The legendary Neil Diamond is the subject of the next big musical coming to the Wharton Center at Michigan State University this month. Nick Fradiani stars as Diamond in this touring production of "A Beautiful Noise."
You might remember him as the winner of "American Idol" on television in 2015. In the ten years since then, his career has taken him to Broadway and now this star turn in "A Beautiful Noise."
He’s the son of a professional musician, and believe it or not, the first concert he ever attended was to see Neil Diamond. He was young enough that he doesn’t really remember it.
“It sounds made up, but it’s not,” he explained. “I remember being 18, 19, I was like ‘Dad, who did I see first ever live?’ He was like ‘Besides me, you saw Neil Diamond. We took you at 3, and people were looking at us like we were nuts for taking this little kid.’ I was like ‘Yeah, I hope you gave me ear plugs.’ He’s like “I don’t think we did.”
When "A Beautiful Noise" opened on Broadway in 2022, Fradiani was the understudy for the lead role, and he moved up to star in the show the next year.
He was there when Neil Diamond himself delighted the opening night Broadway audience by leading a sing-along of his most beloved song, "Sweet Caroline."
Diamond stopped performing in 2018 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Now, Nick Fradiani gets to sing that iconic song and many other hits.
He’s also become friendly with Diamond and his wife Katie, who recently saw the show a second time. It was during intermission at the famous Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and this time, Fradiani was in the lead role.
"I’m putting on my all-white sequins and my wig guy’s putting my '70s wig on, and my stage manager comes in and they said ‘Neil wants to talk to you,’ and I’m like ‘Now? OK’. So I walk in there with the sequins, boots, my wig, looking like, trying to pretend to be him, and I sat with him for the entire intermission.”
Fradiani is careful to say that he isn’t doing a cheesy Neil Diamond tribute act. It was important to him to get the look and the voice right. His goal is for fans to feel as though they’re seeing Diamond live again after all these years.
“I just said the one thing I know people are going to want, first and foremost, is his voice."
“That was the first thing that I obsessed over, was let me get this voice as close as I can without it being an impersonation," he said. "I watched a lot of interviews, you know? And then, his mannerisms, of course, his hand movements and the way he moved his body, the way he held his guitar, was also something that I worked at.”
Naturally, it’s "Sweet Caroline" that brings the house down in this show. Fradiani has performed the song more than 1,000 times now.
“IAt first, people are like ‘How can you sing that song so many times?’, but I go ‘You’ve got to see how happy it makes people every time,'" he said.
"They’re so, so happy, and it’s cool to hear people all singing together. Act I, you’re not really supposed to sing, but in the big finale, 3,000 people every night singing that song together? It’s really cool.”
"A Beautiful Noise" has eight shows at the Wharton Center, starting Tuesday, September 16.
The Wharton Center is a financial supporter of WKAR.
