>> He learned early that honesty is the currency that people respond to.

He was never afraid to put himself out there personally.

>> BOWEN: I'm Jared Bowen, coming up on Open Studio, Neil Diamond gets the Broadway treatment.

>> ♪ Sweet Caroline ♪ ♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Then John Waters.

The legendary director is now a first-time novelist.

>> The best thing that could happen with this book is that that the governor of Florida banned it in schools.

That would be the best possible thing that could happen.

>> BOWEN: And artist Daniel Callahan is having a ball.

>> When I have experiences and moments in my life that really powerfully shape me, motivate me, really bring joy and peace to me, I look to recreate those in ways and to share those with others.

>> BOWEN: It's all now on Open Studio.

♪ ♪ First up, without Neil Diamond, we'd have no Fenway Park anthem in "Sweet Caroline."

The Monkees wouldn't have had number-one hits like "I'm a Believer."

And there'd be no "America"-- the song, not the country.

Diamond's decades-long march through the music charts is charted itself in the new Broadway-bound musical A Beautiful Noise.

And it's launching right now at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.

♪ ♪ For the team distilling Neil Diamond's life on stage, the playlist is personal.

>> My gateway drugs for Neil Diamond really were theatrical in a way, because it was seeing the movie The Jazz Singer.

>> ♪ I couldn't sleep at all tonight ♪ >> "America" and "Brooklyn Roads" and "Shilo," I think they speak to his heritage and to his childhood.

>> ♪ On the boats and on the planes ♪ ♪ They're coming to America ♪ >> So we understand what it is to be the son of immigrants fleeing terror in Europe and coming to America, and seizing that opportunity, and then finding yourself in Brooklyn, and lonely, and creating an imaginary friend named Shilo, who is your constant companion.

>> ♪ Young child with dreams ♪ ♪ Dream every dream on your own ♪ >> BOWEN: And for actor Will Swenson, who is playing the superstar singer-songwriter, his Diamond pick... >> ♪ "I am," I said ♪ ♪ To no one there ♪ >> It seems like maybe he learned early that, like, that honesty is the currency that people respond to.

He was never afraid to put himself out there personally.

>> BOWEN: After years in development, the musical A Beautiful Noise opened days ago at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.

We spoke with the team as the show was deep into rehearsals.

>> It's kind of the story of a man coming to grips with, with who he is today, and the challenges that he has today, and, and... and grappling with the decisions that he made in the past and wishing he could change them.

>> BOWEN: The 81-year-old Diamond retired from performing in 2018 after a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

It was only when he stepped off the stage, says director Michael Mayer, when Diamond, who has been part of the process every step of the way, was ready to tell his life story.

>> He is probably truer to the human he was before he became a star.

We reveal in the show the showman of Neil, the Jewish Elvis, if you will-- that is a character that he put on.

It was a way for him to take someone who is innately shy, and quiet, and kind of a loner.

That's how he could stand on a stadium stage and sing to 80,000 people.

>> BOWEN: Mayer, the Tony-winning director of shows like Spring Awakening, the Green Day musical American Idiot, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, has shaped the show as a memory play, not simply a night of Diamond's greatest hits.

>> We're not doing the, "And then I wrote, and then I wrote, and then I wrote."

It's a much more emotional and abstract exploration.

>> BOWEN: Teased out by way of a therapist, played by Linda Powell, helping an older Neil Diamond reflect on his younger days.

Now decades into her own acting career, it's a concept with which she deeply identifies.

>> It starts from an older person looking back at their life, and looking back at the experiences they went through and trying to figure out, "How did that make me who I am?

"Why did I do that that way?

"And if I'm not that person anymore, who am I?"

>> I relate to it endlessly.

>> BOWEN: Will Swenson plays the younger Neil Diamond, who began writing songs at 16, whose hits date back to the 1960s, and who's ultimately sold more than a hundred million records.

>> He was just being played on a loop in our house growing up.

One of my earliest memories is of the "Hot August Night" eight-track tape in my dad's van in, like, 1976, I think.

>> BOWEN: So with Diamond virtually in his DNA, Swenson says he had an out-of-body experience the first time, during rehearsals, he had to perform Diamond in front of Diamond.

>> I just was strumming my guitar, thinking, "Keep it together, keep it together."

And I went about five feet too far downstage.

And one of the ensemble members bashed into me, and I was, like... (groans): "Terrible way to start."

Um, so yeah, I don't remember a lot of it, just 'cause... As a positive of that, I don't think I'll ever be more nervous in my life, ever.

>> BOWEN: Clearly, he's become more comfortable, joining Diamond recently as he made a rare appearance singing "Sweet Caroline" at a Red Sox game.

>> ♪ Touching hands ♪ ♪ Reaching out ♪ >> BOWEN: Swenson says Parkinson's disease may have curtailed Diamond's career, but his spirit rages on.

>> He reminds me of my dad a ton.

They're the same age, roughly.

And he's great, sharp as a tack, and, and still so invested in the music and the sound.

And he's been singing along with us and we feel privileged to get to be in the room while he's singing "Sweet Caroline" with us, it's amazing.

>> ♪ Sweet Caroline ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Good times never seemed so good ♪ >> BOWEN: Next, you might have thought John Waters has done it all-- films, theater, fine art.

Not to mention testing the limits of filth.

But he's never written a novel until now.

It's called Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance.

And it focuses on Marsha Sprinkle, who loves to lie and prowl airports stealing luggage.

John Waters, welcome back to the show.

>> Thank you, thanks for having me.

>> BOWEN: For your first novel, Liarmouth.

>> Yeah, first novel.

>> BOWEN: Is it all transferable skills after all the screenplays you've written, the memoirs, everything else?

>> Kind of it is, because you're just telling another story.

Same way that I do with my spoken-word Christmas show, or in any of my books-- I've only written my own movies.

I never wrote anybody...

I never did a movie I didn't write.

So the process is the same.

It's, you can get into much more detail, much more character development.

You can be crazier and not have to worry, how much is this gonna cost?

How long is going to take to shoot that?

How am I going to get permission to shoot there?

So that is great, to not have to worry about that.

>> BOWEN: Well, how do you describe this novel?

Especially since you, you can write all about these airports.

You don't have to buy all the licensing fees for airports.

>> Yeah.

>> BOWEN: Location fees.

>> I describe it as a feel-bad romance, but I mean that as a joke, because I think, I hope I write to make people feel good about themselves, because I try to make them be surprised and laugh.

The first person I'm trying to make laugh is myself when I'm writing, and when I do, I know that the joke really worked.

And then you go through it a million times.

I mean, rewriting is when it gets better and better each time, even though the first draft is the hardest to do.

And you just keep going.

And I just read it at the end and think, "Who wrote this?"

It's like another person wrote it, even.

I even forget parts.

>> BOWEN: Well, I'll ask the question that everybody asks every writer.

You're writing what you know, perhaps.

How autobiographical is it?

>> Well, it's not at all autobiographical.

I mean, what I know, it's about trampoline fanatics.

I knew nothing about trampoline fanatics.

But there is such a thing as a movement, the people that have to bounce all the time.

Now, I really exaggerated it.

I know enough about airports.

I'm in them practically every day.

I did know somebody that stole a suitcase in an airport, and I do know someone that stole the flight attendant's pocketbook.

That inspired me.

>> BOWEN: (laughs) >> Not to do it!

But since I was in airports the whole time I'm writing it, I'm looking and thinking, there are so many crimes in this book that take place in airports.

It will make you watch your stuff, definitely.

>> BOWEN: It already has, yeah!

I'm thinking, move the wallet to the front.

>> Yeah.

>> BOWEN: Well, it makes me wonder, as I'm hearing you, you've filed away all of these things over the years.

What is it, how do you describe your brain?

All of the ideas, the nuggets that just sit there?

>> I'm a writer, so I'm nosey-- I'm always asking questions.

I'm always eavesdropping.

I'm always watching people.

You're never not at work if you're a writer.

>> BOWEN: Well, if you're observing everybody for as long as you have, are there fundamentals you come to about who we are as human beings?

>> Well, the person that always are the, are the heroes of my books and movies are people that don't judge other people, because they don't know the back story.

And the back story is what I like to tell.

I don't think anyone's born bad.

I think things happen to people and it's not fair.

I don't believe in karma.

I was born very lucky.

My parents made me feel safe.

I'm really glad my parents are dead for one reason.

They don't have to read this book.

>> BOWEN (laughs): Do you really believe that?

>> Yes, they would be horrified by this book.

This one more than anything I've ever done, probably, they would be horrified.

They paid for Pink Flamingos and they never saw it.

>> This beautiful mobile home you see before you is the current hideout of the notorious beauty Divine, the filthiest person alive!

>> They saw a lot of my movies later.

And they were really proud.

They were so happy when Hairspray finally came out.

They could finally... >> BOWEN: (laughs) >> ...say they loved it without being a liar.

>> BOWEN: Well, so I was wondering about that, because I read that you were... You set limits for yourself in this book.

So what's your system of checks and balances?

>> Well, my limits in this was about political correctness today.

This book makes fun of that by going overboard in the opposite direction, of saying that people that are addicted to trampolines are a minority that is discriminated against.

>> BOWEN: (chuckles) >> And being really serious about that in the book, and that's what satire is, I think, when you make fun of the rules but to make people laugh, not preach at them.

>> BOWEN: Well, we've been having this conversation, especially in the heightened arena of political correctness, about the death of comedy.

Are you worried at all about the vitality of comedy?

>> No, I think it's maybe... Well, we'll see.

>> BOWEN: (laughs) >> What's, how this book is received-- you don't know.

Because it definitely makes fun of it.

But I believe I am politically correct.

I just make fun of myself-- that's what they don't do.

The one thing missing in this trigger warning crowd is, they never make fun of themselves.

I don't think racism's funny, I don't think transphobia is funny, but it is funny to be so earnest all the time.

You have to make fun of yourself.

Then you can use political stuff for ammunition against your enemy, but making fun of yourself first gets people to listen.

>> BOWEN: So it's so interesting about Pink Flamingos, because it would be my contention that a young filmmaker today couldn't make that film.

>> Probably not, probably not.

>> BOWEN: And yet...

But yet we're in a society where it just lands as an institution.

>> Maybe because it's in a time capsule of something, you know, that it was made 50 years ago.

I don't know that... A kid could come up today with, and make a movie that is...

It would have to just confuse political correctness.

It would throw everybody off.

They wouldn't know how to react to it from either side.

That's what will be the next hit that lasts.

Because the old-time censorships, they hated sex, you couldn't...

They lost-- I mean, basically, you can... On television there's things you went to jail for in the '50s.

They gave up on me, they don't try to stop me.

They figured I'm a lost cause, really.

I don't get much right-wing censorship.

The best thing that could happen with this book is that the governor of Florida banned it in schools.

That would be the best possible thing that could happen.

They're not that dumb to do that, because they know that.

>> BOWEN: Where does age come into play for you and the fact that you get elevated after a while?

>> Well, I love that young people are in my audience.

That means it still works.

It didn't say, like, "Oh, that's old hat, I've seen that."

They haven't seen it.

But age, you know, I'm not middle-aged.

I'm 72-- 76!

I'm not going to be 152 years old.

So old chickens make good soup.

>> BOWEN: NFTs-- I... >> What's that mean?

>> BOWEN: Non-fungible tokens.

>> Oh, that.

>> BOWEN: In the art world... >> You mean Bitcoin and stuff?

Oh, that, I don't understand it-- I'm old there.

Because I'm not investing in it.

My art collection is pretty much done, because I've been collecting it for 40 years and I just donated it to the Baltimore Museum, and I made them name the bathrooms after me.

>> BOWEN: (laughs) >> And we had no-gender bathrooms and the first trans or whoever was in my movies came down and cut the ribbon, and took the first urination in the bathroom, with the politicians there, and the media, everything.

It was a pretty good, pretty good day.

>> BOWEN: So that's where... We've been talking about this on this show, NFTs, and I think that was one of the last times I talked to you, was about museums, and your support of, of course, art-- you are an artist yourself, naturally.

But it has a finite period.

You don't want to go into the digital realm.

>> Well, this one I don't right now.

I know my friend Boy George, he's in it, he's in it now.

I know other people that are definitely doing it.

I'm not saying I'm not, it's just that my collection is pretty much done, and I'm not going to... That's one I'll stick out a little.

Now, it probably means it will last, because all art movements that start that anger older people, and say, "Oh, that's...", that's the ones that work!

That's what Pop did, that's what Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, they all did that.

So maybe it's for the young.

It's a new thing to collect.

And that's great, that's great.

>> BOWEN: Well, finally, I just want to ask, do you just have the constitution that you can withstand when you had the critics over the years who said you were just so vile, the work was vile, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?

>> Yeah, but what was good then, it was a different world.

When they said that, the critics were so-called "straight," they used to call them-- that didn't mean heterosexual.

It meant they didn't smoke pot or they weren't hippies.

So they were so square that they gave me... All my early career was based on negative reviews.

The whole ads for Pink Flamingos were "the worst movie ever."

"It'll make you sick."

My favorite was, like, "A septic tank explosion.

It has to be seen to be believed."

So all those reviews helped.

Critics are way too smart to do that today.

They could help then-- there was a cultural war between two groups of people going on.

Today, there isn't that, when everything is decided in one second because of the phones and internet and everything.

So word of mouth happens in one second.

That's why every movie, the tail credits when you're walking out is upbeat, because they know that's when people are already texting, "Hated it!"

So I just kept going because I had an audience.

They were angry and had a good sense of humor, and that's still my audience.

And they hate everybody in the world except each other.

>> BOWEN (laughs): Well, John Waters, always a pleasure to be with you, thank you.

>> Thank you for having me.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Escape into reverie.

The sublime landscapes of painter William Shattuck are among the must-sees in Arts This Week.

Monday, revel in the landscape of Southeastern Massachusetts with painter William Shattuck's Reveries, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The Broadway-bound revival of 1776 plays at the American Repertory Theater Tuesday.

It's a reimagined take on the classic musical with all the roles played by female and non-binary-identifying actors.

Wednesday, see a twist on a classic with the world premiere of the comedy The Lady Hamlet at Provincetown Theater.

The Violet Sisters is presented by Cape Cod Theatre Project, a company that tests out new works and invites audience feedback.

The two-person play is set after Hurricane Sandy.

See it Thursday.

Friday, the EcoTarium in Worcester has reached for the stars to deliver the latest technology in viewing the night sky.

See it all in the newly-renovated Alden Planetarium.

>> You can really do whatever you want, Lee.

You've just got to cut out the middle man.

>> Middle man?

>> Cut out the middle man, Lee.

And whatever you want in life is yours.

>> BOWEN: That's from the feature film Come On In, a debut movie by Boston multimedia artist Daniel Callahan.

He's also the co-presenter of the upcoming MassQ Ball at the Arnold Arboretum, an event that invites attendees to wonder, what is our collective creation story?

Daniel Callahan, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Glad to be here.

>> BOWEN: Well, tell me, in your words, what the MassQ Ball origin is.

>> Sure, so it is the second iteration of the MassQ Ball here in Boston.

And the MassQ Ball was really intended to be a cultural celebration of people of color that got its start, actually, in California.

So when I was in the Bay Area, we were connected with a lot of youth communities and across, you know, race, across, you know, gender orientation, across socioeconomic background.

And we wanted an event that could bring them together.

And so art is a great way of unifying people.

And we all have a shared appreciation for culture, and so we wanted to create a big party.

And that ended up being the MassQ Ball.

>> BOWEN: Well, the core of that is masking, which is, you talk about art appreciation, and language through art.

This is a very intimate exchange.

Tell me what happens here.

>> So when we were thinking of the event, we wanted to do a ball, but we didn't want to do the sort of Victorian thing where people came with masks on.

And so we thought, well, why don't we just paint these masks on our faces?

And then we started to sort of research indigenous practices of body decoration, and realized this was something that humans have been doing all around the world really since the beginning of time.

And so it really was a great platform for bringing different cultures together, because they could all sort of trace back sort of their own version of this masking practice.

>> BOWEN: Well, I know you've done a deep dive here, and I was really struck to see the distinction you make, and others have made, that masks don't have to conceal.

So what do we see happen as people have a manifestation of masks painted on them?

>> As you said, you know, we usually think of masks as things that cover our face or hide our identity, or protect us, like the ones we've been wearing for the past couple of years, right?

But I like to think of masks as a tool for revealing, so bringing what is inside out, and so using the human face as a canvas and sort of allowing the experience of either that person or myself, when I was masking myself, to dictate, you know, the lines, the color, and shape that I would add to my face, and allow that to be like a natural billboard for what's going on inside.

>> BOWEN: And the title of the ball, again, is "Origin."

So I'm wondering, does this... How does this tie back to ancestry and indigenous culture, as you referenced at the outset?

>> The idea for this ball in particular is how, as we of color, if we were to come together, what kind of origin story would we create if we started today?

And we think about culture or origin stories and how things came to be, and sort of their explanation for what we wish the world to be.

And so using that sort of mythmaking platform as a way for us to really create the environment, the society, the world that we wish to live in.

And also to sort of bring back to this idea of our ancient heritage, and reconnecting with that.

>> BOWEN: And that is pretty Earth-shattering, isn't it?

To reconceive of an origin story?

So where do you see that going?

What do you see it doing?

>> Again, it starts with that, with that question.

And I think the ball itself is a response to that question.

So can we create spaces where everyone's culture is celebrated?

Where, you know, you are a work of art?

Where, you know, we see each other as works of art and where we can connect and build?

I think, you know, the beautiful thing around this, too, is that we're bringing all these artists together and these cultures together, and we're paying them for their, for their work, you know?

And so economically, this is a great sort of way to bring these communities together and to share in sort of our, our craft and to be compensated for that and to be elevated and to be celebrated.

And I think that's really the crux of how movements start.

When you bring people together and you allow them to express themselves, and you build a platform of support around that, there's no telling where that can go.

And so we're, we're excited to see where that goes.

>> BOWEN: Just visualizing it.

I know that Castle of Our Skins, the great music group, is involved.

The Arnold Arboretum is a partner, and this unfolds there, in this enchanting landscape, this very historic landscape.

So how does that add to the aura?

>> We originally were thinking about doing this indoors, but again, because of the pandemic, we thought it would probably be better for us to do this outdoors.

And there's no better place, I think, in Boston for this event to happen than the Arnold Arboretum, especially the conifer section, where we're intending for this to be.

It's literally a place that you can be surrounded by trees and you almost don't even realize you're in a city anymore.

>> BOWEN: Where else do you look in history to see that manifestation of imagination?

>> You know, it's interesting, I was just at the rededication ceremony for the 54th Regiment Memorial, and just sort of the weight of that, that these were men who dedicated their lives and died and bled for freedom, to be considered human, to have the inalienable rights that were promised to us by God, that level of sacrifice, but also that level of belief, is...

I think we take for granted, you know, what, the rights that we enjoy, and how much was given for that.

And I think that was a really sobering moment for me to think, yeah, this is sometimes what it takes, and we have to be willing to dedicate our lives-- hopefully our living and not our dying-- to creating the world that we want to live in.

>> BOWEN: As you look at your body of work and what you've moved through already and what you're doing, it's certainly something you're passionately interested in yourself.

But how much of it is part, deliberately part of the greater good?

>> Mm, um...

I... Let's see, that's a good question.

I don't want to be so, you know, hoity-toity to think that I am the vessel of greater good.

(chuckles) What I do is, when I have experiences and moments in my life that really powerfully shape me, really motivate me, really bring joy and peace to me, I look to recreate those in ways and to share those with others.

I think that's all that I can do in terms of, you know, creating a better space in the world.

Nature, being in nature, something that's always been therapeutic for me.

My own visual art practice, my masking work, in particular, has been a very therapeutic and I guess enlightening sort of thing for me.

And so I just look and see how I can, yeah, how I can involve my community in this, and how I can allow other people to have similar experiences.

>> BOWEN: As we take a look at our world, and as, our local society here in the Boston area-- I know that you grew up here, you went away, you've come back, you're deeply embedded now through your work in the Roxbury Cultural District.

What's the Boston you find today versus the Boston you grew up in?

>> Ooh, um... (chuckles) Let's see, I don't want to get myself in trouble.

The Boston I grew up in was one that I was often trying to leave, and it didn't feel like a Boston for me.

When I did leave and go to California, I did find much more openness.

And when I came back to Boston, it was to bury somebody.

And so I have always had this really conflicted sort of experience being in Boston.

But the other side of that is that I think Boston now, more than any other time in history, really, is poised to, to make that change, that shift.

You know, we have, you know, more people of color in leadership in Boston right now than I think, you know, ever.

And we have the will and then we have this sort of crisis that our democracy's going in, and Boston really being sort of looked at as a model for, like, you know, one side of how the United States could, can move.

And I think all of that is contributing to a lot of possibility here.

And I think that's really amazing and exciting to be a part of.

But it's not without its challenges, you know?

>> BOWEN: You say part of, but I think you're a driver here, as well.

And maybe I was assigning that to you when I, when I asked the "greater good" question.

Congratulations on all you're doing to move that forward.

Thank you for being with us.

>> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: And that is all for this edition of Open Studio.

Next week, we look at the artists putting the high tech in technique.

As always, you can visit us online at GBH.org/OpenStudio.

And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter, @OpenStudioGBH.

I'm @TheJaredBowen.

We leave you now with a performance from the music group Coro Allegro.

For Pride Month, Boston's LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus presents Devotion.

Coro Allegro made this virtual choir performance amid the pandemic to celebrate the international LGBTQ+ choruses and their mission to change the world through song.

I'm Jared Bowen, thanks for joining us.

>> ♪ The heart can think ♪ ♪ Can think ♪ ♪ Of no ♪ ♪ Of no ♪ ♪ Devotion ♪ ♪ Greater than being ♪ ♪ Shore ♪ ♪ Being shore ♪ ♪ To the ocean ♪ ♪ Holding ♪ ♪ Holding ♪ ♪ The curve ♪ ♪ The curve ♪ ♪ The curve ♪ ♪ Of one ♪