Backstage at the Princess Theatre, a row of guitars lines the wall, each one tagged with the name of the song that will be played on it.
asserted
that → line → it
The crew swaps them in and out through the night without missing a beat.
asserted
crew → swap → beat
A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical tells the story of Neil Diamond’s life and career through 25 of his songs, including all the classics – performed by Broadway star Will Swenson – tracing his journey from struggling songwriter to international rock star.
asserted
Noise → tell → star
From the seats of the historic venue, the audience watching the jukebox musical sees Swenson burst into song after song from Diamond’s career.
asserted
Swenson → watch → career
For much of the night, the crowd isn’t just listening: many sway and dance in their seats, and sing along to the tunes they know by heart.
asserted
they → listen → heart
Behind the scenes, a live nine-piece band is turning that performance into a full-blown concert, the noise hitting the back of the room as hard as it leaves the stage.
asserted
it → turn → stage
That line of labelled guitars is the result of precision by a guitar technician, just one member of the huge army of unseen labour behind the show, which has been selling out during its Melbourne run (it finishes there on November 7 before its Sydney opening on November 14, before heading to Brisbane next year).
asserted
it → label → Brisbane
The Princess Theatre, which seats 1500 people, has welcomed more than 100,000 theatregoers since the show’s Australian premiere in August, and many performances have come close to selling out, with the “House Full” sign a regular sight out front.
asserted
sign → seat → front
That’s a change in a particularly tough season for musical theatre, with two blockbuster productions cancelled in June.
asserted
productions → ’ → June
Waitress scrapped its Sydney season because of weak ticket sales, a week after national dates for Beetlejuice were axed.
asserted
dates → scrap → Beetlejuice
We went behind the scenes to find out.
asserted
We → go → scenes
The man who watches
Sunk into a chair, a man dressed in muted attire leans forward with a heavy, bowed posture.
asserted
man → watch → posture
Before an audience anticipating spectacle, the man sits under a cool wash of lilac light – and begins to speak.
asserted
man → anticipate → light
It is one of the few moments all night when he is asked to do so.
asserted
he → ask → moments
The musical follows Diamond as a Brooklyn kid with a guitar who becomes one of the bestselling artists of all time.
asserted
who → follow → time
The older Diamond (played by Terence Crawford) watches on with a reflective eye, occasionally attempting to intervene in his own past.
asserted
Diamond → play → past
It is framed by a present-day therapy session, in which the older Diamond reluctantly sits down with a therapist (Monica Sayers), who tries to encourage him to open up about the feelings behind his lyrics.
asserted
who → frame → lyrics
A veteran of Australian stage and screen, Crawford plays Neil Diamond in the present.
asserted
Crawford → play → present
He is the musical’s fixed point: a man seated in a therapist’s office, watching his youth erupt behind him in song.
asserted
youth → fix → song
He must convey the weight of a life’s memories without the words to articulate them.
asserted
He → convey → them
“The thing I discovered during rehearsal is that the bits where I’m not talking are actually the role,” Crawford says.
asserted
Crawford → discover → rehearsal
“I do most of that in silence, in other people’s words, as I receive them,” he says.
asserted
he → do → them
“That’s the hardest bit.”
asserted
That → ’ → ?
Crawford approached the role with a researcher’s diligence.
asserted
Crawford → approach → diligence
I was a huge fan of just about everybody except Neil Diamond,” he says.
asserted
he → say → Diamond
So he did the homework: more than 30 albums and a playlist of favourites – “a very pleasant research exercise”, as he puts it.
asserted
he → put → it
What struck him was the lack of ornament; feelings expressed in plain words.
asserted
struck → strike → words
“Neil Diamond’s great gift is that he speaks very directly,” Crawford says.
asserted
Crawford → speak → ?
“It’s directly from the heart, and it goes directly into that.
asserted
it → ’ → that
But the music alone cannot narrate an entire life.
asserted
music → narrate → life
Before each performance, Crawford fills the gaps with a backstory of his own invention.
asserted
Crawford → fill → invention
He imagines Diamond sitting by a pool, where his wife’s command to get his act together sobers him up to the realisation that he has hit rock bottom.
asserted
he → imagine → bottom
“That’s just a little imaginative place that I go to as the curtain’s about to go up,” he says.
asserted
he → ’ → that
When the curtain rises, his private world meets a public one.
asserted
world → rise → one
Crawford digests an uncanny reality: a colleague inhabiting the same character, a singular but fluid identity split between them.
asserted
Crawford → digest → them
As Swenson kneels in a tearful confession to his wife, Crawford silently mirrors the movement, holding the posture as if absorbing the blow himself.
asserted
Crawford → kneel → blow
It is a delicate arrangement, one that depends, Crawford says, on “a bond that you can trust”.
asserted
you → depend → that
Without it, “it’d be harder for me to look at it as being my former self.”
asserted
me → look → it
Watching his younger counterpart, Crawford sees a familiar, probing fear: the terror of the work running out.
asserted
work → watch → fear
“Sam Neill says before he died that he feared retirement much more than death,” he says.
asserted
he → say → death
…and 84 more, not listed.
The Aporia
