The Broadway adaptation of “The Notebook” sells tissues at the concession stands — and audiences often need them. Dorian Harewood and Maryann Plunkett, who star in the show as the older versions of Noah and Allie, confirm they can hear the sound of sniffles from the Broadway stage. “We can hear it sometimes, and sometimes it’s very loud,” Harewood says.
“But we hear tons of laughter throughout the show, too.” Neither Harewood nor Plunkett had seen the pop culture phenomenon that was 2004's “The Notebook” when they signed on for the Broadway musical. Plunkett was raising her young child, and Harewood simply missed the moment.
But they, like many before, fell in love with the romance between Allie and Noah by reading the story, now told through lyrics written by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by “This Is Us’s” Bekah Brunstetter. Sparks’ novel turned movie (and now musical) follows a couple from opposite sides of the tracks and the winding path their romance takes over the course of decades. After their whirlwind teenage romance is interrupted by Allie's parents, she never hears from Noah again, and Allie does what she’s supposed to as an upper class Carolinian: She gets engaged to “the right guy.
” Noah, meanwhile, does what he promised Allie: He buys a house and gets on his feet. When they meet again, Allie has to decide if she’s going to give up a pre-approved life for a more authentic one, which requires a brave leap. The Rachel McAdams and R.