The Notebook, Paramount Theatre

Confession time: I’ve never seen the movie The Notebook. I love romance, but Nicholas Sparks just always seemed too cloying for me. This is why I love being a theater subscriber. I’ll see a show I might not choose to see and sometimes it’s a nice surprise. After seeing the musical version of The Notebook, I understand why the movie is so beloved. I could feel the emotional manipulation, but the story pulled me in anyway. The story hits all the feels. I sobbed several times throughout.   

The story is straightforward, and not subtle at all. The audience knows from the beginning how the story ends. But it still works. The musical uses the flashback framework to tell the couple’s love story. Noah and Allie are played by six different performers, with moments from first love, reunited love, and older love intertwined. All the performers of the three versions of Noah and Allie were great. While I don’t think I’ll put the soundtrack on my rotation, I enjoyed the numbers. Songs about love and longing! Each couple-version was able to make me cry.  Despite the love at first sight trope, I still believed the love story.

From a technical perspective, there isn’t anything super innovative here. The story carries the show. Whether or not you enjoy this will come down to whether you enjoy this type of story. You will either absolutely love it or thank it’s meh. It is worth taking a chance on it. Take a lot of tissue.