\n<\/p>\n
In October 2022, Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune reviewed \u201cThe Notebook\u201d when it played at the Goodman Theater, and raved that Michaelson had written \u201can absolutely gorgeous suite of songs.\u201d But she knows that, given all the changes made in staging the story, fans of the book and movie might feel betrayed. \u201cThere are people who are unhappy that it\u2019s not the movie,\u201d Michaelson acknowledged. \u201cSome people will come just to hate the show, because it\u2019s another movie-to-musical adaptation. Others will come in expecting to see Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams look-alikes onstage. Whoops!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a big, bombastic musical,\u201d Michaelson said. \u201cHiring me sent the boat in a different direction \u2014 a quieter, more introspective direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
In writing songs for Allie and Noah, Michaelson incorporated thoughts she\u2019d had about her mother\u2019s death, as well as comments made by her widowed father. \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about my parents the whole time, but there\u2019s a lot of them wrapped up in these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, she relives their deaths every time she sees the show. \u201cI really didn\u2019t have any breakdown moments since my mother died,\u201d she said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until a month ago, in rehearsal, that I completely lost it \u2014 like, a loud, guttural, other humans can\u2019t see this <\/em>crying. You\u2019ve seen me cry eight times already today, so that might not seem convincing,\u201d she wisecracked.<\/p>\n As opening night neared, Michaelson, no stranger to creative neuroses, had developed what she said her therapist called \u201cpre-post-mortem anxiety.\u201d Other than a record that she will release this summer, full of what she called \u201cquiet, old-timey music,\u201d she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s next. \u201cBeing a woman of my age, without children or parents, I am untethered on both sides. I feel like I\u2019m just a tire rolling down the highway sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Fulfilling a dream from 35 years ago has been great, she said, but it has also introduced new worries. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be pigeonholed as the weepy, romantic writer,\u201d Michaelson said, and then laughed. \u201cEven though that\u2019s probably what I\u2019m best at.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n