A Beautiful Noise

Thursday, October 2, 2025

We went to see the travelling Broadway Neil Diamond musical tonight. Whooo was it good! We got the stand-by Neil – then (Neil – now is narrating the story while talking about his life to his therapist. Neil – then is the Neil of back then and a major player in the show. I was a bit bummed that we were getting a stand-by because the regular guy won American Idol in 2015 and maybe he was really good. Also, what is a stand-by, not an understudy? I looked it up. A stand-by is covering one role, is usually off-stage during the show, and has to be ready to perform at a moment’s notice. Huh. New to me. It turned out that our guy was terrific and I can’t imagine the other guy being better).

They were singing Song Sung Blue and I was all of a sudden just itchy to sing along. What was that about? I know LOTS of songs from LOTS of shows and I never am busting out to sing along. Tonight, I really was – and then they gave us the okay to sing along! Some blue stage lights beamed out at us, and lest we be unsure, the house lights came up 30%. We were meant to join. It was just a little bit, but it felt so good. At the end of act one, Neil was struggling to write a song that needed to be good and needed to be done quickly. He said then it came to him – in less than half an hour – and his future, his kids’ future, and everything else was set forever. By the first chorus of Sweet Caroline, the lights were up again and we were definitely singing along. Or at least I was. I looked at Keith. Stone faced as usual when singing is happening. The two ladies in front of me were into it. I looked at the section in front of us but couldn’t tell if people were singing. Some people were, but it wasn’t very loud. I was singing (buh buh baaaa). I looked down my row and saw the sober, still faces of Minnesotans. The woman next to me almost made me laugh out loud. She was facing the stage, but her eyes were bugged out and looking my way – every bit of her was screaming, “What is this woman next to me doing????!!! She is singing along????”

I was singing and it was great. I think I saw Neil Diamond at a Longaberger convention in the mid-90s. It was definitely someone named Neil. He was the surprise entertainment and I remember people being VERY excited. I remember knowing some songs. I remember thinking “isn’t this person dead?” I can truly say that at about 30 years old I assumed anyone that had had hit songs ago (like when I was growing up) must be dead. He is not dead now and is 20 years older than I am. Anyway, I think I saw him and enjoyed it. Kristine, were you there?