyed her performance.
Robert Westenberg (portrayed present-day Neil) had vulnerable moments in which he made the audience feel the difficulties that patients in general could have during sensitive therapy sessions. He was funny in his humanness, and I could feel his character's frustration without him overacting. I was also very surprised by his wonderful singing voice!
Nick Fradiani (portrayed 'Neil - Then') was the 2015 winner of American Idol. I was shocked by how similar he sounded to Neil Diamond. For any Neil Diamond fan out there, you can essentially watch 'A Beautiful Noise' and be treated vocally to as close to a 2 hour current day Neil Diamond concert as one can get.
You have a few more evenings yet to catch this one in Orlando!
--Bailey Guinigundo
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