When Nick Fradiani was 3 or 4 years old, his father took him to see Neil Diamond in concert. When Fradiani became a pop singer himself, he did some covers of Diamond songs that got millions of hits online.
Now, the Guilford native and “American Idol” Season 14 winner is portraying the glittery pop legend on the national tour of “ A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical ,” which opens The Bushnell ‘s 2024-25 Broadway subscription season Oct. 1-6.
Fradiani played Diamond on Broadway throughout the show’s run.
“I had just moved into my home in Connecticut when I heard about it,” Fradiani said. “They told me they had already cast the lead, which was disappointing, but they said they might be looking for an understudy.”
Fradiani was able to perform the lead role on Wednesdays and at select other times for the first year of the Broadway run, then took over as the star for the next eight months.
The Broadway run closed in June. The tour was rehearsed over the summer and opened last week in Providence, Rhode Island. Hartford is only the second stop.
Similar to “The Cher Show,” which played The Bushnell earlier this year, Neil Diamond is portrayed by two different actors with a present-day Diamond (“Neil — Now”) in therapy talking about the many stages of his career (“Neil — Then”). Fradiani plays the “Then” version, which encompasses Diamond’s early days as a songwriter for other artists (he wrote “I’m a Believer” for The Monkees) and his solo hitmaking phase of “Cherry, Cherry,” “Sweet Caroline” and his classic duet “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” Robert Westenberg, whose Broadway credits include several Stephen Sondheim musicals, plays Diamond’s “Now” version on the tour.
Other than Fradiani, the touring cast is different from the Broadway one. Broadway shows sometimes get subjected to rewrites or redesigns before they hit the road, but Fradiani said “not a line has changed” and the only alterations to the set are due to it being a touring show now.
“It’s also the same wardrobe — the same 90 things I wear every night,” Fradiani said, laughing that his fashion style is not the same as the more extravagant Diamond, who was known for his sequined jumpsuits. “It’s just not me, but that’s what makes this fun for me.”
Fradiani said his voice and Diamond’s “have a similar tone at times, but I studied and watched him so I could sound just like him.” Fradiani has met Diamond numerous times and also had many phone conversations. Diamond has been in poor health for years, having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018, and no longer performs.
Fradiani grew up singing in bands, including one with his musician father, Nick Fradiani Sr. The Fradianis’ band, Beach Avenue, won a battle of the bands competition at Mohegan Sun. “It was kind of hard to find our lane as a pop/rock band” in the rather punky local music scene of the time,” Fradiani Jr. recalled. “So we had to be creative and do a lot of online stuff. That’s how we got on ‘America’s Got Talent.’”
A version of Beach Avenue appeared on that TV competition in 2014. They didn’t win, but not long afterwards Fradiani took home the “American Idol” crown.
Fradiani had never done live theater before being approached for a national tour of “A Bronx Tale, The Musical” which played locally at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. Neil Diamond is just his second role in a musical and it’s “a heavy role,” he said.
“The show is really well done. It’s a play within a rock concert,” Fradiani said. “It’s deep and heartfelt, with Neil Diamond looking back at his life.”
Asked if there’s a particular scene that’s especially meaningful to him, Fradiani mentioned an early one where Diamond makes his debut as a performing artist at a cafe in New York. “It reminded me of myself,” Fradiani said, recalling his days playing Connecticut clubs with his various bands.
He has continued to work on his music career, releasing a solo album in 2022 “on the same week that I made my Broadway debut.” He also had six weeks between the end of the Broadway run of “A Beautiful Noise” and the beginning of its national tour to spend on personal projects. In July, he performed at the Savin Rock Festival in West Haven.
Fradiani is also still living in Connecticut. He and his girlfriend Lauren Celentano — also a Connecticut native — now live in Branford, and also keep a New York City apartment which is handy when they are working on Broadway.
Celentano was in the Broadway production of “Moulin Rouge” and will be in the forthcoming musical based on the movie “Death Becomes Her.”
Fradiani, who has also lived in East Haven, West Haven and Milford, said he gets together with his old Beach Avenue bandmates “all the time” and still regularly collaborates with the band’s guitarist Nick Abraham.
He said playing The Bushnell, where he has seen shows but has never been on stage, feels special.
“Connecticut has always been home,” he said. “The support I get there has always been incredible. It’s always a blessing.”
“A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” runs Oct. 1-6 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. $48-$204. bushnell.org .
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