In October 2022, Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune reviewed “The Pocket book” when it performed on the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and raved that Michaelson had written “a fully beautiful suite of songs.” However she is aware of that, given all of the adjustments made in staging the story, followers of the e book and film may really feel betrayed. “There are people who find themselves sad that it’s not the film,” Michaelson acknowledged. “Some folks will come simply to hate the present, as a result of it’s one other movie-to-musical adaptation. Others will are available anticipating to see Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams look-alikes onstage. Whoops!
“It’s not an enormous, bombastic musical,” Michaelson stated. “Hiring me despatched the boat in a unique course — a quieter, extra introspective course.”
In writing songs for Allie and Noah, Michaelson integrated ideas she’d had about her mom’s dying, in addition to feedback made by her widowed father. “I don’t need to speak about my mother and father the entire time, however there’s lots of them wrapped up in these songs.”
In consequence, she relives their deaths each time she sees the present. “I actually didn’t have any breakdown moments since my mom died,” she stated. “It wasn’t till a month in the past, in rehearsal, that I fully misplaced it — like, a loud, guttural, different people can’t see this crying. You’ve seen me cry eight instances already right this moment, so which may not appear convincing,” she wisecracked.
As opening evening neared, Michaelson, no stranger to inventive neuroses, had developed what she stated her therapist known as “pre-post-mortem nervousness.” Apart from a report that she’s going to launch this summer season, stuffed with what she known as “quiet, old-timey music,” she doesn’t know what’s subsequent. “Being a lady of my age, with out kids or mother and father, I’m untethered on each side. I really feel like I’m only a tire rolling down the freeway generally.”
Fulfilling a dream from 35 years in the past has been nice, she stated, however it has additionally launched new worries. “I don’t need to be pigeonholed because the weepy, romantic author,” Michaelson stated, after which laughed. “Although that’s most likely what I’m greatest at.”