Catharsis and chemistry: finding the Filipino heart in ‘The Notebook The Musical’

For Legaspi, remaining visible on stage throughout the act is a welcome challenge. “Actually, the first time that I read the script and I saw that... I initially thought they would eventually take us offstage,” she admits. “But actually it works for me that I can see and hear everything. It helps me stay in character, understand what happened to her.”

Despite depicting the older couple whose story is famously read from a notebook, Legaspi and Vera do not impose the weight of a foregone conclusion onto the audience. Instead, they provide a gentle narrative arc that breezes through their characters’ journey. The rebirth of their romance unfolds organically. Vera notes that the director intentionally juxtaposes all three versions of Noah during the performance. “There is a scene in Act Two that we echo the juxtaposed blocking made by the Allies in I Wanna Go Back,” Vera explains. “So it gets a lot more emotional, actually, for me to see my younger self and him to imagine his older self.”

This collaborative environment allows the cast to experiment. Legaspi shares that she and her younger counterparts have been actively aligning their character choices. “We were talking about an ‘Allie laugh’,” Legaspi shares. “At first during the rehearsals, we were all very polite, very coy... And then now we are experimenting with laughter that is guttural. Because it’s more interesting on stage... so that we will have the same laugh through the ages.” The role also carries a deeply personal resonance for Legaspi; Allie’s loss of her ability to paint reminds the actress of her father, National Artist César Legaspi, who lost his own ability to paint in the latter stages of his bout against cancer.

Another standout in The Notebook The Musical is Carla Guevara-Laforteza, who embraces the complex challenge of playing the mother to the younger and middle versions of Allie, while also shifting into the role of the nurse caring for Older Allie. Guevara-Laforteza masterfully separates the two characters in her performance while maintaining a steady expression of maternal love for all three iterations of the leading lady. Her portrayal of Allie’s mother leans heavily into Bekah Brunstetter’s libretto, adding a thrilling intimacy and clear intention to every interaction with her co-actors.

Guevara-Laforteza thrives on this dual casting. “I love that, because I get bored easily and tend to study other characters and their lines,” she confesses. To ensure the audience never confuses her characters, she makes strict physical choices. “The way we walk, the way we talk, should be very, very different,” she notes. “I want to make sure that it’s very clear to the audience... it’s a different character.”

While the setting of The Notebook The Musical remains in America, the production relies heavily on the emotional depth of its cast. Guevara-Laforteza explains that Filipino actors possess a unique heart. “They always import Filipinos from the Philippines to do stuff abroad because we are different; we have heart,” she says, praising TGA’s vision of combining foreign-trained Filipino talents with local actors. However, while acknowledging the everyday realities of local traffic and weather, she passionately advocates for a shift in theatre etiquette. She hopes to cultivate a culture of punctuality among audiences.

Musically, the production demands high-level technical mastery. While Legaspi previously described the show’s numbers as modern and exact, the rehearsal reveals Ingrid Michaelson’s score to be incredibly personal and confessional. The intricate harmonies require perfection from the cast. Audiences should pay special attention to the striking moments when the instrumentation completely drops out, leaving the actors to sing a cappella. Though Legaspi jokingly laments that she does not get to sing a trio with the younger Allies—“I would have loved to sing with Morissette and Sheena Belarmino... but I don’t have a singing part there”—the emotional resonance of the music more than makes up for it.

Every time older Allie shares the stage with her younger selves, the effect is purely cathartic. Watching the rehearsal, one immediately understands the pain she carries, heavily contrasted by the incognizance of her younger selves who have no idea bigger challenges await them. It is akin to looking at life from an outsider’s perspective—a prompt to appreciate what you have, what you have lost and what you hope to find.

Despite the heavy subject matter, The Notebook The Musical ultimately remains a romantic comedy that leaves its audience marvelling at the power of devotion. “I think they’d come out of the theatre laughing with tears in their eyes because they’ll be laughing at themselves, and happy that they came to watch it,” Legaspi says. Vera agrees wholeheartedly, leaning into the heart of the story. “It’s a feel-good thing,” he says. “At the end, you see such a triumph of love.”

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