Rain isn’t the only thing that falls beautifully in “The Notebook,” the Broadway musical that made its regional premiere Tuesday at St. Paul’s Ordway Center. So does the sap — and in this case, that’s not a flaw but a feature.
What might elsewhere feel like treacly Hallmark sentimentality becomes, in “Notebook,” a source of sincerity and emotional resonance. The result is a well-acted, gorgeously sung production that is both heartfelt and genuinely heartwarming.
The show’s emotional impact is carried by all six performers who portray Noah and Allie across three stages of life: as impulsive young lovers, as practical but still passionately connected adults, and as seniors grappling with fading memory while rediscovering their bond. Each pair brings nuance, vulnerability and warmth, allowing the central love story to unfold with surprising depth.
Tuesday’s opening night doubled as a homecoming of sorts for two key figures behind the musical. Nicholas Sparks, whose 1996 novel inspired both the film and this stage adaptation, appeared onstage to share that he spent part of his childhood in Minnesota while his father pursued a graduate degree at the University of Minnesota. Broadway producer Kevin McCollum — president of the Ordway from 1995 to 2002 — also returned to launch the touring production. While the musical underperformed on Broadway, it’s enjoying far greater success on the road, and it’s easy to see why.
Co-directors Michael Greif and Schele Williams create a fluid, cinematic staging in which scenes shift seamlessly. The story opens in a memory care facility where Older Noah (Beau Gravitte) reads to Older Allie (Sharon Catherine Brown), who is charmed by the tale of a lumberyard worker and a college-bound girl — unaware that the story is her own. Their younger selves take shape in Chloë Cheers and Kyle Mangold’s spirited portrayals, while Alysha Deslorieux and Ken Wulf Clark bring power and complexity to the middle-aged couple struggling to reconnect.
Ingrid Michaelson’s score may not lean on show-tune catchiness, but it is textured, affecting and often striking in its intimacy. Highlights include “Kiss Me,” a thoughtful meditation on passion and consent, and “If This Is Love.” Deslorieux delivers some of the evening’s strongest vocals, especially on “My Days,” while Gravitte, Clark and Mangold shine in the ruggedly tender “Iron in the Fridge.”
The supporting cast adds welcome color, most notably Connor Richardson, whose portrayal of Johnny — an earnest, well-meaning and occasionally clueless millennial physical therapist — provides needed comic lift.
Bring tissues because this production wears its romantic heart unapologetically on its sleeve. With its growing buzz among date‐night and girls‐night‐out groups, “Notebook” is writing a warm, crowd-pleasing new chapter in modern musical romance.
