When playwright Bekah Brunstetter was first approached about turning “The Notebook” into a musical, she had hesitations.
“Movie musicals are tricky, and I didn’t want to just slap the movie onstage with some songs. That didn’t feel right,” shared Brunstetter, who was a TV writer for “This Is Us” and “Maid.”
But when producers sent her three of composer Ingrid Michaelson’s songs that she wrote for the musical — based on Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling novel that inspired the iconic film — Brunstetter was instantly convinced that she wanted to be the book writer for the project.
“I immediately knew that the musical was going to both honor the source material, and then transcend it,” said Brunstetter. “The songs were both specific and wildly universal, and I couldn’t get them out of my head. I had to listen to them over and over. I knew immediately I wanted to craft it with her.
“The Notebook,” which recently opened on Broadway, tells the story of Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who share a whirlwind romance as teenagers but are eventually separated by societal differences. Their love story spans years, and they face several challenges, including Alzheimer’s disease, later in life.
Brunstetter, 41, recently chatted with Know Your Value about her Broadway debut, making the full-time plunge into the creative arts world, mom guilt and more.
Below is the conversation, which has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Know Your Value: Tell us about the personal connections you have to the story of “The Notebook” and how it helped with the writing process.
Brunstetter: My grandfather had Alzheimer’s. The genetic kind runs deep in my family, so I’d witnessed it first hand. He actually passed away while we were rehearsing for Chicago. And as for my grandfather Joe (who my son is named after!) he actually stayed incredibly happy, and at peace until the end, as long as his wife, my Grandma, was around. He was in fact hilarious and we all laughed a lot with him. I think that made me want to approach this incredibly sad story with a lot of heart and humor and uplift because that’s what I experienced. It was agonizing, and sad and slow to lose him, but it was also sort of beautiful, how he stayed himself.
Know Your Value: What changes can viewers expect when it comes to the storyline of musical, especially for those who are expecting a close rendition to the Rachel McAdams/Ryan Gosling movie or the Nicholas Sparks book?
Brunstetter: Your Noah and Allie are intact! And they sing gorgeously. I went back to the book and the movie and paid careful attention to Allie and Noah, and tried to create essentially the same characters for the musical. It’s really important to me that I honor the fans, I want them to delight in seeing their favorite story unfold live in front of them. We have a Noah whose currency is nature, who doesn’t talk much but loves big and hard, and we have an Allie who says what’s on her mind but is also on a journey to true independence.
Because we have three Noahs and three Allies, at young, middle and older ages, I tried to expand them a bit more so I could really explore how they change throughout their lives, but stay the same. I tried to dig into what is universal about their life experiences, so any one watching the show could see themselves in it.
Know Your Value: Let’s talk about your career pivot from the corporate world to Broadway playwright. How did that happen? Brunstetter: I wouldn’t say I was ever fully in the corporate world, I always had one foot in my creative life, too. But after grad school (I got an MFA from the New School for drama in playwriting) I worked various corporate temp jobs, then ended up working for a corporate housing company for three years. Meanwhile, I was writing at night, doing a lot of off off off off offfff broadway shows, just continuing to find my people and my voice. It got to the point where I had a few new play commissions, and I just decided to take this giant leap of faith and leave my job to focus on writing — and I’m so thankful it was the right choice. Know Your Value: What’s your advice to women who are considering their own career pivot? Any big lessons you can share? Brunstetter: I made my own pivot when I in my 20s, before I had children, when admittedly I had way less to worry about in terms of money, and I could live off of Amy’s Burritos, which I definitely did. But I think that no matter where you’re at in your life, personally or professionally — life is too short to be unhappy. And it’s too short to not take some risks. I think my advice is just to have courage and listen to your gut — and lean on the people around you, who know you so well — your partner, your family, your close friends — to help you navigate big changes. Know Your Value: You have two young kids — and a blog where you write about everything from parenting, to “cheese dreams” to mom guilt. A lot of our community can relate to “mom guilt.” Tell us about your experience with mom guilt and how you’ve learned to deal with it. Brunstetter: I think I’m finally at a place where I accept that I feel it, and don’t judge myself for feeling it anymore, because it’s just constant. My new year’s resolution for the last two years, and maybe forever? has been to lower my expectations. I find that if I expect less of myself, or rather simplify goals to just ‘try and finish this one thing! Take care of yourself! Spend time with your kids! Maybe put something in the crockpot maybe!’ I’ll feel less overwhelmed and disappointed. Also, I’m constantly reminding myself that my kids are fine. I was gone for the better part of January through March of this year. My kids are 1 and 3. It was so hard. For me. But they are happy, and loved, and truly won’t remember this time, but one day I’ll get to tell them I was working on my first Broadway show. I’m also so (SO SO SO) lucky that I have an incredibly supportive husband who is so good with the kids. We’re very much co-parents, we both are involved in all parts of raising them, which really helps when one of us has to go away for work.
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