In the hit Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise, it takes two actors to portray Neil Diamond: “then” and “now.” A touring version is coming to the Music Hall at Fair Park, presented by Broadway Dallas.
The show is framed by a therapy session as the aging pop star who wrote mega-hits like “I’m a Believer” and “Sweet Caroline” (Tony nominee Robert Westenberg) suffers from self-doubt. In contrast, he’s pure swagger on stage (2015 American Idol winner Nick Fradiani, who played the role on Broadway).
“We meet a superstar with no confidence, despite being known to engage the beast mode in concert … prowling stages in tight pants and a wide-open satin shirt,” New York Times critic Elizabeth Vincentelli wrote in a 2022 review. “He seems perpetually dissatisfied, as if on a fruitless quest — but for what? What gnaws at him?”
Another music man is also headed to Dallas, in fact The Music Man, charming traveling salesman/swindler Harold Hill, presented by the AT&T Performing Arts Center at the Winspear Opera House.
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The title character of Meredith Willson’s 1957 musical comedy, which won six Tony Awards, is out to con the good if skeptical people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments, uniforms and lessons for a boys’ band. He plans to skip town with the money but winds up falling in love with Marian the Librarian.
The opening number, “Rock Island,” is one of the strangest songs in musical theater history. Imitating the chugging sound of a train they’re aboard, other salesmen criticize Hill in what sounds like proto-rap. It contains the repeated signature line, “You gotta know the territory.”
Details
A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical runs March 10-22 at the Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 1st Ave., Dallas. $30-$249. broadwaydallas.org.
The Music Man runs March 12-14 at the AT&T Performing Arts Center at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., Dallas. $45.30-$176.60. attpac.org.