A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is playing at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre until November 9, 2026, before making its way to Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from November 14, 2026.
More information and tickets via theneildiamondmusical.com.au
Following successful runs on Broadway and across North America, A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical celebrates the extraordinary life and career of one of the best-selling musicals in history.
Some of Diamond’s greatest achievements include being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, having forty top 40 hits to his name and selling more than 130 million records worldwide.
I wasn’t overly familiar with Diamond’s extensive career, only knowing his more popular songs like Sweet Caroline and Solitary Man through osmosis, and Cherry, Cherry and Soolaimon thanks to the 2025 biographical film Song Sung Blue in which Hugh Jackman plays a Diamond tribute act alongside Kate Hudson. But A Beautiful Noise is packed with enough facts without ever feeling stale, showy or obvious.
Structured around a series of sessions with his therapist (Monica Sayers) during which Diamond (- now, Terence Crawford) reads from a book of his lyrics and recalls corresponding moments in his life including being raised by Polish immigrants; starting his career writing songs for artists like The Monkees, Lulu and Cliff Richard; highlights and lowlights of the music industry/touring; his surprising former ties with the mafia; and relationships with ex-wives – high school sweetheart Jaye Posner (Alana Tranter) and production assistant Marcia Murphey (Ashleigh Rubenach).
Rather than play out chronologically, Anthony McCarten’s clever book, along with Michael Mayer’s sharp direction, is textbook example of taking the simple concept of an autobiographical jukebox musical and elevating it in a smart, considered and ambitious way. A Beautiful Noise is emotional and often times confronting, yet still manages to keep things light, humorous, factual and celebratory throughout.
Amongst the high-energy concert numbers (where the audience is encouraged to get involved) and emotional ballads; the songs that best tie the musical’s themes together, elevating it above others like it, is Shilo and I Am… I Said (arguably the production’s best number).
Considering how involved Diamond was in all aspects of his touring life before it sadly came to an end following his 2018 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, it’s no surprise that he was heavily involved in A Beautiful Noise’s creation alongside Bob Gaudio, Ken Davenport and Anthony McCarten. Rather than being ego-led and shying away from moments he’s not proud of or the painful parts of his life, you get the feeling Diamond has gone through a lot to get to the good place he is in now.
I assume celebrating the talents of the band was also important to the creative team as each member of the skillful band gets a moment to shine, so make sure you stick around after curtain call. The musical as a whole feels very collaborative, and I attribute that to Diamond too.
Steven Hogget’s choreography is exceptional. He does many things I’ve never seen before – from hidden stage entrances to look like memories coming out of Diamond’s mind, fluid movements during the softer moments and of course, high energy performances that’ll make you want to get up and dance. Paired with Emilio Sosa’s colourful costume design, the dance numbers really are one of A Beautiful Noise’s greatest strengths, and accredit to the hard working, large ensemble.
I thought David Rockwell’s scenic design and Kevin Adams’ lighting design also played around with the idea of memories. The stage is kept minimal with guitar-like stringed shapes moved around as needed. I likened them to be threads of memories, just as Adams’ use of different shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling represented lighting from different venues Diamond has seem in his career. Whether this was the intention or not, I don’t know, but that’s my assumption. Adams, however, turns the dial up to eleven during the performance numbers, especially Sweet Caroline to kick of Act II. It’s every bit electric and chaotic, similar to what you’d find at a modern day rock concert.
Reprising his role from the Broadway production, Will Swenson is sensational as Diamond-then. As the show’s driving force, he’s given a lot to do – from emotional beats, hyping up the crowd during performances (even throwing some Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! into the mix), and both personal and professional growth. Swenson’s boundless energy and enthusiasm for the role as well as nailing Diamond’s voice, swagger and charm is worth the price of admission alone. Although I have no doubt that his standby, highly experienced performer, Rob Mallett would also put on a great show.
Crawford handles a lot of the heavy emotional lifting too. He starts off being skeptical about therapy (encouraged to attend by his third wife Katie) through to self-reflective and accepting. I loved Crawford’s performance, and the dynamic between him and Sayers works a treat.
Rubenach is also a standout as Diamond’s second wife Marcia. Sharing a 25-year marriage with him, she goes from opinionated temptress to frustrated mother-of-two. Her fabulous rendition of Forever In Blue Jeans is one of the musical’s highlights, even though it feels out of place compared to the rest of the songs. Diamond’s other songs are better incorporated to reflect their relationship though, with Play Me used as a sweet love song during their romantic high point, while You Don’t Bring Me Flowers works well as their break-up song.
Personal favourite Tim Wright has a lot of fun with his dual roles. While his stage time is brief, he has many memorable and comedic moments which makes him a pleasure to watch.
I’m not usually a fan of jukebox musicals nor am I the target audience for this, yet I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly. Good times never seemed so good! So good! So good!
4.5/5 STARS
TINSEL and TAP SHOES 