Producers Ken Davenport and Bob Gaudio announced today that the previously untitled Broadway-bound new musical that will tell the incredible life story of legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, now has its name – A Beautiful Noise – and will have its world premiere at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre next summer with performances for this strictly limited four-week engagement starting Tuesday, June 21, 2022 and playing through Sunday, July 17, 2022. The news marks the first new show to announce an engagement at this legendary theater since the pandemic forced the shutdown of live entertainment.
Diamond said, “I’ve had the joy of coming to Boston on countless occasions, but one of the most special was my 2013 trip to Fenway where I had the honor of being part of a moment of relief, unity, strength, and love. Next summer, when A Beautiful Noise has its first performance at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, and we’re all able to safely be in the same space together, experiencing the thrill of live theater, I imagine those same emotions will wash over me and the entire audience. Relief… Unity… Strength… Love… I can’t wait to share that experience.”
In addition, Olivier Award® winner and four-time Tony Award® nominee Steven Hoggett (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Once, Black Watch) will choreograph A Beautiful Noise. Hogget joins four-time Academy Award®-nominee Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything), who is penning the book, and Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening).
Long loved by Boston, Diamond first played Revere, MA, in 1967 and he has subsequently played Boston and surrounding areas almost 40 times, visiting the city in each decade of his 50+ years of performing.
His iconic song “Sweet Caroline” has become an anthem to Red Sox fans where at every home game an eighth-inning singalong takes place at Fenway Park. The song’s connection to Boston was seared into the hearts of millions when, in the immediate aftermath of the 2013 Marathon Bombing, teams around the Major Leagues played the song to show solidarity with the city while at Fenway, Diamond himself took to the field to sing an emotional rendition of 1969 classic.
With his first break into songwriting in the 1960’s and his meteoric rise in the 1970’s, and plenty of crushing disappointments and heart-stopping triumphs along the way, Neil Diamond has maintained an almost unthinkable level of superstardom for five straight decades. How did a poor, Jewish kid from Brooklyn become one of the most universally adored showmen of all time? There’s only one way to tell it: a musical set to his era- and genre-defining smash hits that entranced the world.
In its storied history, the Emerson Colonial Theatre has debuted such seminal Broadway shows as Anything Goes, Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma!, Born Yesterday, Follies, A Little Night Music, Grand Hotel, and La Cage aux Folles, among others.
Reviving a great theatrical tradition, Ambassador Theatre Group’s newly restored Emerson Colonial Theatre officially re-opened its doors in July 2018 and has hosted the pre-Broadway world premieres of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, David Byrne’s American Utopia, and Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Emerson Colonial Theatre, which opened in 1900 with a production of Ben-Hur, is the oldest continuously operated theater in Boston; as well as being amongst the most magnificent, having retained most of its original period details.
Casting, creative team, and ticket on sale dates for A Beautiful Noise in Boston will be announced shortly.
