“The Notebook” North American Tour Company/Photo: Roger Mastroianni
RECOMMENDED
The musical adaptation of “The Notebook” returns to Chicago through August 14 at the Nederlander Theatre. It’s based on the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks, about the comfort love brings in old age, and also borrows heavily from the 2014 feature film, adapted by Jan Sardi and directed by Nick Cassavetes. But the musical also distinguishes itself from its predecessors while retaining the property’s trademark folksy charm and innocent sensuality.
Adapted by Bekah Brunstetter in collaboration with composer and lyricist Ingrid Michaelson, the musical expands on the lives of the main characters. Noah Calhoun, a simple country man with the heart of a poet, falls passionately in love with Allie Nelson—but the love is deferred by her affluent parents.
Set either in or in front of a large, plantation-style home or in a nursing home, the lovers are each played by three actors, depicting them as teenagers, adults in their thirties and as seniors. Each iteration receives relatively equal stage time, often appearing all at once. Each share key characteristics with their past or future selves—like Noah’s awkward lankiness when he’s around Allie, or how Allie’s eyes grow wide or how her mouth drops slightly when anticipating intimacy with Noah. Overall, this time-hopping presentation, directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, creates a narrative flow and pervading sense of tension superior to the bookended style of the novel and film versions.
The biggest improvement is that the role of Allie, as a senior struggling with late-stage dementia and living in an assisted-living home, gets much more attention. Played by Sharon Catherine Brown with great aplomb, it’s interesting to see how she reacts to “Older Noah” (Beau Gravitte), who comes every day to read to her from a notebook containing accounts of their various excursions. Following each tale of loss, or steamy escapade, her dementia reduces little by little. When she finally sings with Noah during the tear-jerking song, “I Know,” one has gotten to know this character beyond a mere object of sympathy.
“The Notebook,” with Sharon Catherine Brown (Older Allie) and Beau Gravitte (Older Noah)/Photo: Roger Mastroianni
The music by Michaelson is more than serviceable, and consists mostly of ballads. Many begin with the soft pluck of a guitar or light let-off of a piano before launching into sweeping violin strokes and crashing cymbals. The best melodies are reserved for “Younger Allie” (Chloë Cheers) and “Middle Allie” (Alysha Deslorieux)—both “Allies” are given moments to really let loose dynamically, or perform long, winding melismas. Their powers combine in the showstopper-duet “I Wanna Go Back.”
The most unique voice in the cast is that of Kyle Mangold, who plays “Younger Noah” and sings with an early-2000s pop-punk pronouncement of words and with a piercing falsetto. One warms up to the contrast between Mangold and the rest of the cast and comes to appreciate the angst in his timbre—while less angsty, “Middle Noah,” played by the strapping Ken Wulf Clarke, echoes Mangold in moments of intense excitement, another nice touch of continuity.
Be one a fan or a frump, it’s impossible to keep one’s heart from melting at this retelling of a modern classic. “The Notebook” brings the sense of hope and comfort of love that one expects with original additions that expand the experience in all the right ways.
Broadway in Chicago’s “The Notebook” is on stage at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 West Randolph, through August 14. Tickets and more here.
