When you hear Sweet Caroline, most people – young and old – would immediately sing, or at the very least, hum along.
Neil Diamond has sold more than 130 million records worldwide and has received numerous music awards and honours including the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Kennedy Centre Honours and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In Australia, his concert album Hot August Night spent 224 weeks on the charts.
A number of years ago, Hugh Sheridan was tapped on the shoulder to do a show about Neil Diamond. Sheridan explained that they didn’t really know much about Diamond at the time, and was busy doing other shows and filming, so politely declined the gig.
Three years ago, producers tapped the performer again.
“I said, ‘Well, if you really want me to do it, I’ll do it’,” Sheridan recalled when chatting to The AJN. “And then I started learning about Neil and listening to his music. And I’ve just totally fallen in love with it.”
At the time Sheridan’s – who many Australians would know as the wonderful Ben in TV’s Packed to the Rafters – father and some friends had just passed away, COVID was circulating, and the singer, actor and dancer explained that there was just “a lot on”.
“[Diamond] became this incredible soundtrack to my life. Every song has a different meaning now and it’s really very beautiful. I feel really lucky to have met him this way, and now I get to perform all of his songs,” Sheridan said.
“He’s such a brilliant writer – some of them come from the most unusual places.”
Sheridan mentions the song Heartlight, which was inspired by ET and written after Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach saw the film together.
Sheridan also spoke about Diamond’s Jewish heritage, which is something the performer will discuss throughout Solitary Man.
Photo: Andreas Terlaak
All four of Diamond’s grandparents were immigrants – on his father’s side the family were from Poland and on his mother’s, they came from Russia. He grew up immersed in Judaism, even spending several weeks in his teens at a Jewish summer camp. It was there he saw folk singer Pete Seeger perform, which had an immediate effect on Diamond, encouraging him to write his own songs. The rest is history.
“Neil has done a huge amount for the Jewish community, and he is very proud of the fact that he is Jewish,” Sheridan pointed out.
Diamond’s first language, taught to him by his grandparents, was Yiddish. A language which Diamond encouraged the use of in his first film, The Jazz Singer, which mirrored his life quite closely.
“Yiddish is a beautiful language and I wanted to do my bit to keep it alive,” Diamond is quoted as saying in The Chicago Tribune.
While music played a huge role in the Diamond household when Neil was growing up – everything from classical music to Yiddish and Gershwin – his family thought he was bonkers when he admitted that he wanted to pursue a career in the field.
When it comes to the show Solitary Man, Sheridan is not “playing or acting” as Neil Diamond, but rather, the performer is sharing Diamond’s story through Sheridan’s own lens.
Unbeknown to many Australians, Sheridan started as a singer, before moving into acting, something Sheridan knows will help to portray Solitary Man.
“They all inform the other skills, because at the end of the day, all you’re trying to do is communicate and entertain people, and hopefully bring some emotion out,” Sheridan said, continuing to explain that a lot of Diamond’s songs are story-oriented, so they lend themselves beautifully for an actor/singer to perform.
Alongside Diamond’s songs, Sheridan will be sharing personal stories – what the songs mean and how they bring people together.
Sheridan also said there’s an expectation that the audience will sing along.
“I think so many of his songs are so meaningful, and that’s where it helps having the acting side of things,” Sheridan said.
“When you look at songs like Forever in Blue Jeans, Sweet Caroline or Love on the Rocks, they’re unbelievable, and I want everyone to have a lot of fun. I mean, that’s what we all need after everything that the world has been through.”
Talking about how theatre can be a beautiful source of escapism and fun for audiences, Sheridan pointed out how precious live concerts are.
“The thing about performing live is it just happens once. If you’re there, you’re there and if you’re not, you’ve missed it. That’s very precious for me because no one performance is the same. I love the spontaneity of it – anything could happen!”
Solitary Man is at The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on October 21 and 22 (sydneyoperahouse.com) and then at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall on October 28 (visitartscentremelbourne.com.au)
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