Ingrid Michaelson’s Broadway musical of Nicholas Sparks’s love story has its UK premiere as the first production at the Shaftesbury Theatre under its new name, the Judi Dench Theatre.
The Notebook, the musical of Nicholas Sparks’s novel and the 2004 film, has its UK premiere at the Judi Dench Theatre in the West End from Wednesday 10 March 2027. Michael Greif and Schele Williams direct.
Sparks published the novel 30 years ago. It follows Allie and Noah, born into two different worlds and pulled apart, through a love story that lasts a lifetime.
The singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson wrote the music and lyrics. Bekah Brunstetter, a writer on This Is Us, wrote the book.
The musical opened on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in March 2024 and ran until December that year. It earned three Tony Award nominations, including Best Book of a Musical for Brunstetter.
This is the first production at the former Shaftesbury Theatre since its renaming for Dame Judi Dench. Its owners, the Taffner family, say it is the first West End theatre named after an actress.
Greif directed Dear Evan Hansen and Rent, and Williams directed The Wiz. Katie Spelman, choreographer of Moulin Rouge, creates the dances, and the cast is still to be announced.