In the Broadway musical based on “The Notebook,” three couples play Noah and Allie at various stages. No slight to the other two pairings, but for many audience members the emotional favorites are Dorian Harewood and Maryann Plunkett, Older Noah and Older Allie, as they are credited — and both have been nominated for a Tony Award.
Maryann is a regular presence on stage: She was in every installment of the Richard Nelson cycles “The Apple Family Plays,” “The Gabriels” and “The Michaels” and has appeared in many, many other productions all over town. She made her Broadway debut in “Agnes of God” in the early 1980s and won a Tony for the musical “Me and My Girl” in 1987. She even replaced Bernadette Peters in “Sunday in the Park With George”!
Dorian made his Broadway debut in the John Guare-Galt McDermot musical “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in 1973, but “The Notebook” is the first time he’s been back on Broadway since “The Mighty Gents” in 1978. His screen career includes “The Jesse Owens Story” and “Roots: The Next Generations.”
Reading material: Elisabeth’s article about the high number of audience members crying at the theater this season includes “The Notebook,” of course.
Thanks to Christian Huygen for our theme music.
Dorian Harewood and Maryann Plunkett