Dorian Harewood at a photo call for Broadway’s ‘The Notebook’ on Jan. 24, 2024.Photo:Jeanette D. Moses/Shutterstock
Jeanette D. Moses/Shutterstock
When Dorian Harewood walks onstage in Broadway’sThe Notebook: The Musical, he carries a lifetime of creative triumphs.
“As an actor, I see myself as an instrument and the words are the music,” Harewood, 73, tells PEOPLE. A classically trained vocalist, he’s applied that approach in everything from his first professional gig as Judas in a 1971 touring production ofJesus Christ Superstarto his current role as “Older Noah” inThe Notebook: The Musical, which opens at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 14.
Says Harewood, “Bekah adapted the movie brilliantly — the through line of going back and forth with time, with these two young people, then showing the older couple and the challenges they have dealing with Allie’s dementia.”
“The timelessness of the relationship specific to this show is something that I have with my wife,” adds Harewood, who recently celebrated 45 years of marriage to actress Nancy Harewood. “We still look at each other like we first met. My thoughts are that we’ve been together in other incarnations, so our essences have been solid for a long time.The Notebookkind of talks about how you go through time, through trials and tribulations, but if you’re really meant to be together, then you usually end up together.”
Dorian Harewood in The Notebook.Julieta Cervantes
Julieta Cervantes
The Notebookis notable for what co-director Schele Williams calls “color-conscious casting,” with three couples of different cultural backgrounds representing the universality of love.
From left: John Cardoza, Dorian Harewood and Ryan Vasquez in The Notebook.Julieta Cervantes
Interestingly, before auditioning to play role James Garner played in the 2004 movie (Harewood, incidentally, costarred with Garner in two movies: 1984’sTankand and 2000’sThe Last Debate), he wasn’t familiar with the source material.
“I had never seen the movie,” he says. “I never read the book. “I looked at the role and after having seen the movie, I thought it was terrific. Then I looked at the script for the audition and the music. The music was wonderful. That’s what really excited me.”
Fifty years ago, Harewood’s lead role opposite Bette Davis inMiss Moffat, a musical adaptation of the playThe Corn is Green, reflected a similarly bold casting decision. “It was based on Emlyn Williams, who was a Welsh miner’s son,” says Harewood. “They equated the Welsh miner’s son with the African American sharecropper in the south.”
During production, Harewood forged a close friendship with Davis, who became his mentor. “What she liked most about me is that I didn’t know anything about her,” he says. “I hadn’t seen any of her movies. I wasn’t fawning over her. She really loved my singing and what I was doing, acting-wise. She’d asked me if I’d ever thought about acting and I said no, I was a singer. She said, ‘Your dramatic instincts are very similar to mine and you’d be cheating yourself if you didn’t at least explore it.'”
Dorian Harewood, Kristoff St. John and Irene Cara in Roots: The Next Generation.Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
That exploration soon led from Harewood’s feature film debut inSparkle(1976) to career-defining work as Simon Haley, the father ofRootsauthor Alex Haley in the ABC miniseriesRoots: The Next Generations, the sequel to the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries.“I was doingThe Mighty Gents,” he recalls. “The producers were about to offer Simon Haley to Ron O’Neal. Then they heard thatThe Mighty Gentshad folded so they said, ‘We’re gonna call Dorian.’ I didn’t even know I was being considered!”
Five years later, Harewood brought a riveting blend of athleticism and dramatic nuance to the two-part television biopicThe Jesse Owens Story.
Dorian Harewood and Debbi Morgan in The Jesse Owens Story.Courtesy Everett Collection
Courtesy Everett Collection
In a sense, the arc of Harewood’s career mirrors the progress Black actors have made in Hollywood. “It’s certainly gotten better and a lot of it is due to projects likeRootswhere there weren’t stereotypical characters,” he says. “The most important thing was that it showed African Americans as human beings. It was more relatable to wider audiences.”
It’s a year of big anniversaries for Harewood (45 years since his wedding, 50 years since working with Bette Davis, 45 years sinceRoots: The Next Generation, 40 years sinceThe Jesse Owens Story), and as Harewood reflects on his career, he’s got a lot left to do but nothing to prove. In fact, until his manager, Lesley Brander, convinced him to audition forThe Notebook, he had been doing mostly voiceover work in recent years and wasn’t interested in auditioning for anything.
Recalls Harewood: “She kept saying, ‘People don’t know that you’re still around.’ I said, ‘I know I’m still around. That’s what counts.'”
source: people.com
