Chicago Theatre Review

Monthly Archives: August 2026

Sadness and Joy

August 7, 2026 No Comments

The Notebook

Emotionally moving, unabashedly sentimental, filled with moments of honest and truthful observations about life and  balanced by unexpected humor, the National Tour of THE NOTEBOOK is simply magnificent. The musical is based upon the popular novel by Nicholas Sparks, an author known to readers all over the world. He’s written and published 24 novels, to date, many becoming New York Times bestsellers, and eleven having been turned into successful movies. They include such familiar titles as Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember and his latest, Remain: A Supernatural Love Story, will soon be a film collaboration with director, M. Night Shyamalan. The Notebook, Sparks’ first novel, was published in 1996, and was turned into a blockbuster film in 2004. This beautiful love story has been adapted into a gorgeous, heartbreaking stage musical that, incidentally, enjoyed its pre-Broadway debut right here in Chicago, just four years ago. I think the National Tour is actually better. As the main characters, Noah and Allie sing, get ready to enjoy a tale filled with both “Sadness and Joy.” 

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