Interview: Rayna Hickman on THE NOTEBOOK, Homecoming, and Finding Musical Theater Later in Life

Rayna Hickman is currently appearing in the national touring production of The Notebook, bringing her decades-long performance career to one of the most beloved love stories of our time.

The Notebook plays at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre January 6–25 before heading to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa January 27–February 8.

It’s a homecoming for the LA native, whose nonlinear path to musical theater has taken her all over the world. A former cabaret singer, cruise ship performer, and rock band member, Hickman joined the tour in July in a demanding track that includes performing onstage while also understudying multiple principal roles. BroadwayWorld caught up with Hickman to discuss her journey, the show’s emotional power, and what it means to return home with the show. 

I noticed you have a San Francisco area code—did you live there for a while?

I lived there for 10 years, actually. I grew up and spent 20 years in Los Angeles. That’s where my parents raised me, and then they moved. I moved to San Francisco to finish college and to get involved in theater. That’s where I originally started to do more theater. I got my Equity card there, and then I met my future spouse there.

Is your spouse also in the industry?

Yes, he is also an actor. A lot of the time, we’re booked out, and we’ve been on separate continents before for long periods of time. It’s really challenging, but we both love what we do so much. Do we sometimes wish one of us had a stable job? Yes, I’m not going to lie.

Have you ever worked on the same shows together?

We have, and we have been hired for the same shows. Before COVID, we had a really great streak where we were getting hired together. Then our whole business went on hold, and on a friend’s invitation, we relocated during COVID to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

We wrote an original musical comedy cabaret together and performed it while we were there, and we later performed it in Los Angeles at Casita del Campo.

You’ve done a lot of solo vocal work—cabaret, jazz, even rock bands. Do you identify more as a singer or an actor?

I consider myself a performer. Singing, dancing, and acting have all come into play because of musical theater. That helped me diversify my skill set and allowed me to move more into musical theater. And because I knew all those genres of music, it enabled me to have a long and steady career on cruise ships, which I did for years.  

You didn’t fully pursue musical theater until later. Why?

I’m already in my 50s, and I’ve been pursuing musical theater since my early 30s. In my 20s, I did a lot of different kinds of performing. I was even in an urban circus and performed at Burning Man; I was a clown. . . . At a certain point, I realized I needed to get more specific if I wanted a stable career. I went back to school in my late 20s in San Francisco, and that’s when I really started pursuing musical theater seriously.

You’ve been performing since childhood, though?

The first show I ever did, I was five years old. It was called The Promised Valley. I was raised Mormon, and performing is a big part of the culture. We make our own plays and put on shows at church. There was a moment where I missed my cue and ran through all the kids to get to the front of the line. The director thought it was so funny that he had me do it every night. I caught the bug really young.

Looking back, would you still encourage young people to pursue theater?

It is hard, but I would advise them to go into it wholeheartedly. If it’s something you love and you’re good at it, pursue it 100 percent. And don't let other people tell you that you need to do something else, too. There are so many strong theater programs now. Several people in our Notebook ensemble went to school, did a showcase, got representation, and went straight into the business. 

Let’s talk about The Notebook. What can audiences expect?

I call it the “sexy sad musical.” It tells you so much about love and a deep relationship between a young couple that lasts throughout decades of their life. Some people think that this is about dementia or Alzheimer's, and it's not. That's an aspect of it, but the musical is actually about a timeless love and a timeless romance and the tragedy that comes later in the loss of memory.

How does the stage version differ from the film?

It takes liberties and dives deeper, especially into Allie as an artist. You get a deeper sense of what bonded them . . . You get a much deeper dive into who they are as people.

Tell me about your role(s) in the show.

I play one of the health aides in the memory care ward with older Allie and older Noah. I support Nurse Lori and help keep the facility running. I also understudy the mother/Nurse Lori track and older Allie.

That’s a lot!

It's a lot, yeah. And it's a big honor, as somebody who is a kind of singer, dancer, actor, to have been hired for my skills as an actor—someone who has the ability to play both roles and to portray both of those characters with depth and believability. It’s a real honor for me.

The show deals with memory loss and Alzheimer’s—did you do any research or draw from personal experience for the role?

We did a lot of research as a company. And we have these two incredible directors, both Michael Greif and Shelly, who were hands-on, talking to us through the whole thing. They were there to make sure that we understood what the history of this show was, but also what Alzheimer's is. And they both had parents who had Alzheimer's, and so it's very personal for them. 

I also learned that Alzheimer’s can affect people my age. That shocked me—I didn't know that it could affect people that young. That released me as an actor to embrace how I might experience memory loss. I also did some online research and watched some videos of people who had Alzheimer's, so that I could see the physicality of it. 

How are audiences responding?

Very deeply. Just a few nights ago, at the end of Act One we have this big crescendo in the music and the lights. And when it came down and we were about to walk off stage, we audibly hurt somebody sobbing. . . . So it's affecting people in a very deep way. 

Are die-hard Notebook fans happy with it? 

Yes. I think that all the creatives have made sure to appease all those super fans. We have the blue dress. We have the rain scene. We have all the things that we pulled from the film that are going to be iconic for lovers of the film and the book. 

How does it feel returning to L.A. with this show?

It’s a dream. I saw Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan at the Pantages as a child. I remember the fairy dust falling into the audience and scooping it up to take home. That theater is where I grew up watching Broadway tours. To come back and perform there feels magical.

Got any favorite local theaters or LA people you want to give a shoutout to? 

Yes, I do! When I hit mid-career, which for me was like 40, I kept getting asked to dance, so I had to go back to dance class. I was living in LA, and I found a studio in Silver Lake called Studio A. Bill Brown helped me regain confidence as a dancer in my 30s and 40s. Also, Musical Theatre West in Long Beach is phenomenal. Pasadena Playhouse has always been a favorite. And I love small, scrappy theaters like the Lyric Hyperion.

L.A. really is a theater town.

The Notebook plays at the Hollywood Pantages January 6–25 before heading to Segerstrom Center for the Arts January 27–February 8.