Neil Diamond on “A Beautiful Noise,” Parkinson’s, and being appreciative

The brand-new Broadway program, “A Beautiful Noise,” is the story of a vocalist who’s offered more than 130 million records. Its topic: Neil Diamond, who said that going to the opening was “type of like a dream become a reality. It was definitely terrific.”

With his better half, Katie, by his side, the 82-year-old Diamond, who’s seldom carried out considering that he was identified with Parkinson’s illness, led the crowd in a chorus of “Sweet Caroline.”

There was, he said, a great deal of love in the theatre, “and I felt it.”

Mason asked, “Were you ever getting flashbacks in the middle of the program?”

“I believe continuously, from the minute it began! Like, whatever was a flashback!”

He said he’d wished to make a musical (he believes all songwriters and entertainers have that desire), however as the program was being established, Diamond informed the manufacturers and authors he desired it “warts and all.” “I didn’t always enjoy it, warts and all, however I desired it,” he said.

Will Swenson plays the young Neil Diamond, whose Olympian aspiration reverses 2 marital relationships. Mark Jacoby plays the older Diamond, still haunted by insecurity. Diamond said. “This program belonged to my psychiatric therapy. And it hurt. I didn’t like taking a look at myself in a lot of the scenes.”

What part was hardest? “It all was quite hard. I was a little ashamed, I was flattered, and I was frightened.”

Mason asked, “What were you frightened of?”

“Being discovered is the scariest thing you can hope, due to the fact that all of us have a façade, and the fact be understood to all of ’em, I’m not some huge star; I’m simply me.”

Just a Jewish kid from Brooklyn who wished to be a songwriter.

In 2005, Diamond took “Sunday Morning” back to the Bitter End, the Greenwich Village club where the vocalist got his start. 

He asked, “Can I step up on the phase and see what it seems like to be 25 once again?

“It was my start,” he said. “It was right here.”

In the 1960s Diamond climbed up the charts with hits like “Cherry, Cherry,” “Thank the Lord for the Night Time,” “Holly Holy,” and “Sweet Caroline.”

In the Seventies, with “Cracklin’ Rose,” “Song Sung Blue,” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” he dominated the world. By the Eighties, he was one its most significant show draws. In the ’90s, nobody offered more tickets than the “Jewish Elvis.”

When Diamond and Mason fulfilled once again in 2014 for “CBS This Morning,” the vocalist will go on the roadway once again – and he indicated it wasn’t by option. “I need to, yeah. I do not desire to,” he said.

“So, where does the ‘need to’ originated from?” Mason asked.

“I need to due to the fact that if I wish to preserve any self … ” He stopped briefly. “I do not understand why I need to.”

But in January 2018, Diamond revealed he’d been identified with Parkinson’s illness, a neurological condition that quickly ended his touring profession.

Diamond still routinely visits his Archangel Studio in Los Angeles, where the halls are decked with years’ worth of awards, and where – for the very first time because that medical diagnosis – he discussed dealing with Parkinson’s.

Mason asked, “How hard has it been for you to quit [touring]?”

“Oh, I still have not offered it up, yet. It’s extremely hard,” he responded. “In a sense, I remained in rejection for the very first year or 2. When the physician informed me what it was, I was simply not prepared to accept it. I said, ‘Oh, fine. I’ll see you, you understand, whenever you wanna see me. But I have work to do, so I’ll see you later on.'”

His approval, he confesses, is an operate in development. “I’m still doing it. And I do not like it,” he said. “Okay, so this is the hand that God’s offered me, and I need to reconcile it, therefore I am.”

Mason asked, “Was there a minute because procedure where you lastly sort of did state to yourself, I accept this?”

“I believe this has actually simply remained in the last couple of weeks.”

“Really?”

“But in some way a calm has actually moved [into] the cyclone of my life, and things have actually gotten extremely peaceful, as peaceful as this recording studio,” said Diamond. “And I like it. I discover that I like myself much better. I’m much easier on individuals, I’m much easier on myself. And the beat goes on, and it will go on long after I’m gone.

“I still can sing,” he said.

“Do you require to still sing?”

“Well, I like singing. I’ve been doing it for 50 years, and I enjoy it.”

“What takes place inside you when you sing?”

“I feel good. It’s like, all the systems in my mind and my body are working as one when I’m singing. And it’s a fantastic sensation.”

“[It’s] offered you a quite remarkable life.”

“I’ve had a quite remarkable life, it holds true,” Diamond said. “And the important things was, I wasn’t constantly able to review it and be comfy with it, smile, feel that I deserved it. I believe all of that good things is beginning to come into my life.”

Why? “Well, I can’t actually battle this thing, so I needed to accept it, this Parkinson’s Disease. There’s no treatment. There’s no avoiding it. You can’t simply state, ‘Okay, adequate already. Let’s return to life.’ It does not work like that. But I’ve pertain to accept what constraints I have, and still have excellent days.”

Great days, like an opening night on Broadway.

He said, “I simply need to take life as it pertains to me, enjoy it, be appreciative that I’ve had it, specifically having the life that I’ve had.”

For Neil Diamond, it’s a life worthwhile of a Broadway musical.

Mason asked, “What does it indicate to you?”

“Well, to paraphrase Sally Field, ‘They like me! They actually like me!'” he chuckled.

To listen to the Original Broadway Cast Album of “A Beautiful Noise” click the audio gamer listed below:

      
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Story produced by Jon Carras. Editor: Carol Ross.