'The Notebook' musical to make international debut in Manila
MANILA, Philippines — Stage company Theatre Group Asia (TGA) announced the three productions for the 2026-27 season, all of them making their Philippine debuts.
On the heels of wordless play "Request sa Radyo," the production company officially debuted with an all-star staging of "Into the Woods" last August.
Next on the booklet for TGA is "A Chorus Line" featuring only actors with Filipino descent to cap off its 2025-26 season.
Tony winner Clint Ramos, TGA's creative and overall artistic director, in a statement described the productions as "unforgettable, powerful stories that stir, challenge, and transform."
"This season places the human capacity to influence through love, survival, and creation on center stage," Ramos added. "While each production proudly spotlights artists and narratives, the season ultimately celebrates something even greater: the power every person holds to shape hearts, defy limits, and leave a lasting mark."
'The Notebook'
Kicking off the upcoming season in September is the musical adaptation of "The Notebook" based on the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks, which was famously turned into a 2004 film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.
"The Notebook: The Musical" debuted in 2022 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater before spending eight months in Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in 2024 until it was succeeded by "Buena Vista Social Club."
The production is in the middle of a North American tour, which runs until August 2026, meaning the Manila run will be the musical's first time to be staged internationally.
Related: Lea Salonga graduates from playing ‘dead girls’ in ‘Les Miserables Spectacular’ Manila run
Featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a script by Bekah Brunstetter, the musical offers a more intimate and reflective take on Sparks' book by portraying lead characters Allie and Noah across multiple stages of their lives.
Brunstetter received a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical, while Dorian Harewood and Maryann Plunkett received acting nods. "The Notebook: The Musical" was also up for the Best Musical Theater Album Grammy, losing to "Hell's Kitchen."
'Bernarda Alba'
Next on TGA's line-up is "Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba," a Filipino-language staging of Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca's final play.
Lorca wrote "The House of Bernarda Alba" before his death, and it premiered posthumously in Buenos Aires in 1945.
The play follows the tyrannical titular character enforcing an eight-year mourning period for his daughters after the death of her husband, ruling the household through fear, tradition, and repression.
The Filipino staging running in February 2027 is adapted by Chay Yew and adapted by Guelan Varela-Luarca, where a local touch underscores the universal human struggle for freedom, dignity, and life itself.
Sondheim again
Concluding the season is "Sunday in the Park with George," is another brainchild of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.
Inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, the musical explores the obsessive drive of an artist — a fictionalized version of the painter — consumed by creation and the personal costs that accompany artistic brilliance.
A parallel narrative set a century later with the artist's great-grandson reflects on legacy, innovation, and the enduring question of what it means to make meaningful art.
The original 1984 Broadway show won two of its Tony nominations, while Sondheim and Lapine received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year.
