Get To Know The Show: The Notebook, with Assistant Company Manager and Blumey Awards Winner Arella Flur!

First loves have long been celebrated in song and on stage and screen. Two young, hot people in the prime of their lives vowing to love each other forever is always good fodder.  

The Notebook goes much deeper. The best-selling Nicholas Sparks novel became a beloved 2004 movie that turned Ryan Gosling (Noah) and Rachel McAdams (Allie) into stars. In 2024, Bekah Brunstetter (book) and Ingrid Michaelson (music and lyrics) turned the celebration of young love and mature love into a Broadway musical. That show will splash down at the Belk Theater May 19 – 24.

In all three forms, the story shows us the giddiness of a first serious romance. But it also shows us “the hard work of love,” as Arella (“Ah-ray-la”) Flur, the touring company’s assistant company manager, put it.

“Yes, it’s a love story,” she said. “But it’s not just about falling in love. It’s about … what it means to carry someone through a relationship that endures for decades.”

(Assistant Company Manager Arella Flur on Opening Night of the 1st National Tour of The Notebook)

The notebook of the title refers to Noah’s journal. Older Noah shares memories from it with Allie, the woman he’s loved since they were teens in the 1940s. Allie doesn’t recall the stories, although she’s heard them before. In fact, she lived them.

Alzheimer’s has robbed her of their shared past.

Let love reign … and rain

The show is resonating with audiences, whether or not they’ve seen the film or read the book.

It’s also popular with people of all ages … and genders. Flur said guys are coming in groups big and small. “Of course, it’s also a perfect date night show and a great girls’ night out,” she said. “It really has broad appeal.” 

Fans of the movie will be glad to know the iconic rain scene, although technically challenging, is part of the musical. Flur calls it “one of the coolest and most beautiful moments in the show because there’s actual rain on stage. The actors are really getting wet.”  

(Alysha Deslorieux (Middle Allie) and Ken Wulf Clark (Middle Noah) - Photo by Roger Mastroianni)

Three pairs of actors portray younger, middle and older versions of Noah and Allie. The musical shows us “all three simultaneously, which helps give you more insight into a character,” Flur said. “And Ingrid (The Way I Am, Girls Chase Boys) Michaelson’s beautiful score, I think, deepens the meaning of the story.” 

Pass the tissues

Michaelson wrote all new songs for the musical “in the same style you know and love, if you’re already a fan,” Flur said. “And if you’re not already, this is a great introduction to her work.”

The breakout hit from the touring production “absolutely blew up on TikTok,” Flur said. “‘My Days’ is sung by our lovely Alysha Deslorieux, who plays Middle Allie.”

I followed my joy.
I followed my heart.
I lived this one wild life; I ripped it apart.

“I love that one,” Flur said, “but my favorite song, and the one I think audiences are most responding to, is I Want to Go Back. It’s this moment you see Younger and Middle Allies speaking what’s on Older Allie’s mind. She’s in a confused state and doesn’t really know who she is.”

Life has a funny way of speeding up the older that you get.
I'm in love with all the things that I forget.

[YOUNGER ALLIE]
I am still in here.

The scene is an emotional gut punch. Tears are inevitable, and the play’s producers are prepared. A tissue box with The Notebook logo was the hottest item at the merch stand during the Broadway run, Flur said. They’re headed to Charlotte, too. (Pro tip: Don’t wait until intermission to load up.)

Back where it all began

Flur’s job keeps her on the road 50 weeks a year, and the hotels she’s stayed in have surely started to blend together; But when she stops in Charlotte, her accommodations will be familiar, and she’ll be welcomed like a VIP … by her parents. She’s staying in her childhood home.

She’ll also be familiar with the venue that will be her office for the week. “I’m excited to walk in and see people who have known me since I was 3 years old,” she said.

(Arella Flur with Blumenthal Arts President Tom Gabbard in 2019)

The Belk Theater was practically her second home while she was a student at Charlotte Latin. Before studying theater at Northwestern University, she was a Junior Ambassador (now called Emerging Leaders), a program that allows high school juniors and seniors to explore career opportunities in the performing arts while serving as volunteer ushers in Blumenthal venues.

Flur was also involved with the Blumey Awards as a high school student, winning Best Actress in 2019! And she will be again when she’s back at the Belk on May 17 to serve as a presenter at the ceremony.

(Arella Flur playing "Mary Poppins" in the Best Actress Medley performance at the 2019 Blumey Awards)

Her Blumenthal experience helped jumpstart her career. She had an internship with a theater company in New York where a former intern at the Blumenthal worked, which gave her “a foot in the door,” she said. “Tom [Gabbard] has been a great mentor throughout my career. He’s opened doors for many people, including me.”

She loves her nomadic life, all the responsibility of her “big-girl job” and getting to see, repeatedly, a show she loves.

“Even though it can be a tearjerker,” she said, “it’s also a celebration of life. We hope people walk away feeling rejuvenated and with a sense of gratitude toward the people in their lives who’ve carried them through.”