A Night On The Town, Last Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        At David's behest, I was whisked off to Broadway Tuesday night, to see "The Notebook."  I was glad I went, but--

                                           When the movie "The Notebook" came out in 2004--hey, that is 20 years ago! --I had no intention of seeing it, until I read Dwight Garner in "The New York Times," who compared Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams to Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in 1961's "Splendor In The Grass."  The last is one of my favorite films, so I had to see what all the fuss was about.

                                                 Even though "The Notebook," on screen and stage, is designed to be a tearjerker, it did not get to me until the end.  The movie had passionate performances by Gosling and McAdams, but this time I felt he was the Natalie Wood character.  The same could be said of Joan Allen and Andrea Burns, who play a variation of Audrey Christie's Monster Midwestern Mother from the 1961 film.  The influence of William Inge is all through "The Notebook," and I felt it keenly in the musical adaptation.

                                                       Would that the music would whisk the audience away to a romance felt by the younger Noah and Allie.  Alas, the Music and Lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson are repetitive and pedestrian; so much so that, while the voices are glorious, I wished they would just stop singing what sound like the same melodies over and over again.  I kept waiting for the famous rain scene, but that does not happen till the opening of Act Two.  Better it should have ended Act One; it would have been the perfect way to end the act.  Some sloppy musical theater writing, here.

                                                           Dorian Harewood, and especially Maryanne Plunkett makes up for it all as the older Noah and Allie.  Theirs are the most touching moments in the show, and their absence is felt when they are offstage.  Plunkett should have received a TONY Award for her work, and the ending does bring on tears the whole evening is trying to generate.

                                                               The end result is an entertaining show that demonstrates, proof positive, it did not need to be made into a musical.  Not everything does, darlings.

                                                                  This made me want to see the movie again, not only for the memorable turns by Gosling and McAdams, but also by James Garner and Gena Rowlands, who, tragically, now herself has Alzheimer's.

                                                                     One last thing.  In 1953, Inge wrote a one-act play called "Glory In The Flower," where two former lovers meet in a diner.  On the face of his winning the Oscar for his "Splendor In The Grass" script, though the characters earlier are named Jackie and Bus, they are recognized now as foreshadows of Bud and Deanie in 'Splendor.'

                                                                          "The Notebook" has a strong feminine demographic.  Teenage girls and those in their early twenties flock to it and will love it.  But I miss the show it might have been had a better score been provided.  Where was Jeanine Tesori?  Lucy Simon?  Or Carly? Stronger musical composition skills were needed here.

                                                                                 The show is worth seeing.  But how I miss all it might have been.