Student Blog: Two Sides of The Same Coin: Portraying Noah & Lon in The Notebook Musical on Broadway with Chase Del Rey

“Where do we go, when we go?” is the first line of the final song “Coda” in the Broadway musical The Notebook. During the nine-month Broadway run of this beautiful show, one of my greatest inspirations and someone I’ve been fortunate enough to know personally, the incredibly talented Chase Del Rey portrayed the role of Lon while also understudying Middle Noah.

I often wondered where Chase’s mind went when he stepped on stage. Day after day, he breathed life into Lon while seamlessly stepping into Middle Noah whenever needed. We all know there are two sides to every story, but what happens when one singular person embodies both of those sides, carrying the power to tell two vastly different perspectives of the same story?

As the song “Sadness and Joy” reminds us, “there are two sides of the same coin, it’s sadness and it’s joy.” But for Chase, the two sides of his coin were not just sadness and joy, they were training and adrenaline. Whether he was having brunch onstage to discuss Allie and Lon’s wedding or leaving the light on, he embodied each character with such depth, bringing both sides of this beloved love story to life flawlessly.

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, Musical Theater program, Chase returned home to Los Angeles, where the cards dealt to him led more toward TV and film projects rather than the stage. Musical theater had to wait, until A Little Night Music at Pasadena Playhouse came along. That production became his re-entry point to the world of musical theater. An incredibly challenging musical that demanded rigorous vocal training. For Chase, it felt like riding a bike: once he got back on, he was ready to go.

When that show came to a close, The Notebook audition slid into his inbox. With his voice newly strengthened and back in musical theater form, he was both ready and grateful, especially since the Notebook score sits extremely high. His audition songs, “Leave the Light On” and “It’s Not Easy,” are among the show’s most vocally challenging numbers.

The audition process itself was unique. Whoever played Lon would also understudy Middle Noah, so most of the audition material leaned heavily toward Noah. Based in LA and not part of the Chicago out of town tryout for The Notebook, Chase submitted his first self-tape from his apartment in LA. A week later, he was asked to fly to New York for an in-person callback. His 30-minute work session was 90 percent Noah’s sides, with just a quick run of Lon at the end. What followed was the fastest audition process of his career, a rapid whirlwind that felt almost poetic given that The Notebook’s opening number is entitled “Time.”

From his first tape on August 31st to the official offer just two and a half weeks later, Chase’s journey to Broadway was rapid. He believes his sense of stability in LA gave him freedom and ease in the audition room, allowing him to relax, trust the material and his preparation, and simply perform. He credits that confidence with helping him land the role.

The night after his New York audition, before flying back to LA, Chase treated himself to a celebratory dinner at his favorite restaurant, PJ Clarke’s, followed by live music at Smalls, his favorite jazz bar. The next morning, he noticed a missed call from his agent. When he returned it, he described his night of celebration at PJ Clarke’s, only to hear his agent respond: “Well, how would you feel about going to PJ Clarke’s a little more often? Because you’re going to Broadway.”
In no time, Chase had moved his life from Los Angeles to New York, ready to make his Broadway debut in The Notebook.

Although Chase stepped into Lon’s shoes every night, he had never covered a role before. Alongside Lon, he was understudying Middle Noah, two very different tracks to master. His rehearsal process included multiple chemistry reads with Joy Woods (Middle Allie) and observing Ryan Vasquez and Joy as Middle Noah and Allie. The most rewarding yet challenging aspect was learning the specifics of blocking for both roles.

Chase’s core belief about the “love triangle” of Allie, Noah, and Lon is that both men should be genuine, good choices. Too often, Lon is dismissed as the wealthy “jerk,” but Chase leaned into portraying him as a truly good fiancé, someone who loved Allie deeply and treated her well. This made Allie’s decision more complex, and in Chase’s words, “proved to audiences that Lon was the best fiancé Allie could have.” He aimed for Lon to radiate strength, confidence, and undeniable sincerity in his love. At the same time, embodying both roles gave Chase a unique perspective. Playing Lon, he felt steady and confident love while on the other hand, playing Noah, he experienced the raw, passionate devotion that defines Allie’s one “true love.” Walking in both men’s shoes, even within days of each other, gave him insight into two very different perspectives of the same story.

The challenges of each role were distinct. With Lon, the work was in keeping the role fresh and discovering new moments within familiar beats each night. With Noah, the difficulty was largely musical. Lon sings the tenor line and Middle Noah sings the baritone line forcing Chase to relearn harmonies from these two differing perspectives, not only for live performances but also for the cast album. Despite these challenges, Chase found he had an advantage with Noah. Performing Lon nightly meant he already knew the stage inside and out, giving him comfort and freedom when it came time to portray Noah.

Chase’s Broadway debut as Middle Noah was unforgettable. Sitting alone under a single spotlight on a Broadway stage, singing “Leave the Light On” with the full orchestra for the very first time, he caught in his peripheral vision the entire cast clumped in the wings cheering him on. Out in the audience sat his family and friends, making the moment overwhelming in the best possible way. During the opening number, “Time”, he sprinted onstage from stage right and saw the reflection of his loved ones in the crowd hearing cheers echo as he made his entrance. Singing about time while experiencing the greatest time of his life was almost too perfect to believe.

Afterward, Chase summed up the experience in an Instagram caption which reads “I get why she leaves Lon now.” That lighthearted joke captured the deep perspective of his unique role in the show portraying Lon while also lending his voice to Middle Noah from time to time. As Lon, he fought to be the picture perfect fiancé, steady, confident, and devoted. As Noah, he fought with equal passion as Allie’s one true love. In many ways, he literally walked a mile in the other man’s shoes getting a front row seat to both perspectives of this story. 

When Chase was onstage as Lon during the brunch scene, he felt a spark, pure love radiating toward and from Allie. When he stepped into Noah, that same spark ignited again but from an entirely different angle. To feel those exact paralleled emotions as two different men, sometimes within days of each other was a rare and surreal gift. And yet, the spark wasn’t just in Lon or Noah, it was also in Chase. It was the passion that carried him from Los Angeles to Broadway, the force that kept him chasing life and knowing that light that would follow him onto every stage. His journey tracing the skies and leaving the light on during his Broadway debut will forever be written in the pages of his own notebook as the actor who brought both Noah and Lon to life.