Joy Woods (‘The Notebook’) on portraying ‘moments of light, of laughter, of awkwardness, of lust’ as Middle Allie [Exclusive Video Interview]
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
“I actually did see the movie before getting the script, I think it was the day before,” shares Joy Woods with a laugh, recalling the first time she experienced the 2004 film “The Notebook.” The Nicholas Sparks novel that inspired the movie has now been adapted to the stage with the actress in the role of Middle Allie. “I found myself watching the movie and seeing a very specific demographic and being, like, ‘Oh, this is relatable, but I don’t really see myself in this story,’” remembers the performer, who felt that the script for the musical and its approach to the central characters of Noah and Allie were “very affirming and reaffirming that I was supposed to be where I was.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
In the musical, both Noah and Allie are played by three different performers who depict the character at three distinct moments in her life, so Woods shares the role with Jordan Tyson as Younger Allie and Maryann Plunkett as Older Allie. The actress calls her collaboration with these costars “an absolute dream,” thinking back to the Chicago pre-Broadway run of the show when she was experiencing “imposter syndrome” which was alleviated by getting to “observe them figuring it out and playing and building Allie.” Doing the work together, she says, “gave me freedom to bring myself and have a belief that I had something authentic worth bringing to her.” She describes the comradery of the entire company during that early run of the show as “like summer camp. We were all so fresh and excited to meet each other.”
More from GoldDerby
WATCH our exclusive video interview with John Cardoza, ‘The Notebook’
Audiences familiar with “The Notebook” come into the musical expecting a tearjerker and, indeed, the stage adaptation by Bekah Brunstetter and Ingrid Michaelson stays true to the story of how Noah and Allie meet and fall in love as teenagers, separate for a period of ten years and reunite, only to be beset with the challenges of old age as Allie suffers from memory loss. Woods notes that though the show is emotional, “The story is the span of a couple’s life, so within that life you have loss but you also have so many moments of light, of laughter, of awkwardness, of lust and the awkwardness of feeling that lust.” In the song “Forever,” for example, Middle Allie hilariously vocalizes an inner monologue about how attracted she is to Noah, even after all these years and despite her engagement to another man. The actress says it is “so fun, so fulfilling” to be able to portray such a wide array of emotions.
Woods shares most of her time on stage with Ryan Vasquez, who plays Middle Noah. The duo established an immediate rapport when working on the Chicago production. “We clicked and became really, really good friends immediately,” shares the actress. Though it is joyous to see the two characters reconnect after so many years apart, it is not always an easy reunion. To navigate those heavier scenes, the performer says that she and Vasquez share “moments of just trying to take a deep breath together and reconnecting and reestablishing a homeostasis.” The two also get to recreate the film’s famous rain scene, but the show incorporates it at a moment in the story in which the audience doesn’t “really see it coming.” Once it arrives, she says, “You hear them gasp or you hear them hitch their breath, sometimes they cheer.”
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Ryan Vasquez, ‘The Notebook’
Woods has one of the standout songs in the score, the 11 o’clock number “My Days.” “We needed her to feel completely at a loss and fed up and overwhelmed with options in a way, everyone trusting her to make her own decision and her coming to terms that she’s never done that a day in her life,” explains the actress as to how the book scenes leading up to the song are crucial to making the number work. Though it is a demanding song, she says “it honestly doesn’t feel like any work at all,” especially because overthinking the moment “blocks you from doing your work.” “Once you get your muscle memory of singing the songs and doing the body work of it all, you can surrender a little more and let the words and let the music around you do the work,” she adds.
The coda at the end of the show also gives her a moment of release after performing such an emotional piece. Woods shares, “Being able to connect with people you didn’t really see the entire two hours and be united as an ensemble and just hollering out into the house, I think honestly, for me, it’s just as cathartic as it could be for the audience. It’s more of an exhale, it’s more of a thank you.” After such a fulfilling end, she says the cast is able to “get giggling offstage immediately after.”
PREDICT the 2024 Tony Awards nominations through April 30
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest prediction
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
