Theater Review by Carol Rocamora . . . .
The Notebook, a supremely sentimental new musical now on Broadway, might very well be upstaged this high-flying season by powerhouse productions like An Enemy of the People or the soon-to-arrive Cabaret.
But it would be unfair to overlook it entirely. The Notebook’s main merit lies in the showcasing of some exciting new, young Broadway talent, crowned by the performance of one of New York’s finest veteran actresses, Maryann Plunkett.
The story is adapted from the eponymous 2004 movie directed by Nick Cassavetes, which in turn was adapted from a book by Nicholas Sparks. It’s a tale of a lifelong love that ends in dementia—one that wants you weeping from the top. A seventyish man is reading from a diary to a seventyish woman, who is in a nursing home suffering from memory loss. She doesn’t recognize the man reading to her, but she’s mesmerized by the story of two young lovers (you can already guess who they are). As it unfolds, you discover that he’s reading from a notebook that the woman herself wrote (you already guessed that, too), and she finally realizes it in the end (that’s your third correct guess). According to the story, the lovers meet in their teens and fall madly in love, but (here comes your fourth correct guess) her parents don’t approve. The young lovers part under pressure, and for a year Noah writes daily to Ally with messages of longing, but her Over-Protective Mother (Andrea Burns) intercepts his letters so that she never receives them. The separated lovers meet years later when Ally is engaged to another (Chase Del Rey), but True Love Triumphs, and Noah and Ally marry. Fast forward fifty years, when the devoted Noah, refusing to accept Ally’s dementia, reads from her notebook, determined to help her remember.
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were radiant as the young couple in the film, even overpowering their co-stars James Garner and Gena Rowland as the older couple (and Sam Shepard as Noah’s father). But in the stage version, the author and director have come up with a clever conceit. They have cast two young actors to play Younger Noah (John Cardoza) and Younger Ally (Jordan Tyson) as the teenage lovers, and another pair of actors to play the lovers ten years later, Middle Noah (played by Ryan Vasquez) and Middle Ally (played by Joy Woods). And of course, there is Older Noah (Dorian Harewood) and Older Ally (Maryann Plunkett) in their seventies, the centrifugal force around whom the younger pairs revolve.
As fluidly directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams (with music/lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson), the simultaneous presence of the couple in three incarnations is the most interesting feature of this production. Otherwise, the story is so stripped down that it feels almost skeletal, with all the bones and joints of its formulaic plot laid bare.
But watching those talented Younger and Middle Noahs and Allys sing their hearts out is a pleasure. As for Maryann Plunkett, it’s gratifying to see this marvelous New York actress have her moment centerstage on Broadway. For years, I’ve been mesmerized by her radiant, naturalistic acting style, as evidenced in the series of seven (yes, seven!) plays by Richard Nelson, dramatizing the Apple Family Cycle in their Rhinebeck, New York years (2010-2013 and then 2020). As Older Ally struggles with dementia, her vulnerability, humanity, and resilience are all beautifully realized and deeply moving. As Older Noah, Dorian Harewood is also touching in his devotion and persistence.
To be fair, a musical on any aspect of mental illness is a tough challenge (see also Next to Normal, featuring a bipolar protagonist). As for comparing the stage play with the film from which it was adapted, that may also be unfair in the context of a theater review. However, with three major productions on Broadway this spring, each adapted from a movie, each made into a musical, the comparison seems inevitable. While a wave of tears washes over you in the movie version, in the stage production of The Notebook you drown in them.
There was, however, one moment of sentimentality in the performance I attended last Friday that truly carried me away. That came from the audience itself—specifically, a group of eight family members and friends of the Younger Ally, sitting in the row in front of me, utterly thrilled to be there. They laughed, they cried, they stood, they yelled, they cheered—and we couldn’t help but join in. There’s nothing like spontaneous, genuine joy in the theater that can bring you to tears.
The Notebook – The Musical. Open run at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue). www.notebookmusical.com
Photos: Julieta Cervantes
