Everything You Need to Know About The Notebook: The Musical

(SPOT.ph) In the early aughts, no other romance author had a chokehold on Gen X and young millennials like Nicholas Sparks. The American novelist and screenwriter is known for internationally bestselling titles such as A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle, and The Notebook—all of which, along with eight other books, were adapted into movies.

Among all his romantic-tragic books-turned-films, it was 2004’s The Notebook that was most iconic, and propelled the Hollywood careers of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, who played the leads, Noah and Allie. The Notebook continues to be one of the top romances in movie history, and even debuted as a musical in the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2022. 

And now it’s making its first international premiere—in Manila, no less. Opening Theatre Group Asia’s (TGA) 2026-27 season is The Notebook: The Musical, featuring the music and lyrics of Ingrid Michaelson and the Tony-nominated book by Bekah Brunstetter. The musical opens in September 2026 for a three-week run at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. We got to sit down with the all-Filipino cast for a look into what to expect when the show opens for the first time outside of North America.

The musical’s storyline has three sets of Allies and Noahs. Playing young Allie is Sheena Belarmino, singer, dancer, actress, and host, whose theater credentials include One More Chance: The Musical (which earned her a Gawad Buhay nomination for Outstanding Female Featured Performance in a Musical), Tabing Ilog: The Musical, Next to Normal, and most recently, Spring Awakening. 

“I’m really excited,” she says in a roundtable discussion with Spot.ph and select members of the media. “It’s a privilege na I get to put myself up there as the first international premiere younger Allie. But at the same time, it stands as the representation to all Filipinos na kaya din nilang gawin ito.”

Playing young Noah is Benedix Ramos, a TV, film, and theater actor who first gained national recognition through Pinoy Big Brother Kumunity Season 10: Celebrity Edition. His theater credits include Tabing Ilog: The Musical, Next to Normal, and Bar Boys: The Musical, where his performance earned him a Gawad Buhay nomination for Best Male Lead in a Musical.

“[Playing Noah] is really such a huge pressure for me with my imposter syndrome,” he says, also in the roundtable. “I would lie if I said I did not have that. I was so intimidated by the role… [But] you can have your own character and own it. Now I’m confident that I am playing young Noah.”

According to Clint Ramos, TGA’s Overall Artistic and Creative Director, casting Middle Allie was a tough process because “the character’s songs are technically challenging as they are emotionally demanding. It takes a special kind of vocalist and actress to tackle this role.” They found it in Morissette, widely known as “Asia’s Phoenix,” a multi-award-winning Cebuana artist. Aside from her 15-year career of concerts and performances, her theater credentials include Camp Rock: The Musical and The Mister Kupido Musical.

“The material and the story are very personal to me just because it’s exactly what I went through with my love story,” Morissette shares. “The beauty about the material is that it’s very relatable, not just for the Filipinos but everywhere else, diba? Having someone, wanting to fight for love, or kahit not in relationships. Even just fighting for your dreams, parang may pinaglalaban.”

Playing middle Noah is Laurence Mossman, a Filipino-Kiwi performer best known for the international and Australian tour of Miss Saigon. Other theater credentials include Kinky Boots, Christmas Carol, Fun Home, and Mamma Mia.

“What you’re going to see when you come see it in September are uniquely our own versions, perhaps influenced by other things, but at the end of the day you’re not going to see this anywhere else in the world,” Laurence says in the roundtable, discussing the pressure of living up to the original Ryan Gosling-Rachel McAdams characters.

Playing older Allie is acclaimed Filipino performer Celeste Legaspi. She rose to prominence in 1969 as part of The Ambivalent Crowd before embarking on a solo career that made her a defining figure in Philippine performing arts and Original Pilipino Music (OPM). Her hit songs include “Saranggola ni Pepe,” “Tuliro,” “Mamang Sorbetero,” and “Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal?” while her long repertoire includes Manila! Manila!, Doon Po Sa Amin, Jesus Christ Superstar, Katy!, Paglipas ng Dilim, and Ang Larawan.

“There’s a very good role for an older woman, which you never find in a rom-com,” she says when we ask about the first time she watched the film version of The Notebook. As for getting cast in the musical as older Allie, it’s shaped by personal experience. “My mother died of Alzheimer’s, so this is a very personal role for me,” she tells us. “I was telling everybody that you just have to excuse me, because maybe in the first two performances, I would be crying. Maybe I’ll be crying too much, and I won’t be able to sing my song well, but I assure you that after two performances, I will settle down.”

Older Noah will be played by award-winning playwright, theater actor, and singer Rody Vera. He wrote the plays Arbol de Fuego, D’ Wonder Twins of Boac, and Under My Skin, among others. He adapted Severino Reyes’ classic sarswela, Walang Sugat, into the PETA hit, Walang Aray. His acting credits include Noli Me Tangere The Musical, Tiny Beautiful Things, Rak of Aegis, Stageshow (which earned him the Gawad Buhay Award for Best Featured Actor) Good People, Mardi Gras, and Old Gaze.

“Grabe as in, talagang unconditional,” Rody says in the roundtable, when discussing his character Noah’s devotion to Allie. “[He’s] like a mythical character, ready to lay down his life for love.”

Joining the three sets of leads are Carla Guevara-Laforteza as Allie’s Mom, Floyd Tena as Allie’s Dad, Omar Uddin as Johnny, Markki Stroem as Allie’s fiancé Lon, Kathleen Francisco as Nurse Joanna, Felicity Kyle Napuli as Sarah, Shaun Ocrisma as Fin, and Jillian Ita-as as Georgie.

And while the musical stays true to the spirit of the novel and film, it brings its own quirks, charm, and—most importantly—identity to the story. So even if you’ve read the book or watched the movie, this stage adaptation still gives you plenty of reason to see it for yourself. If it isn’t obvious yet, consider this our not-so-subtle nudge to head to the Samsung Performing Arts Theater this September. Still on the fence? Here are some fun facts you need to know about The Notebook: The Musical.

The movie features a linear, nostalgic story and two sets of leads—the younger Allie and Noah, played by Rachel and Ryan, and the older version of the couple, played by Gena Rowlands and James Garner. The musical version features a more abstract timeline and three sets of couples—young Allie and Noah, middle Allie and Noah, and older Allie and Noah. 

In the 2004 film, the setting is the 1940s American South during World War II. The musical begins in the 1960s, with Noah serving in the Vietnam War.

In the film, Allie’s dementia/Alzheimer’s disease is the big heartbreaking plot twist in the end, while in the musical, the dementia is revealed at the very beginning. The film uses more traditional cinematography, whereas the Broadway version features a symbolic triple-helix staging in which all three versions of the couple would occasionally be onstage together.

“A lot of the music [expresses their] internal thoughts,” says Mossman. “And you don’t get that in the movie. You can see what they’re acting, but you don’t necessarily know what they’re thinking.”

According to TGA, this milestone places Manila at the forefront of global stage storytelling. But when the roundtable asks if the Manila staging of The Notebook puts us at par with Broadway productions, Laurence had this to say: “I really want to bring the Broadway thing over here to the Philippines, and I would have said that 10 years ago as well. But I believe certainly in the last decade, from what I’ve seen, it’s continued to live up to a point where I don’t think we even need to say that necessarily anymore. We get to bring ourselves to the world. Having the privilege of being involved in international theater, [I learned that] people really [see] Filipinos in such high regard in terms of their singing, acting, and dancing. These triple-threat [Filipinos] all around the world constantly pop up in Broadway, West End, and international shows. So it’s no longer a question of: Are we able to match them? It’s just being able to go: What version are we gonna do?”

Morissette adds, “You have a lot of iconic scenes [from the Broadway version] that we’re hoping to recreate here as well, but we trust that our creative team and production team are able to just put their heart into it and their own interpretation.”

Mossman recalls watching The Notebook for the first time when he was a teen in 2006. “I just remember just hating Ryan Gosling for setting the bar so high on how to show big gestures of love,” he jokes.

In the 2004 film, Ryan’s character, Noah, did everything for love, from writing 365 letters to Allie to spending years building her dream house in case she returned. And when it was revealed in the end that Noah moved to the senior home to tell stories to a dementia-ridden Allie, her fleeting moment of lucidity was the most painfully romantic plot twist of that year.

So if you're looking for ideas on how to sweep your situationship—er, S.O. off their feet, this musical might be the place to pick up some ideas.

“Very taboo pa yung Alzheimer’s noon compared to now,” Benedix recalls when he first watched The Notebook as a kid. “And now that I rewatched it as an adult, sobrang it really changed how I looked at the movie years ago.”

As for Celeste, her mother got sick with Alzheimer’s for 10 years. “It’s very painful; it’s a cruel disease,” she tells SPOT.ph. “What the musical can show is that maybe this is what happens in the thoughts and feelings of someone who has Alzheimer’s. I’ve never seen a musical handling these things, these realities, and it’s painful. They did a beautiful thing with it. They made it a beautiful moment. I just wish everybody would have that moment. [My family] didn’t.”

Safe to say, this production is going to tug at your heartstrings, especially knowing that the material itself is personal to the cast—to that end, our last tip: bring your tissues.

The Notebook: The Musical will be staged at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. It runs from September 3-20, 2026.

Throughout its three-week run, there will be one show every Thursday and Friday scheduled at 7:30 p.m., and two performances on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. It runs for approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission.

Tickets for The Notebook: The Musical are available at Ticketworld, with prices ranging from P900 to P5,500 plus tax. The ticketing tiers for the show are inspired by elements of The Notebook’s story: 

• VIP: The Ever After: P5,500

• Reserve A: Lakehouse Row: P4,500

• Reserve B: Ferris Wheel: P3,700

• Reserve C: The Dockside: P3,000

• Reserve D: Memory Lane: P2,500

  Reserve E: The White House Porch: P1,800

• Reserve F: The Country Road: P900

For more information, visit Theatre Group Asia’s Facebook page.

Also read:
The Art of Many: Behind the Collaborative Magic of Philippine Theater
Your Ultimate Guide To Theater Shows in the Philippines in 2026