Nick Fradiani Brings Childhood Memories of Neil Diamond to A Beautiful Noise

Nick Fradiani, the singer-songwriter and Season 14 American Idol winner, was three or four years old when he first saw Neil Diamond live—his first concert experience.

If Fradiani was too young to remember the concert all these years later, he has many distinct memories of bonding with his musician father over a shared love of Diamond’s music. “My whole life was going out and watching my dad gig and play at different places—he would always do Neil Diamond music,” Fradiani told Tamsen Fadal on The Broadway Show. Diamond’s The Christmas Album was big at home around Christmastime too, the singer’s smooth, earthy tones and distinctive phrasing making a big impression on the young Nick. “Me and my dad would jokingly sing in the Neil voice: ‘O come, o come Emmanuel…’”

All that childhood practice has come seriously in handy. In his Broadway debut, Fradiani now portrays Neil Diamond—the singer-songwriter behind such evergreen hits as “Sweet Caroline,” “Cherry, Cherry,” “Red Red Wine” and “I’m a Believer”—eight times a week in A Beautiful Noise on Broadway, having recently taken over the role and the sequin suit from Will Swenson.

It’s been a good excuse for Fradiani to resume his Neil Diamond studies in earnest. He spent a year and a half analyzing videos on YouTube and absorbing Diamond’s voice (speaking and singing), mannerisms and general aura. “You want to do it justice every night.”

None of that research prepared Fradiani for the experience of meeting the man himself. “It was more just kind of being in awe,” said Fradiani. “Just being in his presence was really cool.”

If A Beautiful Noise is a culminating moment for Fradiani, the same could be said for Diamond himself. Around 1989—when Fradiani saw Diamond in concert—the singer was set to work on a film project about his experiences as a young contract songwriter, based on his album Beautiful Noise. That movie project never materialized, but the new musical explores that chapter of Diamond’s life and much more besides.

“I'm glad that people are getting to see his real story,” said Fradiani. “This is the first time it's really been told and this is how he wanted it to be told.”

A few years after his first musical—the national tour of A Bronx Tale in 2019—Fradiani feels totally at home in musical theater. “I just fell in love with it. I've fallen in love with the acting side of it and the camaraderie of the cast and everything. It feels like I'm back in a band, where you have the wins together, you have the losses together—you create something together.” (It’s a bonus that Fradiani’s girlfriend, Lauren Celentano, is performing a street away in Moulin Rouge!)

Plus, Nick and his father have gotten to bond over the music, just like in the old days. “I think it's probably been the most proud I've ever seen my dad— when he comes and gets to see me do these songs.”