Neil Diamond Tribute

“Where it began…… The Michael “Brooklyn Boy” Douglas story began way back (nearly five decades ago) before it was even given the official title of Brooklyn Boy (covered in more detail within the website’s Biography section). Michael carries with him a wealth of knowledge and experience within the entertainment industry and has honed his craft and skills to such a high level of professionalism that he is now arguably one of the best tribute artiste’s in the world today, his friendly and transparent personality leaves people in no doubt about just who he is, where he is coming from, and where he is going. “I can’t begin to knowing……… Almost twenty years ago a random comment made by an audience member “You sound a lot like Neil Diamond in that song” struck a chord with Michael and caused him to wonder whether or not he could develop this new found skill of singing mimicry, not being one to turn down a challenge Michael took a two year sabbatical from his other work as a singer songwriter to concentrate on perfecting the vocal nuances and performance mannerisms of Neil Diamond. And so finally after two years, Michael felt he was ready to unleash the results of his hard work on a very unsuspecting public and subsequently spoke candidly about his new venture by saying “I didn’t know whether the new offering “The Neil Diamond Tribute Show” was going to be good enough, but thought I’d let my audience be my judges and jury, and I waited very nervously for the feedback from the first show, happily I didn’t have to wait long before receiving it, all of the feedback was positive…I was relieved I can tell you, but more than that, I felt that I was at least on the right lines and would continue to strive to make it even better” “But then I know it’s growing strong……. For nearly fifteen years The Neil Diamond Tribute Show gathered momentum and was well supported around the world, so much so that Michael decided nearly two years ago to raise the bar even higher by introducing a new element to the already successful solo show…..the band! (Not so coincidentally) consisting of the same number and type of musicians that Neil has in his band when he is on tour, and so Brooklyn Boy was born. Michael reflects “I guess it was always part of the master plan that if the show did well and continued to do so, then it would eventually become a natural progression to put a far bigger show together by having a dedicated band to put on a show that was essentially the same as I had been performing solo for so many years, but bigger” but then Michael’s creative juices began to flow and in the process, began to turn what was originally going to be an up market Neil Diamond tribute show, into something else. Michael explains “I began to feel that if I was going to put a band of that size and calibre together, then it really ought to be the best in its field, and so I asked myself what I would need to do to achieve that, it needed to be different in some way, to set it apart from all other bands…I struggled for a short while to find an answer, and then out of the blue I remembered reading somewhere that “The Buddy Holly Story” was still enjoying its run after more than thirty five years and much of that time has been spent in London’s West End, the answer was staring me in the face, I’ve already been doing a tribute to Neil’s songs, what if I could do a tribute to both his songs and his life, I let my imagination run wild and as a result the original concept of Brooklyn Boy the band, has morphed into something far bigger and more spectacular than I could ever have imagined”. The rebranding of Brooklyn Boy to “Brooklyn Boy! – The Neil Diamond Story” has generated a lot of interest overseas as well as in the UK there are some new elements incorporated within the show that sets it poles apart from anything that has ever been done before. Michael explains further “One of the new elements in the show hopefully helps to address the counterproductive effects of prejudice in its many ugly forms, whether it be black/white, rich/poor, fat/thin, gay/straight, old/young, and the biggy…prejudice against a whole host of religions, the Jewish religion being one of many that have suffered badly because of their beliefs, so there will be threads of peace, forgiveness and humility running through the show albeit in a subtle way so as not to detract from the main theme which of course is The Neil Diamond Story” Everyone without exception on the Brooklyn Boy team are strong believers in promoting the subtle messages that thread their way throughout the show, the Neil Diamond songs and music that help to deliver those messages do so in such a dramatic and powerful way.

2 x 45min performances with costume change, pa and sound crew from £705