Everyone should have a good cry now and then. It serves a heart well to get in touch with its capacity for compassion, reminding you that loss, heartbreak and confronting them are essential elements to being human.

The musical adaptation of “The Notebook” seems specifically designed for that purpose. So much so that the merchandise table at St. Paul’s Ordway Center — where its first North American tour has settled in for a fortnight — is selling $5 boxes of tissues emblazoned with the show’s logo. Unleashing the waterworks seems an obvious goal.

Nicholas Sparks’ bestselling 1996 novel and Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 film are both known for being big-time tearjerkers. But emotional engagement has a lot to do with how invested you are in the characters, and Bekah Brunstetter’s stage adaptation —

See Full Page