"A Beautiful Noise" has been touring for eighteen months, including a stop in Chicago last year. This month, the troupe returned to the Windy City to recreate the Neil Diamond musical biopic in front of a sold-out Cadillac Palace Theater. I caught the Thursday evening performance.

The story begins in the office of a psychologist, where the doctor opens a book of Neil's song lyrics and an aging Neil tells the story of his life through those songs. Diamond is on his third marriage, and his performing days are behind him - a difficult situation for one who has always defined his identity through his music.

We flash back to a young Neil pitching his songs to a publisher, who soon decides that the young songwriter is a better interpreter of his own music than The Monkees, Lulu, or Deep Purple. The young Brooklyn-born Neil is uncomfortable in the spotlight, but loves performing. He falls in love with Marcia, leaves his wife and daughters, signs a recording contract with a mob-controlled record company, and his career skyrockets. As Act 1 closes, Diamond delivers a final hit song ("Sweet Caroline") and the mob releases him from his contract.

Act 2 opens years later. Neil's hair is longer; he performs every night in front of tens of thousands of people, and he has embraced his fortune and fame, touring almost constantly in front of adoring fans. The constant travel strains his second marriage, which ends with the couple singing "You don't bring me flowers" to one another.

"A Beautiful Noise" is about balancing fame and work obsession with personal relationships. Neil Diamond struggled to balance the public and private aspects of his life, which cost him two marriages. Robert Westenberg and Nick Fradiani are brilliant as old and young Neil, respectively. Their duet at the end is moving, signifying the man's self-acceptance of all that he was and became. Of course, the music was great, and Anthony McCarten's story ties the songs together into an emotional tale.

After taking their bows, the cast returned to the stage to promote a charity auction and to sing "Sweet Caroline" again - this time with the help of the audience. It was an excellent finish to an excellent show.