Broadway's "The Notebook": A Love Story Set to Music
When Nicholas Sparks wrote The Notebook, his first novel, in 1994, he wanted to tell the story of the long-lasting romantic relationship of his wife’s grandparents, who had been married for more than 60 years. Literary agent Therea Park decided to represent Sparks and the book was published by the Time Warner Book Group in 1996 to great success, making The New York Times Best Seller list.
The book was then adapted into the 2004 film starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands and James Garner. This year the touching story finally made it to Broadway with music by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and direction by Michael Greif.
The plot of The Notebook weaves in and out of the past and present, and in the beginning, we are to assume that an old man is reading to an old friend in a nursing home. The man tells her the story of two young lovers, Noah and Allie, meeting in their youth and finding each other seven years later, after he completed his World War II military service and she her higher education.
Allie’s wealthy parents do not approve of this match and we learn that her mother has in fact hidden all the letters he wrote to her after the summer they met. As the story continues it is made clear that the old man is Noah and the old woman to whom he is reading is in fact Allie. However, she has Alzheimer's disease and is quickly declining. He himself is very ill, but we don’t find that out until the end. We come to understand that the two lovers united when Allie chose love over practicality and security. They went on to live a long and happy life together and as the novel comes to a close, they die together in each other’s arms at the nursing home.
I chose to write about this story—first, the novel, then the movie, and now the Broadway musical, not to share the plot of yet another love story. Sometimes a written word cannot convey a deep enough meaning to its reader, so we must say it out loud. Then in saying that word out loud we realize that moment has passed too quickly, so we set that word to a musical note and melody. From there we are able to extend the duration of the word, say it loudly or softly, at the top of our range or bottom… It is in this cathartic moment that we can fully express the sentiment of a single word into something epic and transformative for the audience.
At one point, Noah sings a song titled “Leave the Light On,” about his longing for Allie’s return, and all the things he misses about her and the life they could build together. He communicates to the audience that he leaves a light on outside for her because he believes so completely that she will be back. The powerhouse song of the show is “My Days,” sung flawlessly and emotionally by Joy Woods, who plays the young Allie. In this moment Allie decides to take the giant risk to stay with Noah. She says “I’m gonna live a life where I am proud to say that I followed my joy, I followed my heart… I’ll say that I love the way that I spent my days.” One can’t help but appreciate the power of such a moment.
Sparks touches on so many issues that affect us all, including illness, classism, sacrifice, love, determination and dedication. When a writer, composer, and singer can come together to find the best possible way to express an emotion like they so successfully do in The Notebook, we as an audience can more easily relate to their story, and perhaps with a little self-reflection, have a better understanding of what we really want in our lives.