The Women of The Notebook on One of the Great Love Stories of This Generation

Streams of afternoon light filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Across the hollow space on the second floor of the Samsung Performing Arts Theater, the heart-tugging strings of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” seemed to bounce off the walls, enveloping the room in a tenderness only fitting for a production like The Notebook: The Musical. 

Four months before its official premiere in Manila, female leads Celeste Legaspi, Morissette, and Sheena Belarmino sit side by side in an equally tender portrait of three generations of Filipino talent. Dressed in matching crisp white polos and beige bottoms, their heads hover over each other’s shoulders. In the musical, they share one role as three generations of Allie, but each arrives at a different stage in her own career: Legaspi returns to musical theater after nearly two decades; Morissette makes her own return after 11 years; and Belarmino steps into the role as a young talent that’s drawn attention in several acclaimed local productions.

At such a precarious time, love and community are among the themes many instinctively reach for. Filipinos, after all, are natural-born yearners. Long before the modern love song, there was the harana, a vulnerable serenade that turned courtship into public declaration, and the kundiman, whose language of longing came to express devotion not only to a beloved but also to country. Romance has long found its way into our cultural vocabulary. Love is everywhere: in song, in family devotion, or in sweeping films and teleseryes, whose stories often mirror the emotional lives and realities of their audiences. 

The Filipino intimacy with love stories ultimately led Theatre Group Asia founders Christopher Mohnani and Clint Ramos to The Notebook. According to Mohnani, TGA plans its seasons two years in advance, and discussions about the production began even before Request sa Radyo in 2024, when artistic director Ramos first raised the title.

“We feel that The Notebook lends itself really well to Filipino sensibilities. I mean, it’s a love story. In fact, a lot of people are claiming that it’s one of the greatest love stories of this generation,” Mohnani smiles. “And Filipinos love love stories.” 

Featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, the musical adapts Nicholas Sparks’ novel for the stage. It debuted at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2022 under the direction of Michael Greif and Schele Williams before opening on Broadway in 2024. While the 2004 film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams unfolds largely in 1940s South Carolina, the musical moves the story forward in time and divides Allie and Noah across three stages of their lives: as teenagers in 1967, young adults in 1977, and an older couple in the present day.

TGA will open its 2026-2027 season with the production in September, marking the musical’s international premiere in Manila. According to Mohnani, a Broadway title would ordinarily tour the United States before being entrusted to a company overseas. “So it’s a big deal whenever it goes out of the U.S., because it means that one, they feel like it would resonate with audiences [abroad,] and two, that whoever is doing it outside the U.S. is of note enough to be trusted with a production that they have been essentially taking care of,” he explains. “It’s a big deal. We feel very fortunate, but we also understand the pressure and the responsibility that we have to hold on to.”

From Request sa Radyo, featuring Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon, to Into the Woods and A Chorus Line, TGA has consistently championed Filipino artists both locally and across the diaspora, and this production is no exception. “Casting is always an international process,” Mohnani shares. “Clint is New York-based, so he has the feel and the pulse of what’s being done on Broadway. Then I am here, so I have the local pulse; I know what local audiences are asking for, so it’s a good mix.”

For The Notebook, the two had their eyes set on specific personalities from the get-go. Among their dream casting was Celeste Legaspi as Older Allie: “It was always Celeste,” Mohnani says, sharing that Ramos too felt it was high time for the veteran performer to return to the stage. 

“This woman champions original Filipino music, produces original content in the theater,” he continues. “So how great is it that you have a platform like TGA that champions Filipino artists, and you have somebody that really is the face of Filipino artists being at the forefront of the production? It’s very exciting!”

On the day of the Vogue Philippines shoot, Legaspi pranced into her dressing room bright-eyed. A rack of dresses from her own collection trailed behind her, as she immediately launched into a captivating story about one of them: a vibrant Cesar Guapo number featuring “Gadgets,” an artwork by her late father, national artist Cesar Legaspi. Watching the moment unfold in a flurry at her doorstep, it was not difficult to believe that, for Legaspi, performing came instinctively.

As a child at St. Paul College, Quezon City, the artist recalls being sent by the nuns from classroom to classroom to sing: “I was seven, maybe eight. I should’ve been nervous, right? But I wasn’t. It was the most natural thing for me to do.” 

She later found her way into community theater, participating as a teenager in komedya and moro-moro, before taking on roles in Show Boat, Oliver!, Jesus Christ Superstar, the original Filipino musical Katy!, and more. In 1988, she co-founded Musical Theater Philippines with Girlie Rodis, helping produce more original Filipino musicals. Even now, at 76 years old, she remains deeply engaged in championing Filipino artistry, with plans to remount Katy! at the CCP and launch Star Truck, a mobile “theater on wheels” designed to bring free, high-quality performances to towns and barangays across the country.

Legaspi hasn’t been in a “full blown musical,” she says, since Ang Larawan in 1997. Coming back into the world and discipline of theater was something she was eagerly looking forward to, especially through The Notebook, as a fan of the film. “This story is a story of hope and inspiration,” Legaspi shares of the musical. “The beauty about The Notebook is that it portrays love in various stages. And I can really relate to the stage that you see me in, because that’s where I am right now. I went through all of that. And it’s all true, the way Nicholas Sparks wrote it. That there is this spark. Suddenly, you find the one you’re going to love.”

It is a love she recognizes in her own marriage of more than 50 years. She recalls how her husband, OPM composer and advertising director Nonoy Gallardo, would drive her to late-night performances during martial law, stay with her through the curfew, bring her home at four in the morning, then wake just hours later for work, a quiet devotion sustained, she says, by patience and effort. 

Moreover, stepping into the role of Older Allie is also deeply personal for Legaspi, who lost her mother to Alzheimer’s disease. “It was one of the most difficult times in our lives,” she shares in the press release. “Although remembering that is painful, it will be my responsibility to honor my mother by bringing understanding and compassion to my role.”

The role also reunites Legaspi with Morissette, whose film debut in Song of the Fireflies was produced by Legaspi’s company, Culturtain Musicat Productions, in 2025, and for which the latter earned Best Actress at the Manila International Film Festival. During the project, they recall their conversations grew to encompass both career and life, and Legaspi has since told Morissette that she sees echoes of her marriage in the singer and her husband, Dave Lamar. “I have proof to show! She really messaged me!” Morissette enthuses. “To be able to learn from her up close, and to share the stage with her and Sheena, who I’m big fans of, I’m just really really excited.”

The multi-award-winning Cebuana singer had just concluded Ember, a concert celebrating 15 years in the industry, a career that has taken her from televised singing competitions to platinum-selling recordings, arena concerts, international performances, and some of OPM’s most recognizable ballads, including “Akin Ka Na Lang” and “Gusto Ko Nang Bumitaw.” 

“[Clint] is from Cebu, so he’s always had sights on finding the right vehicle back for Morissette’s theater comeback,” Mohnani shares. “Obviously there’s no question about her capabilities as a singer. We took a chance and asked if she’s ready to go back to theater, and fortunately she was.” 

When Mohnani and Ramos approached her during the Into The Woods gala with the proposition, Morissette admits it was a no-brainer. “I really wanted to return to theater. I was also at a point in my career that I didn’t just want to just put out music or show off vocal acrobatics. I wanted to do more storytelling,” she shares. “And to be entrusted with such a great story, such a great character… I just want to be able to give Middle Allie justice. But at the same time, I also want to be a great representation of Filipino talent, Filipino discipline.”

The role also holds a deeply personal place for Morissette, who reveals it is a love story she knows all too well. Like Allie and Noah, she and her husband fell in love when they were younger, but parted as family expectations, distance, and career pulled them in different directions. Years later, they reconnected, and Morissette chose to fight for the relationship rather than risk losing him a second time.

For her, amid so much negativity online, love stories like The Notebook feel all the more necessary. “We need to be reminded of the lighter things, the kilig things. We’re allowed to enjoy the good, too,” she says. “Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the bad things that capture your attention. So I think it’s important that we’re able to talk about stories like Noah and Allie’s, that they still persevere. There’s hope in choosing love, and in choosing what you want for you.”

Morissette’s rendition of the musical’s 11 o’clock number, “My Days,” has since garnered nearly 150,000 views and drawn international attention. Mohnani shares that the producers behind The Notebook: The Musical have been both amazed and intrigued. “They were like, ‘Where did you find this person?’ And Clint was like, ‘What do you mean? She’s been around, and she is phenomenal!’”

On Sheena Belarmino, too, who plays Young Allie, Mohnani impressed: “I was telling them there is this young actress who I’ve seen in several productions already, and she was fabulous,” he enthuses. “We introduced her to the director and the director loved her.”

Amid the post-pandemic resurgence of local theater, Belarmino has emerged as one of the young performers to watch. The 20-year-old performer has taken on a slew of performances over the last three years, starring roles in Next to Normal, Bar Boys: The Musical, Tabing Ilog: The Musical, and Spring Awakening. Her journey, however, began much earlier: she first performed in small plays and musicals in Cebu at eight before joining televised competitions. After years in show business, she found herself losing the joy and curiosity she once felt for performing and considered returning to school. Auditioning for Tabing Ilog: The Musical brought her back to the stage and rekindled the spark that had first drawn her to theater, which she fondly calls her first love.

When she was selected to be Young Allie, she was over the moon. “It’s the first time they’re doing The Notebook internationally, so we’re the ones that are going to set the bar for this,” Belarmino says earnestly. “Of course, I was a little nervous when I heard the news, but the joy and the privilege of doing this here in the Philippines for the first time is something that I look forward to.”

She speaks of her character almost as a friend, with Young Allie’s innocence and eagerness among the traits that resonate most with the rising actress. Asked what she looks forward to most in bringing her to life, Belarmino says it is “taking good care of the character” and offering audiences comfort through the love story. “Love is so many things. Love can be pain, love can be any specific emotion, because everything is rooted in love. And I think yun yung tatatak din sa Filipino audience. We have to see that glimmer of hope and love for one another and for ourselves.”

Beyond the three Allies, the production brings together an equally varied company of established and emerging performers. Veteran actor, playwright, and director Rody Vera plays Older Noah; Filipino-Kiwi actor Laurence Mossman, whose credits include the international and Australian tours of Miss Saigon, takes on Middle Noah; and rising actor Benedix Ramos, recently seen in Yemaya alongside Belarmino, completes the trio as Young Noah. They are joined by seasoned musical-theater performers Carla Guevara Laforteza and Floyd Tena as Allie’s parents, Markki Stroem as Lon, and more.

In theater, no one is an island. As such, theater cannot exist without romance; it is an art form built on love. It is what Legaspi is most eager to experience again: “Contrary to film, in theater, you rehearse every day, and you get to develop a love story with your character.”

“For me, what I love about theater is the community,” Morissette adds. “You’re not just your own individual; there are so many moving pieces involved in making a show.”

Perhaps that is what has drawn generations, old and new, to the performing arts: the community and camaraderie between actors and crew, and between a production and its audience. Sitting in a theater is itself a step away from the self and an immersion into a collective experience.

Art is expression, and therefore, “Just having that space [in theater] to perform, to express your feelings, and for people to watch you and feel that same thing is magical,” Belarmino says. “It’s freedom.” 

The Notebook: The Musical runs from September 3 to 20, 2026 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater.

By BIANCA CUSTODIO. Photographs by JV RABANO. Beauty Editor JOYCE OREÑA. Makeup by PAM ROBES (Celeste Legaspi & Sheena Belarmino) and MIKO DACANAY (Morissette). Hair by JAN EDROSOLAN. Styling: Jia Torrato of Qurator Studio. Art Director: Jann Pascua. Multimedia Artists: France Ramos, Mcaine Carlos. Producer: Mavi Sulangi. Associate Producer: Ada Manipon. Styling Team: Charlotte Sombillo and Niña Cuyana. Photography Team: PJ Salazar and Erwin Arda. Nails: Extraordinail.

Special thanks to Goodness Graze and Chris Mohnani. Shot on location at Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Celeste Legaspi, Morissette, and Sheena Belarmino appear courtesy of Theatre Group Asia.