By MINGSI MA
In case you’re curious, no, there isn’t a Ferris wheel on stage in The Notebook. In fact, this musical tames down the sweet-sour thrill of a passionate first love that starts with a summer fling. It shifts focus to aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and the all-encompassing love that comes with dedication and commitment.
The modern romantic movie classic The Notebook (2004) begins its story in the American South in the 1940s, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Also based on the same novel by Nicholas Sparks, the musical begins in a coastal Mid-Atlantic town in the late 1960s. The musical features a more diverse cast. It had its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2022, followed by a successful Broadway run in 2024 at New York’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The production we are seeing now at the Benedum Center is part of the North American tour presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh.
The main story goes as Allie gradually forgets the people she loves due to Alzheimer’s disease; Noah refuses to give up on her, reading her their love story over and over again – a story that transcends time and distance, parental disapproval, and social class. Compared to the popular movie of the same title, this production employs three pairs of actors to portray the lovebirds, Noah and Allie, across adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
In different scenes, the three pairs of actors stand in parallel on stage and sing to each other, marking the passage of time. This is no doubt an interesting choice, and I kept thinking about the intention. It clearly divides the three phases of Noah and Allie’s relationship, from the first taste of love as a firework shot across the sky, to the messy reunion after all the lost years, to the unswerving loyalty in their twilight years.
Thanks to the direction by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, the first and second pair of Noah and Allie by Makena Jackson & Kyle Mangold, Ken Wulf Clark & Alysha Deslorieux demonstrate great consistency in their characters. Yet, this choice seems to prioritize chronology; the nuances in characterization between the young and middle Noah and Allie feel insufficient to justify using two separate sets of actors.
As mentioned earlier, this musical production tames down the portrayal of Noah and Allie’s falling in love. In contrast to the movie’s acutely sensitive moments, the first act follows a rather linear narrative of Noah and Allie’s first encounter and the sparks of their young love at a relatively fast pace. Given that the dramatic conflict between this young couple lies predominantly in parental disapproval over differences in social status, the story feels predictable. Allie’s fiancé, Lon, also gets flattened in this musical production – this is a defensible choice that gives focus to Allie and Noah’s dynamic and trims away some of the outgrowth to concentrate the narrative arc. This leaves more room for older Noah and Allie’s story in their twilight years.
The true shine of the story comes from the stubborn old Noah played by John Rubinstein, who won the 1980 Tony Award for Best Performance in Children of a Lesser God. For those who have been through caretaking experience, there’s something so real and familiar about having an elderly family member who refuses to undergo physical therapy despite walking with a limp, making elder Noah a convincing character. Watching Rubinstein’s performance is like sipping a rich cup of tea, full of compounded, elegant fragrances that come with age and experience. When old Allie, played by Angela Birchett, invites Noah to dance like they used to when they were young and dating, Rubinstein performs with a hint of hesitation, as if Noah is trying to figure out whether Allie has regained her memories or simply recognizes him. It’s a delicate timidity, like dipping your hand into cold water, born of a deep understanding of the character. When Noah finally gets his answer, he is not only overjoyed but also beaming with pride.
Still, life, aging, and Alzheimer can be cruel. On bad days, Allie can still scream out, “I don’t know you!” It is heartbreaking to see Angela Birchett’s panic-stricken face and her outstretched hands desperately trying to grasp onto something safe, something familiar that Allie may have forgotten. How frightening must it be to wake up one day and find everything around you suddenly foreign? And what kind of emotional tug-of-war must it be for the caregiving family members to keep hoping that their loved one will “come back,” even if just for a few minutes? This is why, by giving more space to explore the realities of aging, this musical version of The Notebook carries such emotional weight and turns Noah’s committed love for Allie in the twilight years into something that brings tears to our eyes.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The Notebook, at the Benedum Center in the Cultural District, runs November 10-15, 2026. Tickets at https://trustarts.org/production/105573/the-notebook
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Reviews
Leave a Reply Cancel reply