Even though Valentine’s Day is months away, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is delivering a beautifully sensitive and sincere love letter “The Notebook The Musical” based on Nicholas Sparks’ book, with the play by Ingrid Michaelson and Bekah Brunstetter until Sunday, October 5. Romance is in the air at the carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina when Kyle Mangold’s Noah first lays eyes on Chloe Cheers’ Allie. Their connection is instantaneous and sweet as the two teenagers bond. Noah is a poor struggling lumber mill worker while Allie’s family is from a rich social class. It is the 1960’s and the different color of their skin makes an additional challenging path for them to travel.
The audience is witness to their struggles and the forbidding attitude of Allie's parents (Anne Tolpegin and Jerome Harmann-Hardeman) to even consider this inappropriate union. Think of the story as seasons of love as the two are separated by years of differences until Allie reads a newspaper article about Noah completing his dream of restoring a derelict house and goes to see him. For all these years her mother has kept his letters from her and she feels he abandoned their fragile love.
Now we meet the middle Noah, Ken Wulf Clark, who has survived his stint in the war and Allie, now Alysha Deslorieux, who is days away from marrying a lawyer Lon, Jesse Corbin. in a society wedding as her parents have always planned. Their separation quickly disappears and Noah and Allie pledge their forever togetherness.
Time travels fast forward again and the older Noah, Beau Gravitte, is with a frail and sick with Alzheimer's Allie, Sharon Catherine Brown, and their deep connection is still strong and bittersweet. Allie has written the complicated and beautiful story of their love and lives together and now Noah reads from the notebook, hoping to catch sparks that will give Allie the memories, memories, memories to remember the dreams they shared over a lifetime together.
Michael Greif and Schele Williams direct this enchanting and challenging story that touches the heart strings with its humor and strength. For tickets ($43.50-186), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at bushnell.org. Performances are Wednesday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Come early to enjoy a festive fall celebration with games and prizes outdoors for two hours.
If only for mere moments, Noah is able to make the words from their lives together clear the clouds that fill Allie's mind and eyes and renew their passion and tenderness. Don’t forget to bring some Kleenex.
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