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‘The Notebook’ Broadway Review: Romantic Saga Takes Another Step In Sentimental Journey

Deadline review of Broadway musical 'The Notebook'

By the time we get to Act II, the Middles get the focus, and while Ryan Vasquez and Joy Woods are in fine, strong voice, they can do little to up the drama tension: Brunstetter’s reluctance to play gotcha waiting games, so welcome early on, backfire when we’re suddenly expected to entertain the notion that Ally’s barely seen fiance could actually keep any of us away from our date with the nursing home. Played out mostly on a nursing home set by David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis that manages to be both attractive and suitably off-putting (Noah’s renovated antibellum farmhouse hits nostalgic notes without summoning unwelcome ghosts), The Notebook gets to its final pages – or very nearly so – without letting its manipulations become too overbearing (more about that “nearly so” in a moment), yet it never approaches the finer works of nearly everyone involved (director Greif gave us Next To Normal and Dear Evan Hansen). Title: The Notebook Venue: Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Director: Michael Greif and Schele Williams Book: Bekah Brunstetter Music And Lyrics: Ingrid Michaelson Cast: Jordan Tyson, Joy Woods, Maryann Plunkett, John Cardoza, Ryan Vasquez, Dorian Harewood, with Andréa Burns, Yassmin Alers, Alex Benoit, Chase Del Rey, Hillary Fisher, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, Dorcas Leung, Happy McPartlin, Juliette Ojeda, Kim Onah, Carson Stewart, Charles E. Wallace and Charlie Webb.

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