Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The musical iteration of THE NOTEBOOK is perfectly pleasant, heart-tugging fare

• By drediman
• April 16, 2024
• No Comments

This past week, I had the opportunity to catch up with the heart-tugging new musical The Notebook at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway. For those of you unfamiliar with the property, the musical is based on the popular 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks, which was subsequently turned into a film in 2004. The story concerns Allie and Noah, an elderly couple faced with dementia and declining health, respectively. In their waning days, Noah visits Allie on a regular basis to recount their courtship in hopes of triggering a glimmer of recognition from his wife.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the material — and I would expect that most audience members willing to spend the dollars for tickets would have at least either read the book or seen the movie — it would come as no surprise that there’s an air of predictability and inevitability that pervades the piece. But for what it is, I had a perfectly pleasant time at the musical version of The Notebook, not least because of its sweet score is by indie singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, as well as the approachable and intentionally modest scope of the book by Bekah Brunstetter. Perhaps the boldest thing about the musical is the decision to cast three different color-blind couples as Allie and Noah — representing the couple at three periods of their relationship — which actually works rather well within the context of Allie’s dementia (she seems to register her own stories as third person happenings).

The production has been directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, who do a good job of keeping the sentimentality of it all in relative check. In terms of performances, the portrayals of the younger and middle iterations of the couple are well-sung and hit all the right marks — albeit, at times generically — by Joy Woods, Ryan Vasquez, Jordan Tyson, and John Cardoza. Thankfully, the production is grounded in authenticity by the heartbreaking performance by Maryann Plunkett (a Tony-winner once upon a time for Me and My Girl) — one of the very finest New York stage actresses — as Older Allie.

RECOMMENDED

THE NOTEBOOK
Broadway, Musical
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
Open run