“The Notebook” is regarded as the 21st century’s gold standard of tear-jerking romance. A Nicholas Sparks joint (the master of emotional manipulation) “The Notebook” is best known for its plot conceit of an elderly husband recounting a shared love story to his wife, who is struggling with dementia.
Throw in some legendary on-screen chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling and you’ve got yourself some basic-cable, rainy-day comfort food.
Of course, I’m sure your next assumption was, “’The Notebook’ was good, but I bet it would be even better as a musical!” Oh, it wasn’t? There’s probably a good reason for that.
But that didn’t stop someone from trying anyway. Now we have “The Notebook,” playing at the Fox Theatre through Nov. 16.
Our two star-crossed lovers, Noah and Allie, are played by different actors at three different stages of life. We first have teenage Noah (Kyle Mangold) and Allie (Chloe Cheers), kept apart because she’s from the upper crust of society and he’s from the wrong side of the tracks.
Then we have young adult Noah (Ken Wulf Clark) and Allie (Alysha Deslorieux), reunited after 10 years apart with Allie engaged to another man.
Lastly we have older Noah (Beau Gravitte) and Allie (Sharon Catherine Brown), with Noah reading the story of their romance to Allie, who doesn’t recognize him or their past together.
An interesting note, on the night we saw the show, Cheers was replaced by Makena Jackson right before the end of the first act. There was 10-minute pause in the show before it resumed, but it was an impressive turn by Jackson who had to jump right into a solo.
The cast does a solid job and there are some interesting moments in the show where all three versions of the characters share the stage, showing the interplay between memory and time.
The songs, however, are not great. They run the gamut from bland and forgettable to legitimate groaners. The number “Kiss Me” led to several unintentional giggles in the audience thanks to the repeated singing of the word “mouth.”
Devoted fans of “The Notebook” will undoubtedly be pleased to see Noah and Allie’s story come alive on the stage, but for everyone else maybe just wait to catch the movie playing on TV on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
“The Notebook” is now playing at the Fox Theatre through Nov. 16. For tickets call 314-534-1111 or go to metrotix.com.
