'The Notebook: The Musical' to make its international premiere in Manila this year

As though Philippine Theater isn't serving enough great plays in comes Theatre Group Asia (TGA) announcing its formidable 2026-2027 season lineup.

Opening the season in September 2026 is “The Notebook: The Musical,” which will make its international premiere in Manila after debuting in 2022 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

The production features music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a script by Bekah Brunstetter.

Based on Nicholas Sparks’ iconic novel, and best known to many through the 2004 film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the stage version expands the story by portraying Allie and Noah across multiple stages of their lives, exploring how love matures, fractures, and endures through memory, aging, and devotion.

In February 2027, the lineup continues with the staging of “Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba,” a Filipino-language staging of Federico García Lorca’s final play.

The story follows the strict Bernarda Alba, who imposes an eight-year mourning period on her daughters after her husband’s death, as tension and rebellion build inside their tightly controlled household.

The production will use Chay Yew’s adapted version, as transposed by Guelan Varela-Luarca.

The season will conclude in June 2027 with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Sunday in the Park with George,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical inspired by Georges Seurat’s painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”

First premiering on Broadway in 1984, the show explores the obsessive drive of an artist, the cost of creation, and questions of legacy and meaningful art across generations.

“TGA’s 2026-27 honors three unforgettable, powerful stories that stir, challenge, and transform. This season places the human capacity to influence through love, survival, and creation on center stage. 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,” TGA Creative and Overall Artistic Director Clint Ramos said.

TGA is the theater company behind 2024's "Request sa Radyo" and 2025's "Into the Woods."

This year, it will run "A Chorus Line." — Carby Basina/LA, GMA Integrated News