Meet Will Swenson. He's playing Neil Diamond in the jukebox musical 'A Beautiful Noise'

When Rod Stewart performed Neil Diamond’s 1969 Top 10 hit “Sweet Caroline” for Queen Elizabeth II at her Platinum Jubilee Concert in London earlier this month, it confirmed that Diamond’s music still has legions of fans the world over.

And greater Boston – where Diamond first played the Beach Ball in Revere in 1967, and where “Sweet Caroline” has been not only an eighth-inning singalong staple at Red Sox games at Fenway Park but the anthem of Red Sox Nation since 1997 – is home to many of them.

Diamond secured his place in the hearts of Bostonians when, on April 20, 2013, he made an unscheduled appearance at Fenway to perform the song at the first Red Sox game after the Boston Marathon bombing.

So it’s only fitting that “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” will have its world premiere at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, from June 21 through July 31, before beginning previews Nov. 2 at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.

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While the 81-year-old Diamond, who stopped touring in 2018 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, will not perform in the musical based on his life, he has been working behind the scenes to get it ready for Boston and then Broadway.

“We’ve had Zoom feeds with Neil, and he’s also been in the rehearsal room,” said Tony Award-nominated singer and actor Will Swenson (“Hair,” “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert,” “110 In the Shade”) during a telephone interview from his home in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. “It’s bizarre to look over and see him watch his life story unfold in front of him.”

For Swenson, who plays Neil Diamond (Then) in the show that also features Tony Award nominee Mark Jacoby (“Showboat,” “Ragtime”) as Neil Diamond (Now), it’s an opportunity to observe the singer-songwriter who has sold more than 130 million albums, and had 10 No. 1 songs on the Adult Contemporary charts plus 38 Top 10 songs.

“The other day, he was singing along with us on ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show,’ with his hands in the air,” Swenson said.

“We sat together for about a half-hour, and it was wonderful,” Swenson said. “He asked about the sound system, and we talked about some of his songs and how I’m caring for my voice so that I’ll be able to sing them eight shows a week.”

Swenson not imitating Diamond

A native of Provo, Utah, Swenson said he knew from the outset that he didn’t want to impersonate the Diamond, whose hits include “I’ve Been This Way Before,” “Song Sung Blue” and “America.”

“Neil has a gravely, gritty sound. If you go for absolute imitation, you run into trouble,” he said. “What we need to do is to honor his sound and honor his music.”

Helping Swenson achieve these goals is a creative team led by book writer and four-time Academy Award nominee Anthony McCarten (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”), and Tony Award-nominated choreographer Steven Hoggett (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”).

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“Our book writer and our director have fashioned this show beautifully. There is amazing interplay between the characters.

“Anthony and Michael have creatively put together a non-linear story that does an incredible job detailing Neil’s life in an emotional way,” Swenson said. “And Mark and I have evolved our performances so that we’re coming from one point of view, to tell one story.”

From humble roots to superstardom

That story revolves around Diamond – once described as just a poor Jewish kid from Brooklyn – who began writing music in the 1960s and by the 1970s was a superstar. Along the way, there were both disappointments and triumphs – from failed marriages to record-setting concert tours, hit record after hit record, and, more recently, having to give up touring.

“He’s had an amazing life while also facing some real challenges, which I think everyone will relate to in this story,” said Swenson, who was a young child when he first heard Neil Diamond sing.

“Some of my earliest memories are listening to my dad’s 8-track of the album, ‘Hot August Night.’ My father, Bob Swenson, is a huge Neil Diamond fan. The minute I landed the part, I called him in Lehigh, Utah.

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“After he congratulated me, the first thing he said was, ‘You make sure that ‘Red, Red Wine’ is in that show.’ Any day now, I feel like he’s going to be on a rocket ship to Boston,” Swenson said, laughing.

Swenson’s father isn’t the only Neil Diamond fan in the family either. Swenson’s wife, Broadway legend and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, has been known to duet with her husband on a song that Diamond and Barbra Streisand famously performed on the 1980 Grammy Awards.

“Audra and I occasionally do ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ in concert, but always with a wink, because it’s a break-up song,” he said. “And our daughter, Sally, who’s 5, loves ‘Cherry, Cherry,’ which I sing to her as ‘Sally, Sally.’ I also have a moment in the show for my late mother.”

Diamond's concert attire captured

And while music fuels the show, Swenson says the showman’s signature concert attire is beautifully captured in the work of Tony Award-nominated costume designer Emilio Sosa (“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess”).

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“The clothes are insane. I mean, how many ways can you use sequins?” Swenson said. “The second I put on Emilio’s costumes and shoes, I become the character.”

For the New York-born Sosa – represented on Broadway this season by both “Trouble in Mind” and “Skeleton Crew,” for which he received a Tony nomination for Best Costume Design for a Play – recreating Neil Diamond’s costumes is allowing him to follow in the footsteps of an earlier designer he has come to admire.

“I did a lot of research for this project and one of the things I learned is that Neil’s concert look was by African-American designer Bill Whitten, who also designed for the Commodores and made Michael Jackson’s famous rhinestone glove and crystal-encrusted socks.

“Bill Whitten was an amazing designer. He did over a hundred different beaded and embroidered costumes for Neil. Together with Bill, Neil created a look that carried through his career. In the early period, it was flashy and exuberant. Over time, the look became more refined,” Sosa said.

But refinement didn’t mean the retirement of the sequins, according to Sosa, who was the Season 7 runner-up on  Bravo's “Project Runway,” and later appeared on “Project Runway All Stars.”

“Any embellishment is beautiful on stage, but it’s also more work,” Sosa said. “When you’re using embroidery and sequins, it can require two or three additional stages for all the detail work.”

One such costume design for “A Beautiful Noise” – also the name of a 1976 tune –weighs 10 pounds.

“The outfit includes a hand-beaded, embroidered shirt. I used bugle beads, which are small circular pieces of plastic that have to be sewn on by hand. They’re great, though, because they pick up and reflect light.

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“The shirt is important because it’s used in a reveal – the first time you see Neil at the pinnacle of his success as a stadium entertainer. It’s his iconic look,” Sosa said. “The first time Will put the shirt on in his dressing room, he became Neil. The way he walked, everything. He was transformed.”

Sosa’s own life was transformed when director George C. Wolfe hired him for his first Broadway show, 2002’s “Topdog/Underdog.” Sosa, current chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Theatre Wing, counts Wolfe, Jeffrey Holder, and Spike Lee among his mentors and considers Diamond one of his favorite musicians.

“I love Neil Diamond’s music. When I was studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, all I listened to was Lite FM 106.7. His songs, like ‘Love on the Rocks’ and ‘Heartlight,’ really inspired me,” Sosa said.

In addition to “A Beautiful Noise,” Sosa is also costume designer for “1776,” the 1969 Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone musical currently being revived at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge by the American Repertory Theater and Roundabout Theatre Company in a Broadway-bound production co-directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus.

“With these shows, I’m working with incredible casts led by Will Swenson as the young Neil Diamond, and Crystal Lucas-Perry as John Adams in ‘1776.’ Both are at the pinnacle of their careers and on-stage almost every minute of their respective shows."

Swenson eager to experience Boston

As for Swenson, he’s looking forward to playing Neil Diamond on stage at the Emerson Colonial and maybe at another legendary Boston venue, too. If the Red Sox invite him to sing “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway this summer, he’s ready to answer the call.

“I’m a Dodgers fan, tried and true, but I’d be at Fenway Park in a heartbeat,” Swenson said. “It would be absolutely thrilling to sing at the most historic ballpark in the country.”

'A Beautiful Noise'

When: June 21-July 31

Where: Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston

Tickets: Starting at $49

Info: 888-616-0272 or emersoncolonialtheatre.com  

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Broadway-bound Neil Diamond musical ready for Boston world premiere