V B

I saw "A Beautiful Noise," my first Broadway show ever, in mid-June 2024. I have been a Neil Diamond fan for many years and have had the opportunity to see him in concert several times. Although I am a long-time fan, the story line gave me a new perspective of his life and music so that was a definite plus for me. While this play had his outstanding music, had many really good cast members and was generally well done, I am sorry to say the actor who played "Neil - Then," Alec Michael Ryan was subpar. His voice was okay but he was way over the top in the "hammy" department. And where on earth did they get that wig for Neil in the later stages of his career? It was a joke and truly was so phony that it was a distraction from the performance. All I could think of was the way Elvis looked shortly before his death. Mark Jacoby (Neil - Now) was really good and brought tears to my eyes as he performed "I Am - I Said." The other cast members were also very good. I had read about the audience not behaving well during the show...but that really wasn't the case during the performance that I attended. Honestly, if the main actor had been better, this would have been a 5 star review. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as it could have been.