The Notebook Musical Review

 Hello Everyone,

This past weekend, while in New York City, I was able to watch a production of The Notebook. Now if you are expecting a series of good luck, and stories of meeting the cast, like in my The Outsiders review, then you will be disappointed. However, I loved the show, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. 

The show is presented with three ages of the main two characters, if you are not familiar with the story, it follows two characters as they fall in love during a summer in high school, then take separate paths that eventually bring them back together. The older version of Allie is played by Maryann Plunkett, who did an incredible job showing the complex emotions of Alzheimer's. It was truly heartbreaking, yet breathtaking. I found her performance one of the most impressive, considering how difficult it must be to convey such a complicated disease, without ever having experienced it first hand.  Middle Allie (Joy Woods) has an incredible voice. As a Broadway debut, I cannot wait to see where she ends up next. A lot of the numbers worked with all three versions of the characters, singing in harmony with their younger selves. The actors moved seamlessly across the stage, it was truly beautiful. I very much enjoyed this musical, and if you have the chance to see it, I totally recommend, especially if you like the movie. It was very interesting, watching everyone around me start to cry just before intermission, and during the second act. I swear I was the only one not crying! 

It has been awhile since I have seen the movie, so I cannot give a thorough comparison. But the staging of this show was beautiful, and many of the scenes are one we won't soon forget. For me, one of the most fascinating parts of the show was set. In the front was a small rectangular pool. Young Allie and Young Noah often ran and splashed through it. Also, during the iconic rain scene, rain downpour from the ceiling and into this pool, as Allie and Noah stood there getting wet. 

When it comes to the music, there were not many truly memorable songs. This does not mean the music was bad, but I was not walking out of the theater with a song stuck in my head. If you are a Dear Evan Hanson fan, then this is the musical for you! With the same director, the mannerisms of the characters are very similar.  The music was beautiful in the moment, and maybe when the soundtrack comes out, I can talk more about it in a different post.  

After the show, we took our time exiting the theater, grabbing a t-shirt on our way. By the time we got out,  Middle Noah (Ryan Vasquez) had already come out, and we had missed him. I got a spot a little far from the barricade, so when Young Noah (John Cardoza) came out, I made sure he grabbed my poster and signed it. I would not say we really met, because he was more focused on the two people standing closer, but I have as signature, so that is very exciting! 

Thank you for reading my review! If you have any comments or questions about the show I left out, please comment! I would love to know if someone out there is reading these. If you enjoyed, feel free to comment that as well, and try following! I will try to post as often as I can, and will be back to respond to comments daily.