Nicholas Sparks’ novel “The Notebook” has already made millions of readers swoon and moviegoers reach for the tissues.
In 2022, the enduring love story become a musical with a score by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson. It premiered first in Chicago, then moved to Broadway in 2024, where it earned three Tony Award nominations, including a nod for bookwriter Bekah Brunstetter.
Now the musical is 20 stops into a 30-city tour that arrives April 14 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Schele Williams, who co-directed “The Notebook” with Michael Greif, talked about the musical before it hit the road in Ohio last September.
Her journey to becoming a sought-after Broadway director (she also helmed the 2024 revival of “The Wiz”) began in her native Ohio. The daughter of James “Diamond” Williams, drummer for the funk band Ohio Players, Williams grew up surrounded by music. She performed with the renowned Muse Machine, studied at the American Musical Dramatic Academy in New York, and landed roles on Broadway in “Aida” and “Rent” before moving into directing. That connection to “Rent” came full circle when Greif, who directed Williams in that show, invited her to join him on “The Notebook.”
“The moment that I read it, I fell in love with it, and then I heard the music, and I went, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to do this piece,’” Williams said. “It has been really incredible to partner with someone that I deeply respect so much and really do love as a friend.”
The story follows teen lovers Noah and Allie from their first summer romance through years of love, heartbreak and war, told through the eyes of an older couple looking back on their life together.
Alysha Deslorieux and Ken Wulf Clark play Noah and Allie at midlife in the touring production of the Broadway musical “The Notebook.”(Roger Mastroianni)
While audiences know “The Notebook” as a sweeping romance, for Williams the story is far more personal. Her mother is living with Alzheimer’s, the disease that defines Allie’s later years. Directing the show, she said, has been both difficult and healing.
“Sometimes it’s very hard to live these moments, watching them on stage, but it is also incredibly cathartic,” she said.
Her father’s reaction to seeing the musical underscored its power. He told her the show made him feel “seen,” a response Williams hopes it inspires in others.
“It can feel rather invisible when you’re living with someone that you love who has been affected by this disease,” she said. “A show like this can be incredibly comforting and a reminder that you’re not alone.”
Williams added, “The person that you love is still incredibly vibrant and still there, just in a different way.”
In a departure from the film version, where Allie’s condition is revealed late as a tear-jerking twist, the stage production, like the novel, makes it clear from the beginning. The result is a story that should feel more sincere, with the emotion earned rather than manufactured — a common criticism of the movie.
“This show allows us to see the beauty of a life well lived,” Williams said.
Instead of relying on a big reveal, the musical leans on Michaelson’s score to carry the emotion. Williams praises the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter for her knack of capturing the characters’ inner dialogues with precision.
“So many of her lyrics haunt me because they’re just so perfect,” she said. “Her overlapping melodies mirror what’s happening in Allie’s mind. It’s extraordinary.”
Noah and Allie’s love story is told over decades, with three pairs of actors portraying the couple as teenagers, adults and older adults.
Playing the lead roles on the tour are Sharon Catherine Brown as Older Allie and Beau Gravitte as Older Noah; Alysha Deslorieux as Middle Allie and Ken Wulf Clark as Middle Noah; and Chloë Cheers as Younger Allie and Kyle Mangold as Younger Noah.
“We have moments in which one’s on stage and the other one’s walking by, and you see the echo of who they were inside of who they are,” Williams explained.
That interplay, she added, mirrors the way all of us carry our younger selves inside us, no matter our age.
“It’s a beautiful thing that theater can do.”
By layering different versions of Noah and Allie on stage, the musical captures the full range of their journey, including the memories and the heartache and joy that come with them. And while audiences may expect to cry early and often, Williams says they’ll get a fuller experience.
“I don’t go to the show with Kleenex,” she said. “I just let the experience wash over me. If you cry a tear or two, you do, but I promise you, you’ll do more laughing than crying. The show has so much humor and so much joy.”
‘The Notebook’
When: 7 p.m. April 14 and 15; 7:30 p.m. April 16; 8 p.m. April 17; 2 and 8 p.m. April 18; 1 and 6:30 p.m. April 19
Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown
Tickets: $53.25-$332.75