“We represent this beautiful, beautiful play and this beautiful company,” says Maryann Plunkett on how she and Dorian Harewood, her costar in the new musical “The Notebook,” feel about their Tony Awards nominations. The actress stars in the new Broadway production as Older Allie, a woman suffering the effects of Alzheimer’s disease whose husband Noah reads to her their life story every day in an attempt to help her remember. The Tony winner has a personal connection to the material, explaining, “My mom lived with dementia, so it’s familiar to me,” and sharing that she appreciates the opportunity to represent “the life within a person with dementia.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
For most of the first act of “The Notebook,” Plunkett and Harewood share scenes together as Older Noah reads to Older Allie. “We have to keep that storyline going and much of it in silence,” reflects the actress. Although she does spend a lot of time quietly observing the stories of her younger and middle selves playing out, the actress is mesmerizing to watch as she pays attention and responds to the scenes that are taking place in her imagination. The Tony nominee credits choreographer Katie Spelman for helping her figure out exactly how to respond to the story in “subtle” ways. “It’s so beautiful and we have developed over time and it changes,” adds the star.
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Tony nominee Dorian Harewood, ‘The Notebook’
Plunkett shares the role of Allie with two other actresses: Jordan Tyson as Younger Allie and Joy Woods as Middle Allie. The trio has been developing the character together since the musical’s pre-Broadway run in Chicago, and the actress says that they have been able to make their distinct characterizations feel like one shared soul because “we watch each other.” The performer notes that they all employ similar gestures as Allie. Early in the process, for example, she remembers noticing how Tyson embraces Younger Noah (John Cardoza) and said to her costar, “I’m stealing that.” She says she then utilized a very similar – though not identical – gesture in her final scene with Older Noah. Sharing these gestures “unifies” the performers in a way that should work for the audience on a “subliminal” level, she observes, adding that “it’s not banging you over the head” with the similarities.
“The Notebook” is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name that inspired the famous 2004 film adaptation. Plunkett calls the stage adaptation a “very, very unique and incredible play.” She characterizes the show as “magnificent and human, it’s an offering, a benediction.” In addition to her costars, she credits its success to “the composition of the play” by Tony-nominated book writer Bekah Brunstetter and musician Ingrid Michaelson, whose collaboration has been “a gift to delve into.”
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Tony nominee Bekah Brunstetter, ‘The Notebook’ writer
One of those unique facets of “The Notebook” is that its leading character Older Allie does not sing at all until the climax of the show, when Plunkett performs the number “I Know.” Since this song unfolds as Older Allie is gradually recognizing her husband for the first time in a long while, the actress describes the number as “a process.” The Tony nominee says that when she finally gets to unleash her singing voice, “it’s a release” and elicits in her a feeling of “release and relief we’ve achieved what the intention was.” Indeed, the actress thinks the moment when she says Noah’s name for the first time is “the moment of pure joy, it’s a journey towards joy.” She explains, “The fact that I recognized him and that we can embrace and lie down in bed and fall asleep together in each other’s arms and then we don’t wake up – what a joyous ending that is… He achieved the impossible, and we just go to sleep.”
Plunkett previously won a Tony Award in 1987 in the Actress in a Musical category – the same one she is nominated in this year – for the musical “Me and My Girl.” Looking back on that night, she says much of it is “a blur” because of the whirlwind of activity that unfolded immediately after they announced her name as the winner. She does wish that her speech “had been better,” sharing specifically, “I wish that I had mentioned my parents, who were there that night, they were up in the balcony.” The fact that “The Notebook,” which Plunkett performs in honor of her mother, brings her back to the Tonys almost 40 years later is therefore a touching full-circle moment. It is not lost on the actress, either, that she received her first nomination for playing “the girl” and now she stars and is receiving recognition as “Older Allie.” “It is a magnificent offering that I am so privileged to be part of,” beams the Tony nominee.