“The Notebook” Musical Will Debut On Broadway This Spring

The musical adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller features music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.

Nicholas Sparks’ timeless love story of Noah and Allie is headed to Broadway!

Singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson announced on Thursday that her adaptation of The Notebook will begin previews at Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City on February 6 and open March 14.

"Just typing that makes my heart race," Michaelson wrote on Instagram alongside an illustration of the show’s logo. "Musical theater has always been in my bones. But to be able to create a musical with Bekah Brunsetter as my copilot, Carmel Dean as my musical guide, and Michael Greif and Schele Williams directing has been an adventure I never knew I could have.”

"I hope to see you at the theater," she concluded. "I’ll be the one clapping the loudest, laughing the loudest, and probably crying the loudest."

Based on Sparks’ 1996 novel of the same name, The Notebook follows the lives of socialite Allie Hamilton and lower-class Noah Calhoun, who first meet in the 1940s in coastal North Carolina. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams starred in the fan-favorite 2004 film adaptation that remains one of the highest-grossing romantic dramas of all time.

The book was written by This Is Us writer/producer Bekah Brunsetter, who opened up about her involvement in the stage adaptation in a 2019 interview with Deadline.

“When I first heard about The Notebook potentially being turned into a musical, I was instantly drawn to the idea,” Brunsetter said. “The story hits home for me in two big ways: it takes place in my home state of North Carolina, and Alzheimer’s runs deep in my family.”

Michaelson first broke the news that she was turning Sparks’ best-selling novel into a musical while on Today in 2019.

"It's so different when you're writing for a character, when you're writing for these other people, than when you're writing about yourself or your own emotions," she said of the song-writing process. "So it's been really interesting and really different for me to write from these perspectives. And just the idea of this undying love and of loss and memory—I can't stop writing them. I'm going to have too many."

Michaelson shared a music video of herself performing the number "If This Is Love" from the musical ahead of the production's world premiere in Chicago in July 2022. It ran at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in the fall of 2022, receiving positive reviews from Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and more.

According to the production's website, a presale for tickets will run from September 19 through September 22 before tickets go on sale to the public September 26.

For more information and to sign up for updates, visit notebookmusical.com.

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