The Notebook’s three Allies and Noahs (Photo: Roger Mastroianni)

By Sandi Masori, Sherrie Rose, and Jessica Harrison in San Diego

Sandi Masori

When you walk into the Civic Theater to see The Notebook, if you walk by the merch booth, you may notice that they have cute little tissue boxes on sale.  There is a reason for that.  The Notebook will make you cry.  But it will also make you laugh, and just about in equal numbers.

For a quick summary, (Older) Noah (Beau Gravette) is in the assisted living facility allegedly getting therapy for his knee, but really to be with his wife (older) Allie (Sharon Catherine Brown)  who is a patient in the memory care unit. Because she can’t remember him, he reads to her the story of their life together. Those stories are shown to the audience by having three sets of Allies and Noahs at various ages.  Sometimes we have all six on stage at the same time including young Noah from the 60s (Kyle Mangold), middle Noah from the 70s (Ken Wulf Clark), young Allie (Chloe Cheers), and middle Allie (Alysha Deslorieux).

Sherrie Rose
Jessica Harrison

I went to the show with fellow SDJW writer Sherrie Rose and my cousin Jessica Harrison who is visiting from Connecticut.  We thought it would be fun to do this review she said/ she said/ she said style.

The Scenery by scenic designer David Zinn and Brett J Banakis:

Sherrie Rose:  The icicle lighting really caught my eye.  Different colors, different positions set the mood for the various scenes. Many of the sets had a balcony that added a dimension. The first act included the older Noah and Allie on the side or backstage so their presence was strongly felt.

Jessica Harrison: They really knew how to balance lights, the shadows and the projector with the different stages. Not once was I confused about the locations; they kept it very clear.

Especially very cool when instead of relying on closing curtains to change the set, they would just change the light focus and move the set as the story kept going. I never felt it was distracting because they kept my focus where they wanted it to be at the moment.

(Middle) Noah and (Middle) Allie in the rain. (Photo: Roger Mastroianni)

Sandi: The set was beautiful, making good use of the whole stage, including the depth of the stage. The bedroom moved upstage and downstage as the story progressed, depending on whether they were the focal point, or whether the younger couples were.  But the most magical part was the rain.  I’ve never seen a downpour of actual rain on the stage before.  It is pretty magical.

Stand out actors:

Jessica: For me the actor that stood out the most, was older Noah (Gravitt ). He really knew how to transmit that intense feeling of ultimate true love —  loving someone so deeply that even when your soulmate does not know who you are due to an illness, you still show up every day. You are still very present and somehow find the tremendous amount of patience that it takes in order to not lose faith. He shows the frustration that the character Noah experiences when wondering if all his efforts are for nothing but still continues no matter what because of the love that he feels for Allie — that to me was incredible talent.

Sandi: The actors who stood out the most to me were older Noah and Allie (Gravitte and Brown) and Connor Richardson who played one of the aides in the assisted living facility.  Though his part was small, he nailed the awkwardness that his character felt. He really shines in the role.

Sherrie: The older Noah and Allie (Gravitte and Brown) have both maturity in life and experience in acting and it came through in their roles. Brown made the difficult performance of a woman with Alzheimer’s believable and also heart-wrenching.  Gravitte’s strong voice carried his role with grace.

Favorite Scene/ Moment

Sandi: Hmmm … it’s so hard to pick just one.  I really enjoyed the show, and I don’t think I can narrow it down to one favorite. The rain was pretty awesome though.  I also really liked the way that they synchronized the movements so that when one Allie touched her hair, all of them did at the same time.

Sherrie: The scene with the song “Forever” with the lyric “Is it time for forever?” really tied into the theme of the three sets: young lovers, reconnected lovers, and the older couple with the husband committed forever regardless of his wife’s condition.

Second favorite: the rain scene.

Jessica: I enjoyed the parts where all Noahs and Allies appeared on stage representing their own storyline and ultimately the end where the entire cast was together. That just gave me goosebumps.

The Songs

Sherrie: The song “Forever” performed by the three pairs of Allies and Noahs.

Jessica: I don’t think I can give much input about this because I have my own preferences when it comes to music, but what I can say is that I can recognize how some of the actors had potent singing voices and were able to stay on key.

Sandi: As we’ve seen with many of the IP shows, the songs are just ok. None of them were ear wormy or particularly noteworthy, and some of the singing fell a little flat. I know IP musicals are all the rage, but I wonder if this play would have been better off as a non-musical.

The Story 

Jessica: They chose the right scenes in order to keep the story in a way that made sense and straight to the point. I would have liked to see more because The Notebook has so much to offer. Only so much was able to fit for a musical. Perhaps the beginning where it’s clearly the introduction for the characters could have been shorter so that there would be more space for the actual drama. However, they still managed to keep me tearing and brought back a smile and laughter to my face.

Sandi: I thought the story was well done and adapted well for the stage.  We were kept on an emotional journey the whole time, alternating between laughing at the jokes and witty quips and crying.

Sherrie: The book readers and movie watchers may not appreciate how the story on stage wove in the timeline and three stages of the lives of Noah and Allie.

Other Comments/ Thoughts

Sandi: Though there wasn’t a specific Jewish angle per se, it was exciting to learn that Jordi Bertran Ramirez who played Fin (and others) is a San Diego native. Other San Diego representation came from UCSD alumni Michael Greif (co-director) and Paloma Young (costume design).  I love seeing locals come back to our shared hometown.

Sherrie: Jewish connections are in the creative team with co-direction by Michael Greif. Music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson who has Jewish heritage on her father’s side and has publicly spoken about being raised with a mixed cultural background..

Jessica: After the play, there was an actor chat back, which was very refreshing to be a part of.  Just being able to ask the actors their perspectives gave much more insight into how this was possible to make in the first place. It gave us an inside look.

The Notebook plays at Broadway San Diego through Sunday, April 19.

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Sandi Masori is a theater and food reviewer for San Diego Jewish World.