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| Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. | |
| Posted by: Deirdre 11:57 pm EDT 06/25/22 | |
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| Full disclosure: not a huge Neil Diamond fan. I don’t really not like him, but I’m not the target audience so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. Will Swenson is fantastic. Best thing about it. He sounds so much like him but doesn’t do an impersonation. I enjoyed his performance very much - he’s having a great time up there and you can feel it. But it’s still just a jukebox musical. And one that veers between camp, a concert and more serious book scenes. And I’m not sure it works all that well. The kids that make up “The Beautiful Noise” are a quasi Greek chorus and they are wonderful - their voices and their dancing are excellent. I’m sure some will dismiss the show as “cruise line entertainment” but I’ve been on cruises and these kids are super talented and they elevate the scenes they are in. It’s not really sure what it wants to be - and I think that’s part of the problem. They are clearly tinkering with it and I hope it gains more cohesion. If you don’t like people singing along, do NOT see this show. Every time a new song would start, the audience would release a huge “awwww!” and wave their arms, clap their hands and sing along. So, it’s really fun for those people. Now, of course I sang along to “Sweet Caroline” at the curtain call because when in Boston…. (And the audience laps it up - and it was fun!) I took my 27 year old daughter (she lives in Boston and that’s why we went - we like to see the pre-Broadway runs together). She wasn’t as familiar with his music (or so she thought - she leaned over a bunch of times and said “oh, he wrote THIS?”) and she felt the book was disjointed and didn’t care about his marriages and never felt like they really got to who he was (the conceit of the show is that he’s going into therapy and the therapist uses his lyrics to understand him) but we both thought there were some funny lines. I think it needs to be campier maybe? I think I enjoyed the sillier scenes more than the serious ones. Anyway - you’ll all see it soon enough, I suppose. :) Next one we see in July: 1776! (I’m very excited for that.) |
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| re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. | |
| Posted by: Guillaume 03:18 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
| In reply to: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Deirdre 11:57 pm EDT 06/25/22 | |
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| Thanks so much for your post, it brought back a flood of memories of my life in Boston. There is nothing sweeter in theatrical life than being in Boston for a tryout of a new Broadway bound show. I saw several of them when I lived on Beacon Hill in the 1970s and 1980s. Somehow when you are sitting and watching the great ones (Tandy/Cronin's Gin Game comes first to mind) you know that any kinks will be smoothed over and the show is going to fly and make history. I felt the same seing Pacific Overtures from the high balcony; I was almost vibrating with excitement during "Please/Hello". Your child is very lucky that you care enough about live theatre to share these experiences together, you must know you are giving your child memories for their entire life. Not just for knowing theatre, you are sharing experiences that your child will remember forever. My parents did the same for me, even if I was seeing tours in a tent (imagine seeing Angela Lansbury doing Gypsy in a tent in a thunderstorm!), those are still very sweet memories long after they are gone. That is the magic of live theatre -- it forces you to participate and share and create memories. |
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| Sharing live theatre with your kids | |
| Posted by: LynnO 01:42 am EDT 06/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Guillaume 03:18 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| Thank you for your post, brings back fond memories for me too. I'll try to be short, but by the age of 16, my daughter had seen more theatre than most people see in a lifetime. By the time she was five, we had PHANTOM OF THE OPERA memorized, and when we were in the car, she would sing Christine's parts, and I would sing the Phantom and Raoul. She absolutely LOVED Douglas Sills in PIMPERNEL, but I was mortified when she would sing "Madame Guillotine" in front of friends and family at the age of 7. She went through a "dark period" from 13 to 17, and yet we still managed to bond over SPRING AWAKENING, following the tour around enough that we got to know the cellist! She is now 29, and her theatre-going dropped off over the years, and now I really have to work hard to get her to join me for one show a year. We just went to the amazing Music Circus production of KINKY BOOTS, and I believe that she was energized to go with me more than once a year, but we'll see. Long story short, I don't know if her early exposure to PHANTOM led her to take up the cello in fourth grade, but I think it influenced her a bit, because I never played classical music for her. She kept up the cello throughout high school, becoming a cello teacher for younger kids, and now plays in a professional symphony orchestra! I hope that she will always look back on our shared theatre experiences as fondly as I do. | |
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| re:On seeing pre-Broadway tryouts in Boston | |
| Last Edit: hugoP 12:39 am EDT 06/27/22 | |
| Posted by: hugoP 12:38 am EDT 06/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Guillaume 03:18 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| I was also lucky enough to see PACIFIC OVERTURES during its pre-Broadway tryout. I was 15 years old and, up til then, had only seen local productions of Golden Age musicals and, on Broadway, had only seen PIPPIN and GODSPELL. I, too, was in the high balcony, far from the stage, but was still blown away by numbers like "Please Hello" and "Four Black Dragons"...but "Someone in a Tree" changed the way I looked at live theatre. I couldn't believe one song could be so funny, so fascinating, so smart, so revelatory and so moving. That performance ignited a lifelong appreciation for Sondheim and how he explored history. Both ASSASSINS and PACIFIC OVERTURES are two shows I love rediscovering any time I can see a production. | |
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| re: Such a beautiful sentiment regarding live theatre.. | |
| Last Edit: wendy7 09:44 pm EDT 06/26/22 | |
| Posted by: wendy7 09:42 pm EDT 06/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Guillaume 03:18 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| My parents shared this gift it with me, taking me to local productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, in which a family member performed. (I vividly remember they owned two cast albums of the times--Hair and Fiddler--to which we listened all the time.) I, in turn, have shared this love with my children and they have become avid theatre goers, as evidenced by taking in "The Lehman Trilogy" without knowing anything about it or that it was 3 hours long (and loving it.) | |
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| re: Such a beautiful sentiment regarding live theatre.. | |
| Posted by: bowtie7 05:50 pm EDT 06/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Such a beautiful sentiment regarding live theatre.. - wendy7 09:42 pm EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| My mother took me to my first show, a college performance of H M S Pinafore, admission was 25 cents. We just kept going to shows, finally getting to a professional production, the national tour of The Gin Game with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn--talk about starting at the top of the mountain--very few productions in 50 years of theatre going were of that quality. | |
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| re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. | |
| Posted by: Deirdre 06:50 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Guillaume 03:18 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| It’s interesting what you can get tickets to and what sells out really quickly in Boston. We had luck with “American Utopia” and this one but “Plaza Suite” was sold out when I tried to get tickets. That’s why I jumped on “1776” as soon as I received the email. And your kids hit a certain age when they have their own lives and you have to work harder to spend time with them. We spent so much of their childhoods in Broadway theaters and I figured this was something she probably wouldn’t do for herself but that we could share together. It’s worked out well! Thanks for sharing your memory of “Pacific Overtures” - I hope we have a moment like that! |
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| re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. | |
| Posted by: PlazaBoy 01:03 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
| In reply to: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - Deirdre 11:57 pm EDT 06/25/22 | |
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| "So, it’s really fun for those people." That made me smile, as I have felt that way at many a show. You put it more nicely than I might have. People singing along is among my least favorite things. Very helpful review, thank you for posting. |
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| re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. | |
| Posted by: Deirdre 06:44 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Saw The Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise tonight. - PlazaBoy 01:03 am EDT 06/26/22 | |
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| It was hard work to be that nice. It’s not my favorite thing either. I’m in the “I didn’t pay to hear you sing” camp. They encouraged singing along with one song and that worked but there were quieter scenes where it was more frustrating. | |
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