“My Neil Story” as told by Liz

In our Facebook Group, we asked Neil Diamond Musical fans to share their favorite Neil Diamond story. Below is a story from Liz, a superfan!

My Neil story has a few parts. 

First, my dad was a huge Neil Diamond fan. We always sang his music on car rides and even just around the house. My dad nicknamed me “Rosie” because he used to sing Cracklin’ Rosie to me. My dad was my best friend and I lost him in 2017 (almost 2 years to the day of losing my amazing mother). My dad being gone left behind a huge void and Neil’s music has filled that void when I’m feeling down.

Second, I drove to see Neil for all of 5 minutes! I saw A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical in July 2022 in Boston and couldn’t wait for it to come to NYC and see it there. I followed all of their social media and one Sunday morning, I woke up to a post about Neil being in NYC for the opening of the show on Broadway. So I got dressed, drove 2 and a half hours to NYC, waited to see Neil walk the red carpet for 5 minutes and then drove 2 and a half hours home. It was amazing!

Third, that same week, a post about going to Good Morning America came up on Instagram. I entered to have a chance to meet the cast of the musical. That Wednesday I got a call that GMA was sending a car to pick me up and take me to NYC with a friend to be on GMA.

Not only did I dance/sing with the cast of the show on live television, the cast SANG TO ME live on the air in the GMA studio. And to top it off, they sent myself (and the other winner and our friends) to the musical that night! What a truly incredible day! 

Neil is an inspiration to me and as strange as it sounds, a good friend. He may not know me, but I know him and I love and appreciate him!