THE NOTEBOOK Broadway Previews — Page 8

Saw it last night and when I was awake, I enjoyed it fine. The first half of Act 1 is a real snoozefest for the most part, the songs were all variations on a very soft theme. That said, I did appreciate the music and lyrics that reflected Allie's mental state, whenever they showed up. As the action picked up, I started to enjoy it a bit more, and the acting was certainly lovely. (I will admit I spent part of Act 2 also wondering why Ryan chose this play - while he was great, he felt too talented for such a small role.) I enjoyed the songs the younger duo got to sing, felt their actual heat in those. Overall I was feel the musical staging had some nice moments - the younger Noahs and Allies helping the older duo was especially nice. Plunkett and Harewood were lovely. But honestly I found the race towards regaining Allie's sanity was more interesting than the actual love story.

Random note: I was pleasantly surprised how well behaved the audience was. Maybe it was because they made the pre-show announcement after the action already started, so there was already attention to the stage? But don't think I saw a single cell phone. Miraculous.

CATSNYrevival said: "My apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but can anyone comment on the book scenes in the musical? Has the book writer made any changes to the way Noah gets Allie to agree to go out with himand how they argue all the time like they do in the film?"

I'll quote from Sara Holdren's review, because this bit has stuck with me:

"Gone is the moment in which young Noah dangles from a Ferris wheel in a mischievous attempt to blackmail Allie into going out with him, or where he convinces her to lie down beside him in the street because she needs to learn to “do what she wants.” No doubt these moments were focus-grouped and deemed a little sexist — how dare he manipulate her by threatening to kill himself! But in stripping Noah of his potentially problematic brazenness, Brunstetter hasn’t replaced it with anything. Now, he’s basically just nice."

She clearly considered that a weakness, but while I agreed with much of her review, I disagreed on this point. A guy who's genuinely just nice seems very appealing these days.

Updated On: 4/27/24 at 08:52 PM

Finally caught this yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I had not seen the movie and only knew the basic premise/ listened to the album, but I was very emotionally connected and moved. I am shocked that the score, Joy Woods, and orchestrations especially were left out in nominations. Is it groundbreaking? No. But I think that it was very cohesive tonally and knew what it was, and the same cannot be said about many of the new shows this season. I thought that the humor was also sprinkled nicely throughout with some of the secondary characters.

Ingrid has written a score with some haunting melodic themes that I can’t shake from my head. At times it was teetering the “generic mt pasek and paul” vibe, but I think it does justice to the story and is a step above that, feeling more grounded and cohesive.

Joy Wood’s “My Days” also hit so hard - the way the music swells into that modulation and the lights swell to the brightest they seem to have been in the show was very cathartic. An affecting afternoon at the theatre that made me thankful for family, relationships and emotional connection in general. Definitely more of a “mood piece” I guess, but it got my mind to dig up so many beautiful memories in my own life. It seemed pretty much sold out, so hoping it continues to find an audience!

Saw this twice last week and absolutely fell in love. Definitely a new dream show to do once it's licensed for community theatres, even if the only role I could probably play is Lon lol (the vocal ranges are so high!). Maryann and Dorian are incredible. My grandmother just passed last October after suffering for many years with Alzheimer's, and my grandpa (her husband) passed just 2 months after, so the themes of the show were very timely for me and in a way helped me to grieve in ways I couldn't process several months ago. "I Wanna Go Back" in particular was incredibly emotional to watch - it really felt like I was watching my grandma at a time she forgot those around her in the present, but could remember people from her past.

I really really enjoyed Nick (Young Noah) and Joy (Middle Allie) especially, and Carson as Johnny was just hysterical - his comic relief really helped the show to not be super overwhelmingly emotional. I sat in the mezz the second time I saw it and from up there you could notice exactly how the rain falls on stage, and I noticed Ryan stood between the two rows of rain and he was hardly getting wet at all, meanwhile Joy was pretty drenched.

Both times, all I could hear in the final two songs were sniffles all around the audience. It was nice seeing how so many people were touched. I even bought the tissue box at the merch counter and it definitely came in useful lol.

I don't think this is racial blind but rather very cleverly racially conscious. Remember the story happened mainly in the 60s and 70s, and the notebook was written by Allie, who in the present day is a white woman. You would think what would happen if in the story Allie is white and Noah is black, and suddenly it makes sense that Allie's parents would treat Noah the way they did, including calling police on him for "kidnapping," not just because Noah is a lumberjack. You might think it is a reach but the casting choice inevitably invites you to make the connection. The show is lovely for what it is, but you do feel the uneasiness that underlies what is basically a romaticization of their life story.

Updated On: 6/4/24 at 06:08 PM

Favorite new score of the season. Can't stop listening.

I hope Rachel mcadams is playing sudoku everyday

hearthemsing22 said: "Heart of Rock and Roll. Tommy. Do we think The Notebook will be next??"



Yes, my guess it closes by labor day