A 'The Notebook' Musical Is Coming, So Grab Your Tissues & Get Ready To Sing

If you're a bird, I'm a bird. Or, if Mean Girls can be a musical, so can The Notebook. Recently, Broadway has shaped itself into an array of musical adaptations of hit movies, and after welcoming the stage version of one of Rachel McAdams' fetch films in 2018, the theater community is making room for another. A The Notebook musical is coming, and I have a feeling that listening to this eventual cast recording every day for a year still won't be enough for me.

On. Jan 3, singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson announced on TODAY that she was composing the score for a musical adaptation of The Notebook. While she first gained recognition for her 2006 song "The Way I Am," Michaelson recently released a Christmas album that Billboard called "nostalgia-inducing," which I'm interpreting as an endorsement that her music for The Notebook will cause many, many tears. This Is Us writer Bekah Brunstetter is writing the musical's book, aka the dialogue and story structure, so it's safe to say audience members should bring their tissues.

In a statement, Michaelson said:

I have loved the movie and the story for so many years now that the idea of turning it into a musical overwhelmed me. The concept of unending devotion and love wrapped up in memory and family is something very close to my own personal life…I cannot wait for the world to hear these characters come to life in a musical way.

Brunstetter, who wrote the This Is Us episode that chronicles Jack and Rebecca's '70s road trip, also spoke about her involvement. Feeling drawn to The Notebook because of its setting in her home state of North Carolina (South Carolina in the film) and the role Alzheimer's plays in it, Brunstetter told EW:

I was sent a few songs Ingrid had already written for it, and that week, I spent my drives to and from work...listening, memorizing, imagining the story unfold with music, imagining how I might layer worlds, dramatize memory, and before I even knew that I had to write the book for this, it was already starting to happen in my head.

Inspiring timeless memes and a real-life relationship between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, The Notebook remains the ultimate definition of a weepy romantic drama. Following the success of Nicholas Sparks' 1996 novel, the 2004 film adaptation starred Gosling and McAdams as teenagers Noah and Allie, who begin a summer fling despite the disapproval of Allie's family. After the two are torn apart due to relatives' interference and the start of World War II, the rest of the film documents their reunion and how they each fared as elderly people. Let's also not forget that kiss in the rain that is still romance movie magic nearly 15 years later.

Famed romance author Sparks joins theater industry vets Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch on the show's production team. While most new musicals run trial productions elsewhere before opening on Broadway, The Notebook's production schedule and casting are still unknown. Regardless of the long wait we have before the show materializes, it's clear that, just like Noah's bond with Allie, fans' connection to The Notebook still isn't over.