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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2021 6:03:00 GMT
At least its an excellent creative team.
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Post by musicalmarge on Apr 11, 2021 23:24:40 GMT
Great idea, bad name
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Post by sukhavati on Aug 31, 2021 3:54:57 GMT
That was one of Neil's concept albums, about being a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, and it was also a huge hit on the radio at the time.
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Post by jamie2c on Dec 19, 2021 18:33:01 GMT
The audience singing along will be annoying.
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Post by theatreian on Apr 3, 2022 9:12:18 GMT
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Post by Mark on Jun 26, 2022 10:40:01 GMT
The audience singing along will be annoying. You can say that again! I saw it last night in Boston. I know very little about Neil Diamond, only a few of his songs, and nothing about the man himself. As a musical it's pretty solid and Will Swenson in particular is great. I did really enjoy the performances and music overall. Act one moves swiftly, ending with Sweet Caroline which was brilliant. Second part of act two is definitely slower, and this is where the book needs the most work as it does start to drag a bit. Audience were pretty rowdy, lots of singing along which was fine but one group in particular did want to make out that they were having a great time and got to the point of being extremely annoying (and drunk). And talking/giggling during the more serious scenes, as well as whole numbers. Saw security talking with the group afterward. The thing about Neil Diamond though... aside from three marriages he's not really the most interesting person to make a musical about, as say Tina or Frankie Valli for example. Will try and see the show again. Circumstances had it that we were at the first Saturday evening performance and this will obviously have brought out the party crowd. |
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Post by karloscar on Dec 5, 2022 13:51:45 GMT
Well the reviews are mostly quite damning. The concept of 80 year old Neil being forced to go to therapy and relive his greatest hits from the psychiatrist's chair sounds like Drowsy Chaperone with all the entertainment removed. I've never been a fan of his songs and the one's I do know don't reveal much if anything about the man himself, so how they can be used to tell his life story seems a bit of a mystery. Further proof that Abba were absolutely right to refuse any kind of biographical show/film with the dismissive "we're too boring".
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Post by singingbird on Dec 5, 2022 16:08:27 GMT
Well the reviews are mostly quite damning. The concept of 80 year old Neil being forced to go to therapy and relive his greatest hits from the psychiatrist's chair sounds like Drowsy Chaperone with all the entertainment removed. I've never been a fan of his songs and the one's I do know don't reveal much if anything about the man himself, so how they can be used to tell his life story seems a bit of a mystery. Further proof that Abba were absolutely right to refuse any kind of biographical show/film with the dismissive "we're too boring". I haven't seen the show, and I would probably not go anyway because I don't like jukebox musicals, but from looking at the song list of this I can see why it doesn't work. The thing about Neil Diamond (speaking as a long-time fan) is he has, broadly, two types of songs - the big pop hits everyone knows and then a wealth of more introspective, thoughtful singer-songwriter material. Occasionally these overlap (I Am I Said, for example) but mainly they don't. The team behind this have gone all out for the famous songs, which is a solid commercial decision, but have almost totally ignored the many songs he wrote about his childhood, struggles with early fame, thirst for success, marriage breakdowns etc etc. There should have been room in the score for songs like Yes I Will, Stargazer, Holiday Inn Blues, Hurting You Don't Come Easy, Streetlife etc. etc. I don't think biographical juke box musicals every really work - people's lives just aren't shaped in a dramatic way - but this would have at least added depth and colour. |
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Post by karloscar on Dec 5, 2022 19:38:08 GMT
Well the reviews are mostly quite damning. The concept of 80 year old Neil being forced to go to therapy and relive his greatest hits from the psychiatrist's chair sounds like Drowsy Chaperone with all the entertainment removed. I've never been a fan of his songs and the one's I do know don't reveal much if anything about the man himself, so how they can be used to tell his life story seems a bit of a mystery. Further proof that Abba were absolutely right to refuse any kind of biographical show/film with the dismissive "we're too boring". I haven't seen the show, and I would probably not go anyway because I don't like jukebox musicals, but from looking at the song list of this I can see why it doesn't work. The thing about Neil Diamond (speaking as a long-time fan) is he has, broadly, two types of songs - the big pop hits everyone knows and then a wealth of more introspective, thoughtful singer-songwriter material. Occasionally these overlap (I Am I Said, for example) but mainly they don't. The team behind this have gone all out for the famous songs, which is a solid commercial decision, but have almost totally ignored the many songs he wrote about his childhood, struggles with early fame, thirst for success, marriage breakdowns etc etc. There should have been room in the score for songs like Yes I Will, Stargazer, Holiday Inn Blues, Hurting You Don't Come Easy, Streetlife etc. etc. I don't think biographical juke box musicals every really work - people's lives just aren't shaped in a dramatic way - but this would have at least added depth and colour. The story is always the struggle for success in Act One, and the problems of success and fame in Act 2. Spending your life doing concert tours doesn't give much opportunity to do other stuff that might be dramatic or interesting to an audience. |
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Post by theatreian on Dec 7, 2022 15:03:49 GMT
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Post by Dr Tom on Apr 8, 2023 21:35:21 GMT
I got to see Neil Diamond in concert several times so I was really looking forward to this. The key songs are all there and performed well. I got to see the alternate, former American Idol winner Nick Fradiani, and he is completely faultless.
The whole show is one of the weakest jukebox musicals I can remember seeing. Neil clearly had an interesting life and there are hints of this, but they're hidden away in "I don't want to talk about that" sections, as if they're completely off limit. It is such a cruel twist of fate that Neil was forced to stop touring, as the musical really makes it clear that the touring is what helped him to keep going with life.
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