Few romances have remained as popular in the 21st century as Nicholas Sparks’ “The Notebook.” Along with a successful film adaptation, the story of love spanning decades has captured the imagination of anyone wanting to tap into their sensitive side, giving in to an earnestness often laughed at but is largely cathartic. It’s because of this that it comes as some surprise that Sparks’ seminal work has yet to be adapted to the stage. In an age where almost everything has gotten at least a workshop performance out of the deal, it’s strange to see The Notebook take so long to achieve the next stage of its lifespan.
If the audience at The Segerstrom Theater for the Performing Arts is anything to go by, it’s about time. Along with being one of their best-attended shows of recent seasons, it’s received some of the most enthusiastic curtain calls, at least as witnessed by this writer. The demand could not be higher. At most, people are curious to know if one of the rare romantic musicals currently touring has what it takes to compete against the likes of big winners, including Moulin Rouge! and Hadestown.
The short answer is that it doesn’t quite get there. The music written by Ingrid Michaelson is more direct with its emotional cues, often expressing passionate pleas with the bashfulness of a Valentine’s Day card. That isn’t to say it isn’t effective, but it’s arguably a loftier show that requires a more methodical approach to convey the very basic emotions. For starters, it’s a musical centered around three timelines of two individuals. The need to reflect the passage of time would be a challenge to anyone, but given how often The Notebook shifts, it would be difficult to keep things straight on such a confined stage.
And yet, the magic of this show is found almost immediately when Old Noah is introduced in a nursing home. He’s doing everything to convince Old Allie to love him again. The book correctly sprinkles the mystery throughout the remaining show, mixing hope of a breakthrough with fear that Noah is a fool who will never have what he had. There’s enough tragedy wrapped in this dynamic to be unbearably sad, but Michaelson’s music knows how to provide occasional wistful glimpses of optimism, making the nostalgia blend with the harsh realities of time passing.
Whereas Old Noah could’ve been the only Noah in the show and still been a powerhouse role, The Notebook goes further and plays on audiences’ built-in nostalgia, not only for Sparks but for potentially their own romances and sacrifices. Every flashback is built like an amber-tinted memory that’s distilled to pureness. It’s a world that dreams of no moment better than the one they’re in, and the book effectively knows when to lay on tragic irony. Despite its earnestness and directness, The Notebook as a show isn’t hacky. It may at times lean far into more fantastical sentiments, but that’s the beauty of theater and its ability to transport.
The opening number features a song centered around the concept of time. This may indeed be overstating a simple thesis, but it acquaints the audience with the approach that magnificently gels everything. Old Noah confronts Young Noah and Middle Noah, along with Allie’s three forms, as they trade off harmonies. What becomes clear is that the show works best when it’s taking those greatest leaps, when it can quickly move from a line sung by Old Noah into the past with Young Noah and have some greater clarity take shape. It turns the transitions into something zippier and creates the stage equivalent of a film montage, where these two characters’ lives are playing out before everybody’s eyes.
Mileage may vary on how well this works, but it is very much in line with the tone that The Notebook franchise has built over the decades. Even scenes such as a rain-soaked reunion feature clever staging where the actors stand in the background as water pours in the foreground. The nursing home incorporates a movable stage that becomes more centered during key scenes. Most of all, it’s not afraid to be sad but also playfully raunchy in a PG-13 type manner. This world is dimensional and, because of it, gives audiences plenty of relief in a faithful adaptation.
Because of this, it may be easy to find The Notebook as a more divisive show. Those who don’t go for tragic romances that are largely emotion-driven will take issue with its simple core. Even the fact that some of the songs include goofy exchanges that all romantic comedies have may be a detriment. And yet the effectiveness by which everything unfolds works in its conventional structure. Everything comes together in Act II, and leaves the audience in a somber state, reflecting on everything that’s happened and finding ties within their own lives.
For this writer, it’s a very good piece of theater that perfectly tells the story it was always meant to. Whereas some adaptations update for modern audiences and lose some charm, this sticks to the key scenes everyone knows and expands on them with an ambitious retelling that plays with time and creates nostalgia within minutes of the show starting. It has the dramatic stakes necessary to convey its familiar beats, and thankfully, the cast is just as strong and knows how to stay in harmony. Like the book itself, it works like a memory, unfolding not all at once but in waves that sometimes require word association to get there. It’s a show that allows for vulnerability to overwhelm the crowd and dig into feelings. In an age where the world is so dark, The Notebook’s popularity may just be as simple as being a byproduct of finding light in sadness.
Comments
Post a Comment