EGN NEWS DESK
In October 2022, Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune reviewed “The Notebook” when it performed on the Goodman Theater, and raved that Michaelson had written “a fully beautiful suite of songs.” But she is aware of that, given all of the adjustments made in staging the story, followers of the e-book and film would possibly really feel betrayed. “There are people who find themselves sad that it’s not the film,” Michaelson acknowledged. “Some folks will come simply to hate the present, as a result of it’s one other movie-to-musical adaptation. Others will are available in anticipating to see Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams look-alikes onstage. Whoops!
“It’s not an enormous, bombastic musical,” Michaelson stated. “Hiring me despatched the boat in a unique course — a quieter, extra introspective course.”
In writing songs for Allie and Noah, Michaelson included ideas she’d had about her mom’s loss of life, in addition to feedback made by her widowed father. “I don’t need to speak about my mother and father the entire time, however there’s a number of them wrapped up in these songs.”
As a consequence, she relives their deaths each time she sees the present. “I actually didn’t have any breakdown moments since my mom died,” she stated. “It wasn’t till a month in the past, in rehearsal, that I fully misplaced it — like, a loud, guttural, different people can’t see this crying. You’ve seen me cry eight occasions already as we speak, so which may not appear convincing,” she wisecracked.
As opening night time neared, Michaelson, no stranger to artistic neuroses, had developed what she stated her therapist referred to as “pre-post-mortem anxiousness.” Other than a report that she’s going to launch this summer time, stuffed with what she referred to as “quiet, old-timey music,” she doesn’t know what’s subsequent. “Being a girl of my age, with out kids or mother and father, I’m untethered on each side. I really feel like I’m only a tire rolling down the freeway typically.”
Fulfilling a dream from 35 years in the past has been nice, she stated, however it has additionally launched new worries. “I don’t need to be pigeonholed because the weepy, romantic author,” Michaelson stated, after which laughed. “Even although that’s most likely what I’m greatest at.”
