A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical: An interview with a young Diamond

All it took was one glance at the audience for Nick Fradiani to settle into his character the first time he stepped onstage for the Broadway production, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. 

The Connecticut native proved that it’s a myth that actors are so blinded by the footlights they can’t see the audience, because he could definitely see the excitement and happiness as he began the slow, acoustic ramp-up for “America”, slipping into the embodiment of legendary crooner, Neil Diamond.

“I was nervous. I thought, ‘Are people going to like me?’” he says. “But I took one look and I knew I had them.”

It’s likely that Fradiani – lead in the tour of A Beautiful Noise, which opened this week at the Providence Performing Arts Center – “had them” because he’d trained his tenor baritone voice to drop an octave into Diamond’s range. This makes it incredibly difficult to discern him from the star.

“I see people in the audience nudging each other saying ‘He sounds just like him!’” Fradiani laughs.

To get there, the performer, who won the American Idol competition in 2015, focused on Diamond’s classic “I Am… I Said.”

“It’s one of his lowest songs, so I would practice his tone,” Fradiani says.

A Beautiful Noise offers all of Diamond’s classics in an interesting spin on the jukebox musical. The performer agreed to the show because of its honest look at a complicated life. It is framed around Diamond’s reluctant visits to a therapist and how the woman pulls him through sessions by focusing on the meaning behind many of his hits.

“If you’re a Neil Diamond fan, I promise you’re going to love this show, but you’ll also get his incredible heartfelt story because he never told it before. He’s incredibly private,” says Fradiani, who cherishes a handwritten note from the singer that says, “I love your version of ‘Heartlight.’”

When he first read the show, Fradiani says he was “stunned” by the emphasis on mental health.

“It’s incredibly courageous and not something that was as accepted by his generation,” he says of Diamond. “It helps us accept and understand why he is the way he is and why he feels the way he feels. The message is that you’re enough on your own. He’s not just his songs, he’s so much more.”

Fradiani’s own history is intertwined with Diamond’s songs. His parents took him to a concert at the age of three and he recalls listening to albums growing up. His part in the “American Idol” finale was a medley of “Sweet Caroline” and “America.” When performing his own music, the sound is more boy-band-pop in nature, but his ability to copy voices helps him embody Diamond beautifully.

“We have the same natural tone,” Fradiani says, adding, “it almost feels strange now when I do my own stuff!”

“A Beautiful Noise” runs through Sept. 28 at PPAC. For more information or tickets, go to www.ppacri.org.