The Notebook is set to return with the waterworks on Broadway as a musical, according to Deadline.
Playwright and This Is Us supervising producer Bekah Brunstetter is writing the script while Kevin McCollum, Kurt Deutsch, and Nicholas Sparks are producing the show. Sparks is the author of the original book, which later became a film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in 2004.
“I am thrilled to work with Bekah and Ingrid in order to make The Notebook a reality on Broadway,” Sparks said. “They are amazingly talented, and obviously, the story is near and dear to my heart.”
Ingrid Michaelson, who’s known for her Platinum singles “Girls Chase Boys” and “The Way I Am,” is writing the music and lyrics for the musical.
“When I was approached about working on The Notebook I had to excuse myself and go to the bathroom and cry and come back into the meeting. I have loved the movie and the story for so many years now that the idea of turning it into a musical overwhelmed me,” Michaelson said. “I cannot wait for the world to hear these characters come to life in a musical way.”
The entire creative team along with the show’s production timeline will be released later this year.
“The creative process works best when the material finds the artist, and that’s exactly what happened with Nicholas Spark’s novel, The Notebook. From day one, Ingrid and Bekah have had a clear vision for the show, and even at this early stage, it has proven to bean exceptionally exciting and fruitful collaboration,” McCollum and Deutsch said in a statement.
McCollum is currently producing The Play That Goes Wrong and has previously produced In the Heights, Avenue Q, and Rent. Co-producer Deutsch founded Broadway cast album imprint Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records, which has won three Grammys for The Book of Mormon, In the Heights, and Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. He is also Warner/Chappell Music Publishing’s SVP of theatrical and catalog development.
This will be the second hit movie starring Rachel McAdams to become a musical, following the Mean Girls musical by Tina Fey. Get her to reprise her role on stage along with Gosling, and you’ll see fans flooding into Broadway.
