Technical troubles aside, Neil Diamond musical leaves audience feeling so good, so good, so good

CLEVELAND, Ohio — So good, so good, so good.

That’s what audiences felt — despite not one but two midshow technical breaks because of balky stage curtain — during a recent KeyBank Broadway Series performance of the national touring production “A Beautiful Noise,” which runs through Oct. 27 at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace.

Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) and written by four-time Academy Award-nominee Anthony McCarten (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Two Popes”), the inspiring, exhilarating and energy-filled musical memoir delves into how Neil Diamond — a kid from Brooklyn — sold 120 million albums to become an American icon and a 2011 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

“A Beautiful Noise” is perhaps the most jukebox of the jukebox musical genre due to the fact that the songs on the score were literally played countless times on jukeboxes during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

That said, the evening was clearly going to be centered around one certain sweet song about where it began leading to hands touching hands and so forth.

The audience awaited the moment, which invariably was going to be a built-in showstopper, but required the right performer to pull off the anthem.

Sure, there was an entire evening of popular Diamond songs (delivered with a dazzling display of sequins…so many sequins), but the show seemingly hinged on the right personality who can provide the perfect barroom baritone growl for the classic everyone knows by heart.

We’ll get to the performance of the iconic tune in a bit but enter the perfectly pompadoured Nick Fradiani, who effortlessly captured Diamond’s vocal timbre and haunted soul of depression as the character Neil-Then.

In the same role he performed a year ago on Broadway, Fradiani, the 2015 winner of “American Idol,” didn’t have to dig too far to understand the blinding lights and demands of success, as well as the business end of stardom.

Also, it didn’t hurt that Fradiani, at the age of 3, actually attended a Diamond concert. He was baptized early on to play this role.

Singing and playing guitar throughout the show, and backed by a nine-piece band, Fradiani commanded the lead role with equal amounts of self-deprecating vulnerability and mesmerizing confidence.

As for “Sweet Caroline,” its singalong appearance early in the set came as a surprise but was exactly what some members of the amped-up crowd (that’s what an extended break will get you, a few pre-intermission trips to the bar) clearly came to hear.

Note: Playhouse Square issued a statement late Wednesday saying that the show was paused in order to release an electrical cable hooked around the main stage curtain. The show was then paused a second time soon after when it was discovered that the wayward electrical cable had affected additional physical elements of the set.

But “Sweet Caroline” is a tonic that can cure all ills.

The line between rock concert and musical theater performance was blurred with a few spirited folks fist bumping the air and clapping along while obviously demonstrating restraint not to stand.

The show’s narrative revolved around Diamond going through therapy. Playing the character of Neil-Now, Robert Westenberg, a Tony Award-nominee for “Into the Woods” whose appearance is of a slightly older Ethan Hawke, delivered the required gruff and denial of a solitary man suffering from the blues.

Like many stars who go from nothing to something, Diamond’s life included a first dutiful wife with Tiffany Tatreau playing the wholesome role of Jaye Posner.

Then there’s the impressive Hannah Jewel Kohn, who portrayed Diamond’s second wife, Marcia. The talented performer through song and dance showed off just the right amount of flirtatious sexiness and true-love dedication for a relationship that wasn’t meant to last.

A shout-out goes to the chameleonic performance of actor Tuck Milligan, who moments apart played the role of an earnest club owner and comedic gangster.

Then there’s the ensemble, called The Noise. Thanks to Steven Hoggett’s keen choreography, basically whatever Diamond is feeling on stage the 10 performers conveyed through movement and energy.