Every artist has a different journey to walk. While some are lucky enough to discover who they are and what fulfills them at an early age, for others, it is a more protracted path of discovery.
For Jordan Tyson, who plays Young Allie in The Notebook on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre, it took the musical adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' beloved romantic novel to turn the corner on her career.
"This show is so personal for me," Tyson shares, shortly after performing a pitch perfect rendition of "If This Is Love" from the musical in the Playbill Studio (see the video above, shot by Ethan Treiman). Tyson's been on a journey with The Notebook since 2021, when she was cast for the show's Chicago tryout. For the performer, who admits she dropped out of Marymount Manhattan College's musical theatre program because of the high tuition, The Notebook has been the most valuable education.
Says Tyson: "This is the longest I've ever worked on one piece, so it's seen me through a lot of different chapters of my own life. When I first started working on it, it was immediately after things reopened from COVID time, so 2021-ish. This piece saw me through a lot of like learning eras, because I was not fortunate enough to be able to afford a lot of formal training. The fact that I got into the room with this piece, and was able to watch actors like Maryann Plunkett [Older Allie] and watch [directors Michael Greif and Schele Williams] work...To me it was just like a constant classroom."
As the show expanded her artistic toolbox, playing Young Allie opposite John Cardoza's Young Noah has helped her refine her personal values. "I'm inspired by our characters' devotion to each other. This couple, they fall in love with each other, they get torn apart, they come back together, and they just decide to love each other no matter what happens, you know?" Tyson's hands flutter widely to emphasize her point. "I think that's a really hard thing to do, and to actually live by. But there's something to the idea of falling in love again, every single day."
READ: Tony Nominee Maryann Plunkett, Joy Woods, and Jordan Tyson on Playing the Same Character in The Notebook
As Tyson's time with the show winds down ahead of her October 6 exit, ahead of the production's final Broadway performance December 15, she's treasuring the small things that inspire love in her at every performance.
"I think a lot about how I'm in this space, and about the sensory things. I find it very meditative. For two hours, I hear how the rain hits the wood, or I see a new light and I feel how it guides me to a certain part of the stage." Tyson pauses briefly before continuing on with a steady calm. "Those intimate, intimate moments of asking myself 'What can I notice today? That tangible immediate moment of life. A lot of people want to put pressure on what we do, but if I can say, 'No, I'm here to listen to the rain. I'm here to feel the water on my skin and feel my bare feet on wood.'"
She certainly has plenty of opportunity to play in the rain. Tyson spends much of the shows run-time interacting with the set's various water features, running and splashing in the onstage pools and lingering in the accompanying steam of the rain system.
While her next project is currently under wraps, Tyson laughs when wondering if water will somehow factor into that production, as well. "Water seems to be drawn to me! I've now been in a few shows that have had water aspects in them. And look, I'm a Taurus, I'm an earth sign. I don't have any water in my chart, but I love it. I feel it's generous. It reminds us all to be unexpected, just as water can do so many things."
Joy Woods and Ryan Vasquez in The Notebook
Joy Woods in The Notebook
Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood in The Notebook
Maryann Plunkett, Joy Woods, and Jordan Tyson in The Notebook
John Cardoza, Dorian Harewood, and Ryan Vasquez in The Notebook
Jordan Tyson and John Cardoza in The Notebook
