Few modern love stories inspire waterworks as famously as The Notebook. Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel, its cinematic adaptation, and a new must-see Broadway musical all chronicle a decades-spanning romance that is as tear-jerking as it is timeless. The story, by now, is iconic: Noah and Allie meet as teenagers, struggle to reconcile their relationship with societal expectations, fall apart, and eventually find their way back to each other years later. Their story is later recounted by an elderly Noah, who reads it from a notebook to Allie, now suffering from dementia. Cue the tears, and in the case of the Broadway show, some more literal waterworks: in a nod to the 2004 film, a show-stopping kiss in the rain makes for one of the production’s most memorable moments. 

In this gorgeous musical reimagining of Sparks’ novel (currently playing at the Schoenfeld Theatre), Noah and Allie are each portrayed by three actors, who capture the couple at different stages of their relationship. Playing the young version of Noah is actor John Cardoza, who first originated the role when The Notebook premiered at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. As Noah, Cardoza captures the promise and uncertainties of young love opposite Jordan Tyson’s Allie, the two radiating warm chemistry befitting their characters’ summer romance. It’s no small feat to make a character first brought to life by Ryan Gosling feel entirely new, but Cardoza’s performance, along with the music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson, introduces audiences to a Noah who feels uniquely vulnerable and hopeful.  

1883 Magazine sits down with Cardoza to discuss bringing The Notebook to the Broadway stage. 

How were you first introduced to The Notebook?

I grew up with an older sister; she’s two years older than me. One year for Christmas, we got these portable DVD players, and one of the DVDs that my sister got for her player was The Notebook, and she would watch it all the time. So I spent a lot of time either waiting for the remote while she was watching it on our TV, or watching it on these portable DVD players. Of course, me being the tough, cool kid that I was in 2005, I was like, oh, this is my sister’s movie. But really, anybody would be taken with it. The performances are amazing. It’s so sweeping and romantic. I just remember Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in the rain, like we all do.

I didn’t read the novel until I got cast in the show, which was a multi-year process. I actually started with the show in over a Zoom reading in 2020. At the time I was playing Finn, the best friend character. As time went on, the role became available and they asked me to come in. It was like two years later that I actually ended up getting cast as younger Noah. I remember hearing the music for the first time and thinking that I had to be a part of it because I think that what Ingrid has written is so special. I just knew that it was going to be really, really special.

Could you tell us more about your audition process, and how you first found out that you had been cast as young Noah?

In 2020, they were just doing a reading which ended up being over Zoom. At the time I was playing the best friend character. The first time that I got to hear it all out, it was like, this is amazing, I really want to be a part of this. But at the time, I was doing Jagged Little Pill on Broadway. “Okay, if it’s meant for me, it will come back around.” A few months later, the pandemic happened. The show is getting pushed back several times, it wasn’t able to go to Chicago when it was supposed to. The person who was playing younger Noah at the time left the show to do something else. I got a phone call from a friend, and she was like, “Hey, one of my friends is producing The Notebook. Would it be okay if I gave him your name?” I was like, yes, they should already know who I am, but please give my name. I called my manager, I was like, please get me in this room. From that point on, it became very, very fast. I was in a final callback two days later, and I got the offer maybe an hour after I left the audition room. It was very, very fast. 

And now you get to originate the role on Broadway. 

It’s crazy. I kept calling my manager being like, “Please stay on top of this project.” I knew that at some point, whether I’m originating the role or replacing down the line — I was like, I need to do this at some point, I know it’s going to be really special. 

Did you and the other Noah’s have conversations about how you’d approach the character?

We were all in the room together when rehearsing, and so a lot of us were participating in similar conversations with our directors, Michael and Schele and Bekah, our book writer, and Ingrid. You watch each other, you’re working closely with each other, spending a lot of time together. It’s like when you have a really cold object and you put your hand on it: eventually if you keep your hand there long enough, the temperature evens out. It feels like we all had our hands on the same object, and eventually, we all reached the same temperature through this character. 

At the same time, there was a conversation going around that you don’t ignore who you are individually. It makes sense that with this person, there are things that are going to change over the course of time. I don’t think there was necessarily a feeling that we had to replicate each other’s performances, but there were things that started to come out naturally, just by way of spending a lot of time with each other. I just spent a lot of time watching them and absorbing some of the “isms.”

What has it been like seeing the audience’s reactions each night?

It’s incredible. When you work on a show the way that we are, you get so close to it and you care so much about it. There’s always this thing in the back of your mind that’s like, I don’t know how people are gonna receive this. To stand on stage at the end of the night, and to feel that you were a part of something that is affecting people so deeply, is the most incredible feeling. In order for that to happen, there has to be this understanding that the folks on stage who are doing the show really care about it a lot. I think the fact that people are seeing how much love has gone into this particular piece is really gratifying. It’s been incredible. 

What is your favourite number to perform? 

My favourite number that I am in, I think, is “Sadness and Joy.” It is preceded by this rollercoaster sequence where you see the younger couple go through the range of emotions that you go through when you are first falling in love with somebody, especially at a young age. Those highs are very high and those are very low. It culminates in this song where they have their first in-depth and mature understanding of each other.. It’s also a real thesis statement of character for both of them. Noah is somebody who experienced a lot of tragedy at a very young age, and somebody who has experienced that kind of tragedy is going to move differently through the world than someone who hasn’t. But he’s chosen to still be here, and he finds joy in things like playing music with his friends. He meets this beautiful girl who ignites something in him, and he has to choose these little moments of joy that lift it. He’s somebody who’s really made peace with the world and its challenges and its difficulties. That song, to me, feels like the most poetic explanation of who he is. And the fact that she meets him there, it’s like these people really are meant to find each other in this moment. 

If you could say anything to your past and future selves, what would you tell them?

To my past self… oh my gosh, I wish he would just stop worrying about so much. I think I would probably tell him that life is going to work out the way that it’s meant to, and no matter how much control you wish you had over any of it, you just don’t. Just enjoy the things that you enjoy, celebrate the things that you want to celebrate, and enjoy the people that you’re with, because they will not be around forever. I would tell myself to really, really focus on the people that I get to share life with. For my future self… I have a lot of questions. I don’t think I would want to know anything for my future self. There’s no use worrying about the future in a way, too. But I would be very interested to meet him. I would want him to tell me some things for sure.

The Notebook: The Musical is on stage now.

Interview Juliana Ogarrio
Photography Sophie Elgort
Grooming Morgan Mabry