'The Notebook' is Now a Broadway Musical

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Notebook" is Now a Broadway Musical

All Of It (WNYC) | April 1, 2024 | Host: Khushan Avadar (in for Alison Stewart)

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Episode Overview

This episode of All Of It dives into the transformation of the beloved novel and film The Notebook into a brand-new Broadway musical. Host Khushan Avadar interviews singer-songwriter and composer Ingrid Michaelson and co-directors Michael Greif and Shelley Williams. Together, they unpack the creative reinterpretation for the stage, the collaborative process, deeper themes of love and memory, and how the new production brings contemporary resonance—especially through race, storytelling, and Alzheimer’s representation.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Origins and Personal Connections to The Notebook

• Shelley Williams first encountered the story via the movie and was immediately a fan.
  • “I watched the movie, and I was a fan.” (02:52)
• Michael Greif was first introduced to the musical before ever seeing the film or reading the book, noting his experience began through working on the project.
• Ingrid Michaelson emotionally recalls watching the film in her 20s:
  • “Cried and cried and cried. So that was my introduction.” (03:07)
• Ingrid’s love for musical theater predates her singer-songwriter career, and the opportunity to create for the stage was a chance to return to that passion.
  • “I always wanted to be on the stage...but I never lost that love of musical theater.” (03:26)

2. Musical Creation and Collaborative Process

• The musical’s creation spanned seven years, complicated but enriched by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Ingrid remarks on using Zoom for productive scene work.
  • The process was marked by frequent collaboration and collective visioning. (04:04–05:08)
  • “It's just been a big of collaboration and rethinking things and going back to the drawing board and coming back with new ideas and always with the same vision.” — Ingrid Michaelson (04:59)

• Co-directors Michael Greif and Shelley Williams’ partnership draws from decades of creative friendship and mutual respect.

  • “Shelley and I have known each other for close to 30 years...I couldn't think of a better collaborator.” — Michael Greif (06:16)
  • “Oh, it’s a complete love fest. I respect Michael so much. He's a genius director. I learn from him every day.” — Shelley Williams (06:58)

3. Adapting a Beloved Story and Audience Expectations

• Williams reflects on approaching the adaptation with “respect” rather than pressure, aware the narrative resonates deeply―particularly regarding Alzheimer’s.
  • “We wanted to make sure that the show had some breath and some space and people could live inside it.” — Shelley Williams (08:22)
• The musical is conceived as an “offering” for audiences to process their own memories and experiences.

4. Portrayal of Alzheimer's and Memory

• A musical clip, “I Want to Go Back”, is highlighted for its moving portrayal of Ally’s memory loss, with her younger selves singing for her.
  • Ingrid discusses not wanting old Ally to sing while in the depth of Alzheimer’s to maintain emotional truth, letting her “younger selves” evoke interiority and echo real caregiver projections. (10:25)
  • Personal experiences with dementia shaped the storytelling approach for both Michaelson and actress Marianne Plunkett.
  • “I wanted her two younger versions of herself to be singing these watercolor thoughts, memories, fractions of fractions of thoughts.” — Ingrid Michaelson (11:38)
• Metaphors of water and watercolor are threaded throughout (both visually and narratively) to express the fluidity and blurring quality of memory.
  • “Memory and water, to me, feel very...they're cousins in a way. You can't really grasp it, but you can.” — Ingrid Michaelson (13:06)
• Shelley Williams connects this to her personal experience with her mother’s Alzheimer’s.
  • “The incredible lyric, ‘I am still in here,’ is something that I hold onto as a daughter because I know she's still in there.” — Shelley Williams (14:20)

5. Staging Choices that Reflect Memory and Identity

• Actors play multiple roles, intentional to mirror Ally’s confusion—her present nurse is played by the same actor as her mother, for example.
  • “All of it's intentional.” — Shelley Williams (16:34)
  • This choice arose from real caregiving experiences, adding layers of meaning and authenticity.

6. Musical Structure and Collaboration

• Michael Greif helped Ingrid with song structure to more dynamically mirror characters’ states, adjusting lyrics and pacing for emotional truth.
  • “He would say...this part needs to be a little bit longer. The words need to come faster. It needs to mirror the franticness that she's feeling.” — Ingrid Michaelson (17:46)
• Despite her background, Michaelson describes the songs as “homework assignment songs” but says her life and grief weave through them.
• Greif affirms that Michaelson always finds a unique, personal solution to each collaborative prompt.
  • “It never feels like she's fulfilling an assignment. It feels like she's able to tap into her own artistry.” — Michael Greif (19:09)

7. Centering Diversity and Shifting the Story’s Timeline

• This staging of The Notebook features interracial couples and shifts the era to the 1960s–70s, engaging directly with issues of race and class.
  • Williams: Deep research went into choosing a plausible time and locale, with references to historically Black beaches and communities. (20:03)
  • “There is a world in which this existed...So we knew it could be plausible and it could be real in America in the right location, which is why we moved it to a coastal town and why we moved the time period.” — Shelley Williams (20:41)
• The timeline shift also invoked the Vietnam War draft’s impact on class divisions, adding another layer of social context.
  • “Moving the time period was remarkably beneficial...” — Michael Greif (21:51)

8. Aging, Communal Storytelling, and Emotional Universality

• The show uses three actors each for Noah and Ally, representing stages of life; the shared and solo musical moments are attuned for emotional clarity.

  • “We figured it out together...it just became this really beautiful puzzle.” — Ingrid Michaelson (23:56)

• Michael Greif stresses the importance of trust, shared purpose, and the “commitment to the material” that made the creative team work so well.

  • Spellman, the choreographer, is also a key part of the community.

• Broad Entry Points:

  • Michaelson underlines the musical’s universality: people can connect via young love, old love, regret, joy, or even just through the palette of diverse actors.
  • “There are so many different entry points for people to connect and to see themselves and to see their loved ones...That story of young love and old love and commitment, it just is such a beautiful, timeless, universal story.” — Ingrid Michaelson (25:31)

9. Intended Impact

• Williams hopes people leave the show with hope, joy, and renewed reflection.
  • “Every time I watch the show, I think very deeply about the life I want to live...that is what I hope people walk away with, that they feel joy and hope.” — Shelley Williams (27:06)

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Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:26 | Ingrid Michaelson | "I always wanted to be on the stage...but I never lost that love of musical theater." | | 06:16 | Michael Greif | "Shelley and I have known each other for close to 30 years...I couldn't think of a better collaborator." | | 08:22 | Shelley Williams | "We wanted to make sure that the show had some breath and some space and people could live inside it." | | 11:38 | Ingrid Michaelson | "I wanted her two younger versions of herself to be singing these watercolor thoughts, memories, fractions of fractions of thoughts." | | 14:20 | Shelley Williams | "The incredible lyric, 'I am still in here,' is something that I hold onto as a daughter because I know she's still in there." | | 16:34 | Shelley Williams | "All of it's intentional." | | 19:09 | Michael Greif | "It never feels like she's fulfilling an assignment. It feels like she's able to tap into her own artistry." | | 20:41 | Shelley Williams | "There is a world in which this existed...So we knew it could be plausible and it could be real in America in the right location, which is why we moved it to a coastal town and why we moved the time period." | | 25:31 | Ingrid Michaelson | "There are so many different entry points for people to connect and to see themselves and to see their loved ones...That story of young love and old love and commitment, it just is such a beautiful, timeless, universal story." | | 27:06 | Shelley Williams | "Every time I watch the show, I think very deeply about the life I want to live...that is what I hope people walk away with, that they feel joy and hope." |

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Key Segments & Timestamps

• 02:41 – How each guest first experienced The Notebook
• 03:15 – Ingrid Michaelson’s connection to musical theater and songwriting journey
• 04:01 – The seven-year development process, collaboration during COVID
• 05:08 – Michael Greif on vision and creative team choices
• 06:16 – The co-directing partnership and diversity of the team
• 08:22 – Handling audience expectations and emotional resonance
• 09:34 – Clip: “I Want to Go Back” and discussion of memory/Alzheimer’s
• 12:56 – Use of watercolor/water metaphors throughout the show
• 14:20 – Shelley Williams’ personal experience with Alzheimer’s
• 16:34 – Actors playing multiple roles to reflect Alzheimer’s perception
• 17:46 – Michaelson on song structure and collaboration with Greif
• 20:03 – Racial dynamics, timeline shift, and commitment to authenticity
• 21:51 – Vietnam War draft and class commentary
• 23:56 – Decision process for harmonies and solo voices; collaborative work with actors
• 25:29 – The community and joyful universality of the production
• 27:06 – Shelley Williams on the desired impact on the audience

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Memorable Moments

• The musical’s emotional authenticity was carefully shaped by both the personal experiences of its creators and actors, leading to intentional, resonant creative decisions.
• Portraying Alzheimer’s through overlapping actors/roles and “watercolor” musical motifs blurs time and memory, deepening the story’s impact for those with firsthand experience.
• The team’s embrace of diversity—through casting, setting, and themes—adds depth and contemporary relevance while grounding the show in researched, plausible history.

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Tone and Atmosphere

The conversation is warm, collaborative, and emotionally candid. There’s a real sense of creative community among the guests, often marked by mutual admiration, laughter, and shared vulnerability. The tone honors both the bittersweetness of aging and memory loss, as well as the enduring, universal power of love—making this adaptation not just a retelling, but a tribute and an invitation.

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The Notebook: The Musical runs at Broadway’s Schoenfeld Theatre and, as the episode suggests, offers both catharsis and connection to audience members across generations and experiences.

Transcript

[Uncle]

I' ma put you on, nephew.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

All right, unc.

[McDonald's Employee]

Welcome to McDonald's.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Can I take your order, miss?

[Uncle]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.

[Interviewer]

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[Interviewer]

This is all of it. I'm Khushan Avadar in for Allison Studio Stewart. Happy Monday, everyone. Thanks for starting your week off with us. I'm so grateful you're here. Here's what's on today's show. First, we'll talk about new science that shows how menopause affects the brain. We'll speak with photographer Nona Faustin, who's the subject of a new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. And we'll talk about the history of pranks and practical jokes because, of course, today is April Fool's Day. That's the plan. And that's later. But first, let's get this started with the Notebook. Twenty years ago, the world fell in love with Noah and Allie and in love with their love story. I'm talking, of course, about the Notebook. And now, two decades later, you can see that love story play out on stage with brand new original music from singer songwriter Ingrid Michaelson. The plot remains generally the same with a new book from Becca Brunstetter. Noah is a working class boy who falls in love with wealthy Ally. Their love is challenged when Ally's parents disapprove and when her mom, of course, hides all those dang letters. This staged version is moved up about 30 years and has an interracial couple at the center of the story. The musical features relative newcomers to Broadway alongside veterans like roots star Dorian Harewood. And the musical is heartbreakingly honest about the challenges of loving someone with Alzheimer's. The Notebook musical is running now at the Schoenfeld Theater. And I am joined now in studio by singer songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and co directors Michael Greif and on zoom, Shelley Williams. Hi, everyone.

[McDonald's Employee]

Hi.

[Shelley Williams]

Hey. Hello.

[Interviewer]

Hi, Shelley. So, actually, let's go around the horn. Shelley, I'd love to start with you. Did you first experience the Notebook by watching the movie or reading the book? And were you a fan? Shelley, you up first.

[Shelley Williams]

I watched the movie, and I was a fan.

[Interviewer]

Wonderful. Michael, how about you?

[Michael Greif]

I read the musical and heard some songs before I watched the movie or read the book.

[Interviewer]

So introduction as a part of the job. Ingrid, how about you?

[Ingrid Michaelson]

I watched the movie with one of my best friends when I was, I don't know, in my early 20s, and cried and cried and cried. So that was my introduction.

[Interviewer]

So we actually have a similar story, you and I. All right, so what was writing about? What was it writing a Broadway musical that really attracted you? Was that something you'd always dreamed of? Was this a new aspiration for you?

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Well, I went to school for musical theater, and I always wanted to be on the stage. And then I quickly realized that I didn't have that sort of Broadway belty voice. And so I started to write my own music. And then singer songwriter Ingrid Michaelson emerged. But I never lost that love of musical theater. And so, yeah, the older I got, the more I thought, maybe if I can't be on stage, I can create something. And I was asked by one of the producers, Kevin McCollum, seven years ago, I think now, about working on this, and here we are.

[Interviewer]

Now, seven years is a long time. What was that process like?

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Long, long and wonderful. And because of COVID it was definitely made longer. We had some time to really not be able to do much except work on Zoom, which was actually productive, Oddly, not musically, but for scene work, we really got to see over Zoom. It really like, you know, you get to see what works and what doesn't work, dialogue wise, let's say. So we got to have some really, like, interesting working time that I didn't think we were gonna get because of that pause. But, yeah, it's been just magical and wonderful and extremely collaborative with Becca Brunstetter, the book writer, and Michael and Shelley, directors, and, I mean, our whole team. It's just been a big of collaboration and rethinking things and going back to the drawing board and coming back with new ideas and always with the same vision. Collective vision, though. So that was really a cohesive thing that we all shared was this love of the story, telling the story in a really beautiful, theatrical, interesting way.

[Interviewer]

Michael, when you hear Ingrid talk about that vision, does that resonate with you? What was your vision when you were thinking about it when you joined?

[Michael Greif]

Oh, absolutely. I responded immediately to Ingrid and Becca had already started speaking about depicting Ali and Noah at three different times in their lives, as opposed to two different times, which other versions do. They spoke very passionately about wanting to make this a universal story and finding ways to make it the kind of production that lots of different people could come and see themselves on stage with. And I also immediately loved that they were centering the old couple in a way that when I looked at the other versions, I saw just how original and specific their take was about that.

[Interviewer]

And Ingrid had mentioned something about kind of it taking a village. And I think it's interesting. This is a co directing operation, right? Shelley came on with you. What was it about Shelley that you felt, oh, this is a partner in crime that I want everything about Shelley.

[Michael Greif]

Shelley and I have known each other for close to 30 years. We worked together closely on early productions of Rent, and I just knew that her sensibility would be perfect to complete this creative team. We really wanted a diverse creative team. We wanted. I wanted to have a woman's point of view directing this musical. And I couldn't think of a better collaborator. And I was completely thrilled when first Shelley responded to the Mitchell of the way, and then the producers and Becca and Ingrid all responded so positively to Shelley joining our team.

[Interviewer]

Shelly, would you say the same about Michael? Is it an equal love, love relationship for you, co director?

[Shelley Williams]

Oh, it's a complete love fest. I respect Michael so much. He's a wonderful friend. He's a genius director. I learn from him every day. Some of my favorite musicals are musicals that he has shepherded onto the stage and have made remarkable impress on generations. So the opportunity to work alongside him and to grow as a director with him was certainly not one I was going to pass up. And when I read the Notebook, it moved me so deeply, and it really meant so much to me that Becca and Ingrid, from the beginning, knew how important it was to ensure that more people could see themselves inside this story.

[Interviewer]

And, you know, when you talk about it moving you so deeply when you experienced it yourself. I saw a performance of it last week which was lovely. Not a dry tear in the house, I'd have to say. And a lot of expectations during intermission or before about what folks could expect because they had such deep relationships with this musical. So, Shelley, I'm wondering, when you're adapting something as well known and as well loved as the Notebook, there are going to be people who come in with a really particular set of expectations of the show. You and Michael together and Ingrid, what was your approach for dealing with that pressure?

[Shelley Williams]

You know, it's interesting, I don't know that we ever thought about it as pressure. What we approached the piece with was a great deal of respect because this story does touch on real people's experiences. You know, Alzheimer's is a deeply personal and individual journey. We do have overlap, those of us who are experiencing it in our lives, but we wanted to make sure that the show had some breath and some space and people could live inside it. And that's why I think it's different than other musicals. You know, I was talking with Marianne Plunkett yesterday, and she says, I think of this as an offering. And I thought that was such a beautiful word, you know, to describe what this is. And people come to the show, and I think sometimes they have a very big emotional response because we give them space to have their own memories inside it.

[Interviewer]

That's really well said. You know, one of the most moving songs that that makes me think of is I Want to Go Back, which has the two younger allies singing almost from within the mind of the older Ali about her descent into Alzheimer's. We have a clip of it, actually. Let's listen to it.

[McDonald's Employee]

I didn't know that the last time I leave the house was the last time I leave the take. Take me back one day Take me back my heart shall be Take me back one day I am sitting here I'm waiting for you to come Let me out, dear and it's time for dinner.

[Interviewer]

Like I was saying, this was one of those moments in the show that got a lot of people choked up. Ingrid, what were you trying to accomplish with that song? How were you thinking about it?

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Well, I didn't want our older Ally to sing while she was in this Alzheimer's state, which is not a state. It is what it is, Right? The movie. This is not a spoiler alert, but in the movie and the book, she has a moment of recognition near the end.

[Shelley Williams]

End.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

But she doesn't really have any of those moments of recognition. And I thought it felt. Even though it's a musical and we're singing on stage, something felt very false about having her character sing. I wanted there to be a sort of fractal song of her younger selves. And maybe possibly this is what she's thinking. Is this what she's thinking? Maybe it's something that we're mirroring onto her that we think that she's thinking, which I think is what we do a lot of time. You know, I lost both my parents, and my father had some sort of dementia, and I sort of was projecting what I thought he might be thinking in moments. And so I wanted her two younger versions of herself to be singing these watercolor thoughts, Memories, fractions of fractions of thoughts. And. And the whole time, our older ally is walking through her memories, the other characters on stage, and she's searching these faces that she knows and she remembers, but she doesn't remember. And it's there for a moment and then it's gone. And Marianne had a lot of great insight because her mother also had Alzheimer's, and so she felt like this was such a tribute to her mother to be able to climb inside that. That experience as best that she could as an actor. But, yeah, I just didn't want her to outright sing until she has a moment of clarity. And that was how we got.

[Michael Greif]

That felt like such a completely right decision, because singing comes from a place of interiority, of a place of full recognition. Either if you're singing about your own experience or you're singing to another person, you're singing from a deep place. And the fact that she can only attain that depth when she regains some memory, I always felt like exactly the right choice.

[Interviewer]

That term you used, watercolor, really struck me. To me, when I hear it, I think of the idea of, like, a watercolor splatter kind of edging out over a painting, taking on gradients, and how that kind of deals with memory. Is that a fair way of summarizing that?

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Yeah. Well, in the book and in our play, she. That character, becomes a successful watercolor painter. So we really wanted that to lace throughout the whole show. And water being such a big part of our show with the rain, and we have actual, you know, water on stage. And there's something that is so. Memory and water, to me, feel very. They're cousins in a way. You can't really grasp it, but you can. There's just something that's so. I don't know what the word is about water and memory, but the two things together, to me, feel like they go together. But, yeah, there's a wash, you know, when I read something. And every time you remember a memory, you're actually remembering the memory of the. Like, remembering the last time you remembered that memory. So it's all just. There's layers and layers and layers between what you think you're remembering and what you actually are. And so that's kind of that watercolor feeling, that blurriness, that. Yeah, fluid. Yeah, yeah. Fluidity. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Shelley, you mentioned in a piece with the New York Times that your own mother has Alzheimer's. We're talking about how deep these connections are, how singing comes from a place. Michael, like you were saying, of deep intrinsic motivation. What does hearing that song bring up for you?

[Shelley Williams]

The incredible lyric, I am still in here is something that I hold onto as a daughter because I know she's still in there. And what I need my mom to be in the moment may not be what she's capable of being for me, and I have to get inside her world and allow her world to be my truth, but my mother is still in there. And that is such a beautiful cry, I think, that. That Ali has in this. And I think for any child who's navigating this journey, to know that the person you love is still in there is so hopeful and so beautiful because it is a. Every day is a new education, right? There's all these new phases, and we have to keep growing. And, you know, it's. It's amorphous. Like, what. What Ingrid is saying, like, we have to be very fluid with this disease. Everyone who is loving this person that has this and the person that has Alzheimer's is navigating this world that is changing for them every day.

[Interviewer]

That was so. Please, go ahead. No, no. Please. Sorry.

[Shelley Williams]

No. I was going to say, you know, I think that. That my job is as a daughter is to create a safe space and to accept this reality and to love the person that I know is still in there.

[Interviewer]

And watching the musical through the lens of the personal experience some folks might have with Alzheimer's, dementia, or just being a caretaker, I think adds a lot. There's something that stuck out to me that I wanted to ask about. Whether it was intentional or not. Shelley, Actors play multiple roles in this show, and from Ali's perspective, who's dealing with Alzheimer's, it could be interpreted as people in her present sharing the faces as people she knew from her past. And I thought the acting casting choice was interesting because actors play multiple roles here. So, for instance, Allie thinks her nurse in the present is her mom, which is obviously not the case. But that character is played by the same actor who plays her mom. Was that reading into that? Was that intentional? It seems like a beautiful choice. Can you just talk about that a little bit?

[Shelley Williams]

All of it's intentional.

[Interviewer]

I'm happy I brought it up then.

[Shelley Williams]

You know, it's interesting. Sometimes my mom calls me the name of her sister, right. And I know that that's also someone she loves and someone that she's familiar with. You know, all of those things actually happen all the time. And so it was really important to recognize the familiarity of a caregiver that is also the position that a mother plays in her life. So, yes, that was absolutely intentional.

[Interviewer]

And Michael, when you think about it, kind of taking a village. What do you think you brought to the table in terms of coordinating everything with Shelley to make sure that these intentional choices had room to breath, room to come out?

[Michael Greif]

I think I'm hoping that I was very helpful in putting the piece together in terms of recognizing where we may need to spend a little more time, which other sections we could move through rather quickly with. I like to think that I'm good with structure.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Yes. Helped me with a lot of song structure, for sure.

[Interviewer]

Oh, interesting. What specifically were some of the challenges in the song structure you worked on? He would say.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

And it's funny because while I am a musician, I barely read sheet music. I lost that many years ago. And Michael speaks in a way that I understand. He's like, this part needs to be a little bit longer. The words need to come faster. It needs to mirror the franticness that she's feeling. Because right now, the words are too long and slow. Okay. I go off to the corner of the room, I figure something out. I come back, he's like, still more words, more words, more frantic. Come back. Okay, there we get it. And then it makes sense with where she's coming out of the scene. So things like. That's just one small example of a very specific memory I have of one of the songs and how it completely changed the whole beginning and how it becomes a patter song in the beginning with lots of words, and it's spilling out of her. And that wasn't my initial thought, but it made so much more sense coming out of the scene that she was coming into. So things like that were very helpful that Michael helped me with, for sure.

[Interviewer]

Was that a new muscle for you to play with?

[McDonald's Employee]

Yeah.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

I've never done this before. I've never had homework assignments. You know what I mean? I've just written songs that are coming from someplace within me. And without a doubt, while I have. These are homework assignment songs. You know, this has. We have to get the plot from A to B to B to C. My own life and my own thoughts and my own love and my own grief has been completely braided into all of the lyrics and the music as well.

[Michael Greif]

The thing that Ingrid is so remarkable about. I know Shelley will agree with this. If you ask her to do something, she will find the completely unique, personal way of dealing with it. It never feels like she's fulfilling an assignment. It feels like she's able to tap into her Own artistry.

[Interviewer]

Well, you know, thinking about personal identity, Thinking about identity in general, there's a question of race that comes up when we watch this show. Unlike the movie, which features a white couple, this version features interracial couples. And the timeline's been moved up to the 60s and 70s instead of the 30s and 40s. But of course, race could still be an issue, and it definitely was in the 60s and 70s. So, Shelley, Michael, love to hear from both of you. What did you want to accomplish by centering this story on an interracial couple? Or at least how much was race a part of the conversations of the show? Shelley, let's start with you.

[Shelley Williams]

Yeah. Well, race was always a part of the conversation because it can't be ignored. Every person that walks on that stage, we wanted them to present themselves authentically. So it was our challenge to say, if we're going to do this in this way, what is a time period that feels appropriate? And what was really interesting is we went on kind of a deep dive, and there are these beaches along the Chesapeake that were black beaches. You know, interracial beaches were illegal. However, there were these black beaches that were alongside white towns, and they had these concerts and actually had very beautiful integrated communities. And so that gave us a lot of, you know, it gave us a window into this plausibly happened in America. I have writings of people who are like, I went to these beaches. I saw James Brown at Carrs beach, you know, like this. There is a world in which this existed where there was this affluent family that was a mixed family that, you know, that she plausibly went to many restaurants along these beach towns that served segregated, you know, a segregated population. So we knew it could be plausible and it could be real in America in the right location, which is why we moved it to a coastal town and why we moved the time period. And then we said, now we have the opportunity to make this more universal for so many people.

[Interviewer]

And, Michael, it sounds like what I hear from Shelley is grounding it in reality all the time, trying to find the area where it's authentic, where it's true, where it could, like Shelley said, plausibly happen. Right?

[Michael Greif]

Absolutely. So people can really bring all of themselves to these roles. I also think moving the time period was remarkably beneficial, especially in the way in which the draft for Vietnam really separated economic classes. I remember my elder sister and her friends and there being a real time when that draft, when those numbers came up and the effect it had on those lives and those families. And I think one of the things that Becca's done so brilliantly is really separate those young men who could afford to not participate in that war and those that couldn't.

[Interviewer]

We're talking about aging. And there, you know, either in time period or just in the time of one's life. There's another clip I wanted to bring up in a song that's specifically about aging. This is a song with all three Noahs. Let's listen to a clip here. I am the same inside the paint is chipping but the foundation's all right I wanna run like my face used to run I wanna run to you Time used to run Time.

[McDonald's Employee]

Keep run.

[Interviewer]

So, Michael, you had mentioned a big choice in this musical being having three Noah's and allies instead of two, as we saw in the movie. And in this clip, we hear solo and we hear communal voices. And, Ingrid, this is a question that I had for you. How did you strategically think about when to solo a voice or when to have it be a backup or communal? Because we hear that interplay come in and out, and it seems to add to the story.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Yeah, it was kind of in my mind. I had an idea of what was right, and then we would get in the room with the actors, and sometimes I was wrong. And we would figure it out with the actors and with Shelly and Michael and Becca. That's what I said earlier about sort of full circle, the collaborate, the collaboration and the collaborative cloud that we were in. I kind of asked the actors, like, what's working, what's not working? And we figured it out together. And it just became this really beautiful puzzle that we all figured out how to make these three voices all be unique in their own moment, but yet mirror each other and be very similar. And it was trial and error and figuring it out together.

[Interviewer]

I love the way this conversation is going. It's like every layer of community that it took to make this musical is branching out a little bit, because now we're talking about the actors coming in. I guess what made the team work together so well? Was it that authentic self? Was it just magic in the.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

I think we just. I don't know. This is my first musical, so I just.

[Michael Greif]

It comes from a commitment to the material and a trust in how good the material is. It certainly makes me and Shelley's job, our job, a whole lot easier when everyone believes that what they're doing is of real quality and really worth spending our time. I also want to include Katie Spellman, our wonderful choreographer, who has really been important in the musical staging throughout. She's a very key member of this community.

[Interviewer]

It's wonderful. Yeah, go ahead. We just.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

And I know we're probably running out of time. I just wanted to say that while there is Alzheimer's and there is deep feelings, there's also young love and there's also regret and there's also reuniting and there's. I feel like one of the things about this story that I loved so much was that there are so many different entry points for people to connect and to see themself and to see their loved ones. And that, to me, and then creating a palette of actors that look all different, and that just felt so universal and so beautiful to me. And that story of young love and old love and commitment, it just is such a beautiful, timeless, universal story, and we all can connect to it in some way. And I think everybody on the team knew that and felt that very strongly. And Becca and I wrote towards that. Michael and Shelley and Katie moved the piece closer towards that. And we all kind of were on this train together of let's take this beautiful human story and put it on stage for beautiful humans to watch and experience together and have this cathartic experience together every night. And that's what's been happening.

[Interviewer]

And, Shelly, I guess we'll leave it with you. As you hear Ingrid talk about having all those different entry points for audience members, what do you hope people walk away with after they watch this musical?

[Shelley Williams]

With a lot of hope. You know, there's a lot of joy in our show. There's a lot of laughter. You know, the first thing people do, you know, is, like, within the first two minutes, you're laughing. And that's what is so beautiful about the journey, the emotional journey of the show. Ingrid's got a song called Sadness and Joy, and that feels so true to life. It feels so true to, I think, you know, the experience that we navigate as humans throughout our lives, but, you know, it ends with joy. And I think at the end of our journey, there is this. You know, some people have this cathartic experience and they feel great emotion, but there is so much hope and so much love. And every time I watch the show, I think very deeply about the life I want to live, the choices I want to make, the impact I want to have on the humans that I have, you know, that I've been blessed to touch every day, that every day is an opportunity to be better and to leave a great impression on this planet. And so I think that that is what I hope people walk away with, that they feel joy and hope.

[Interviewer]

Well, the Notebook, the musical is on Broadway now at Schoenfeld Theatre. We've been lucky to be joined by Ingrid Michaelson, who wrote the music, Michael Greif, who is a co director and also has a lot going on right now as well. The Notebook, Days of Wine, and Rosen in Hell's Kitchen. All projects coming. Congrats on that. And Shelley Williams, who's got the Wiz coming up as well. Congrats on, uh, it's playing right now at Schoenfeld Theatre. Thank you all three so much for joining us.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Shelley Williams]

Thank you.

[Uncle]

I'm gonna put you on, nephew.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

All right, unc.

[Interviewer]

Welcome to McDonald's.

[Ingrid Michaelson]

Can I take your order, miss?

[Uncle]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.

[Ira Flato]

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