Theater Review – January 28, 2026

“A BEAUTIFUL NOISE” CAPTURES NEIL DIAMOND’S LEGACY

“A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical”
Broadway Across America – Arizona, ASU Gammage
Tempe, AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

Neil Diamond wrote many hit tunes and several of his cherished songs live on vibrantly today.  Like many pop-standard bearers, Diamond was one of the few legends to not have a Broadway musical about his life and song writing career.  In 2022, this faux pas was remedied with “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.”  The show finally made it to the Valley this week at ASU Gammage.

It is certainly an unusual biographical show.  The first act starts out deadly slow as it meanders about his early career and his astonishing doubts about his ability to entertain audiences.  With Diamond’s treasure trove of outstanding hits, you’d think the show would open with a big production number and then flashback to his career.  No, “A Beautiful Noise” starts with the mature Diamond chatting drably with his doctor about his creative life.  Eventually things pick up a bit but the act never catches fire.  By the intermission, “A Beautiful Noise” is a disappointment.

Then the second act opens with a splashy production routine as the show finds the energy lacking throughout the opening act as elaborate and more interesting choreography played out. Stick out the dry and talky first act so you can be bedazzled by the second act’s dynamic energy and zest.

The touring cast is tops starting with Nick Fradiani’s pulsating Neil at the height of his fame.  The actor brings everything necessary to craft the perfect Diamond impersonation from the gravelly voice to every nuance necessary to bring the entertainer alive.  Surrounding Fradiani is an adept collection of fine performers who lovingly recreate the people who surrounded Diamond and put up with his career and how it divorced him from those he loved including Mary Page Nance as wife Marcia Murphey, Lisa Renee Pitts as his understanding Doctor, and Heidi Kettenring as Diamond’s final wife Rose.

“A Beautiful Noise” also has a fine performance by Robert Westenberg as the current day Diamond.  Fresh out of college, I managed the Fresno CA Memorial Auditorium as a 500-seat community theater where Westenberg played Billy Bigelow in a Good Company Players production of “Carousel” before he tackled Broadway successfully in several musicals prior to college teaching and now a welcome return to performing.

“A Beautiful Noise” isn’t much to look at with blah contemporary and historic outfits plus routine scenery but wonder of wonders every word of dialogue and each song lyric could be heard distinctly.  A remarkable sound system suggests that the miserable ASU Gammage acoustics can be tamed with the correct equipment.

ASU Gammage must do something about rude audience members who arrive late to disturb the majority of patrons who are in their seats when the show begins.  These errant people stumble over patrons as they struggle, usually with a splashing drink, in the dark to find their seats.  Latecomers MUST be kept in the lobby until the intermission allows them to enter the theater WITHOUT disturbing prompt patrons.  Until ASU Gammage enforces this rule, some patrons will continue to arrive late.

“A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” continues through Sunday, February 1.  To order tickets, call the ASU Gammage box office at 480-965-3434 or order tickets online at www.asugammage.com.

Grade: B

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