After years of acclaimed work on Broadway, including standout performances in Into the Woods, 1776, and Company, Tony nominee Robert Westenberg stepped away from the New York spotlight to focus on teaching, directing, and family life. But when the opportunity to play Neil Diamond in the national tour of A Beautiful Noise came calling, it was an offer he couldn’t pass up.
In this interview, Westenberg talks about what drew him back to performing, the emotional layers of portraying an older Neil Diamond, and how the show offers far more than just a greatest-hits concert. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is currently playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre. For more info and tickets: Broadway San Diego
I haven’t seen the show yet, but I hear it’s about Neil Diamond?
Robert Westenberg: It is indeed!
Just kidding about that one. After a really great career on Broadway, you were away from New York for a while. How did you get the part?
Robert Westenberg: Jim Carnahan, who was the casting director for the show, we’ve known each other for many years when I was in New York, you know, way back when. And he had his assistant ask me if I’d be interested in auditioning for the original Broadway production.
And at the time, I was in Springfield, Missouri, teaching, running a BFA musical theater program at Missouri State University. And I talked to my wife about it and said, “Why not? I’ve been out of the game for 20 years.” So, I sent in the self-tape.
And then Michael Mayer, the director, asked me to come into New York to have a second audition. I did that. And then they told me that it wasn’t going to work out at that time. They gave the role to Mark Jacoby and but said that they would keep me in mind for the future. So, I said, fine.’
And then about a year later, they contacted me and asked me to come out for a music session with Sonny Palladino. And a few weeks after that, they offered me the role in the national tour.
Was that a quick yes, or did you have to think about it?
Robert Westenberg: I had to think about it. I have children and grandchildren and we’re all very happily ensconced in Colorado right now, except for my son, who’s still in Missouri.
But, yeah, it was a lot of thoughtful conversations. But eventually, it was my wife saying, “If you don’t do this, you’re going to regret it.” So, I said ‘yes,’ and here I am.
When you sort of weren’t in New York and actively working, did you miss it?
Robert Westenberg: Sometimes. I mean, I was really, really busy. I was running theater programs and doing a lot of directing and writing and teaching. And I really enjoyed directing a lot. And so, I was still engaged, actively artistically engaged. And really, I mean, I was okay. I was fulfilled with what I was doing at the time.
But then when this opportunity came up, I thought it would be nice to see if there’s any gas left in the tank, you know, to see if I can still do it.
You have had a terrific career. You were in the original Broadway production of 1776 and Into the Woods, the revival of Company. After all that, did you get excited when they offered you the role?
Robert Westenberg: Oh, God, yes. Oh, are you kidding? I don’t have a jaded bone in my body. I was like a little kid again. I mean, it’s the same thrill of the prospect of the project itself, of being accepted at that level, that high industry level of quality and expectations.
I get excited every night before I go on and do the show. I get little butterflies and it’s a brand-new audience. They haven’t seen it before and I’ve got to climb that mountain every night.
I mean, the show is outstanding, and the crowds go ballistic every night. It’s a love fest at the end of the show. And it’s such a joy to do. We have a wonderful cast and the energy is so positive, it’s a thrill. It’s a real thrill and privilege.
How do you go about playing Neil Diamond? Did you do any sort of research? I mean, watch YouTube videos?
Robert Westenberg: Oh, sure. I did. I did all of that. And, of course, read the script over and over again to get an idea of what’s actually happening in the context of the play, in terms of the actions of the scenes and all of that.
And then, yes, studying Neil Diamond, listening to his music all over again. YouTube was extremely helpful to see Neil at different stages of his career, especially for the most recent ones, because I play the older Neil, what’s called Neil Now.
And then once I got into rehearsal, I got to watch Nick Fradiani, who is playing Neil, and he’s absolutely amazing in the role. He’d been doing it on Broadway for at least a year, I think, before he came on the tour. I just watched him a lot in rehearsal. In fact, that’s part of my role, is watching Nick. I sit on stage and I watch Nick and everybody else.
And just getting a sense of his carriage and his demeanor and his rhythms and his center and all that stuff that makes Nick, Nick. I thought it would be smart to try to find some kind of a meld between the two of us so that the credibility of his Neil aging into my Neil would make sense.
Is there a particularly hard part about playing the role?
Robert Westenberg: It has a very strong emotional arc. The end of the play is quite intimate and raw. It’s not a jukebox musical by any means, from expecting sort of a catalog of his songs and a concert of the greatest hits of Neil Diamond. It’s not that. Everything is contextual. Everything has an emotional base. Everything is story-based and relationship-based.
And so my Neil has an issue, has a problem. And I’m not going to give that away, but he needs to solve it, I need to solve it. I have to go through that every night and I’ll say it’s a deep personal excavation in terms of where he’s required to go by the script and by the therapist that he’s working with on stage to get to a place where he has a breakthrough.
That first time you were on stage after being away for a while, was it just like, “I’m back, baby?”
Robert Westenberg: Maybe a little bit, and maybe a little bit of deer in the headlights. I forgot how technical it is in a way with the makeup, the hair, the microphone and all the stuff. But that came back rather quickly.
I mean, I’ve been doing it for almost 50 years or so. But the brightness of the spotlights, it’s an adjustment. And then when I was up there in tech, and we were in Providence, Rhode Island, I went, “Oh, yeah, that’s right.” It’s really, really bright. And it obscures everything else. It eclipses anything. Your peripheral vision is gone. You’re just kind of caught in this haze of light and you have to find your focus, you have find a place and a way to connect and be where you’re supposed to be in the play. So that to me was the biggest adjustment. But it came rather quickly, honestly. It’s just like riding a bike.
You haven’t been on a tour in quite a while either. What’s sort of the biggest change that you’ve noticed? Are things more efficient? Are you enjoying it more?
Robert Westenberg: Well, yes, to both of those. The people who are producing this tour are incredibly efficient and very professional. It’s a first-class operation. Everything’s taken care of. Everything’s anticipated.
I’ve toured before back in the days when you went out and bought a steamer trunk from a secondhand store. I went through all of that but now it’s all really well organized.
One of the considerations of leaving the family for the tour was the fact that there’s Zoom and there’s FaceTime. So, I can connect with my kids and my grandkids and my wife all the time.
Back in the day, you had to rely on taxis, and they were sometimes erratic or they weren’t available or whatever. And now Uber is there and it’s just so simple.
Well, I’m super excited to see this.
Robert Westenberg: It’s exciting to be in it. It’s a thrill to be in a show where you can honestly say to friends and family and strangers, please come see the show. You’re not going to be disappointed.
And as an actor, it’s so encouraging because we know that all of this is going to add up. They’re all taking the journey with you. They’re tilted in our favor before we even start the play because I would say at least 90 percent of them are Neil Diamond fans. And so we’ve got that already. But then we have to earn it.
It’s impactful. It’s entertaining. It’s an origin story and it’s a memory play. It’s a Neil Diamond concert. It’s all of those things wrapped up and integrated into this beautiful piece of storytelling that takes the audience to a really wonderful place every single night.
