Review: THE NOTEBOOK at Des Moines Performing Arts

Stories can be one of the most powerful things in the world. We all have different reasons we share a story.  Sometimes it's to pass down a lesson we have learned.  Other times it's to remind us or someone we know about our story. "The Notebook: The Musical," which opened on Tuesday at Des Moines Performing Arts as part of the Willis Broadway Series, not only tells a beautiful story, but the way it is told is something I'm going to remember for a long time.

The show starts with Older Noah coming out and telling a story.  We introduced to 3 couples at different stages of their lives. We soon realize that these three couples are the same people. We soon find out that the story Older Noah is telling is about his and his wife Allie's life.  He is reading this story to remind her of who they are as she is dealing with the late stages of Alzheimer's.  It's the story of how they met and were torn apart, and how a house with blue shutters would bring them back together.

I don't talk about scripts very often when discussing a show, but it's worth mentioning with this one.  Bekah Brunstetter does an excellent job of weaving back and forth between the story at each stage, in a way that flows effortlessly. This seamless transition, combined with Michael Greif and Schele Williams' direction and Katie Spelman's choreography, creates an emotional journey that will resonate deeply with viewers, pulling at your heartstrings and making it a truly beautiful experience.

Part of the fun for me going into this show was that I was only familiar with one song. I was blown away by the beautiful songs, with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and co-orchestrations by Carmel Dean and John Clancy. There is something familiar in the music I can't place, which is so fitting for this show, as they talk about music being one of the last things forgotten.

The scenic design by David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis juxtaposed the scenes in the nursing home with memories that elevated the story.  When we're in the nursing home, the set leaves little room for imagination.  We are either in the hallway or in a room playing into what Allie can see now.  When we go into the memories, the set becomes more abstract.  We get a piece of a doc, we get pieces of a porch with shutters to illustrate a house.  The memories leave room for the audience to imagine or see them as fragmented as they would be in Allie's mind.

What I love about costumes is how they can become a story all on their own. Paloma Young's costumes do just that.  I had the pleasure of seeing her costume work this last spring when I saw "Real Women Have Curves." I love seeing more of her work in this show. Part of the storytelling comes from finding costumes from three different periods in Noah's and Allie's lives, but Young takes it a step further. She uses similar color palettes for each of our three sets of leads.  Each male lead wears an orange/yellow shirt, and each female lead has a light blue element in their costume.

While there is so much depth to the show's design, you wouldn't have a show without a fantastic group of actors telling the story we see on stage. What "The Notebook" does beautifully is cast three sets of couples that illustrate our main couple through their story. Beau Gravitte and Sharon Catherine Brown do a superb job bringing Older Noah and Older Allie to the stage as we find Allie in the final stages of Alzheimer's. Chloë Cheers and Kyle Mangold do an excellent job of showing that youthful energy of a young couple falling in love as Young Noah and Young Allie. The two actors, Ken Wulf Clark and Alysha Deslorieux, as Middle Noah and Middle Allie, bring some of the most iconic moments, including the rain scene, to the stage and do a beautiful job.

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