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In Conversation With "The Notebook: The Musical" PH Director Nicholas Polonio

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From Nicholas to another Nicholas.Fans of the beloved The Notebook, the classic debut novel by Nicholas Sparks, will be thrilled to find out that another Nicholas will direct the book&#x27;s musical version: Filipino-American Nicholas Polonio. Featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, &quot;The Notebook: The Musical&quot; is based on Nicholas Sparks&#x27; bestselling novel and the beloved film adaptation. The musical tells the timeless story of Allie and Noah, whose enduring love transcends the passage of time, memory, and life&#x27;s greatest challenges. The lead cast of the Theatre Group Asia (TGA) production includes <a href="https://metro.style/people/2026/7/13/metro-exclusive-morissette-on-on-her-musical-comeback-in-the-notebook-musical-0600" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Morissette</a> as Middle Allie, Sheena Belarmino as Young Allie, and Philippine musical icon Celeste Legaspi as Older Allie. London-based <a href="https://metro.style/people/2026/7/17/metro-exclusive-laurence-mossman-on-being-part-of-the-philippines-the-notebook-the-musical-0630" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Laurence Mossman</a> is set to play Middle Noah, Benedix Ramos as Young Noah, and acclaimed veteran artist Rody Vera as Older Noah.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784967544098In conversation with The Notebook The Musical PH director Nicholas Polonio.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo courtesy of Theatre Group Asia</div><div> </div>“I&#x27;ve always wanted to come to work in the Philippines ever since I started doing theater,” Polonio shared.“To me, the audience that you all have here is the most exciting musical theater audience in the world—how tasteful, rigorous, collaborative, how much point of view, and [just] how much people just want to talk about theater,” he added.Based in New York City, the 28-year-old Polonio is considered one of the most exciting Filipino theater artists in the international scene today. Among his directing credits are &quot;The Self Improvement and Male Preservation Society,&quot; or S.I.M.P.S. (IRT Theater), &quot;Mary Stuart&quot; (The Lee Strasberg Institute), &quot;The Police&quot; (Hangar Theatre Wedge), and &quot;POV: U Run Joe Biden&#x27;s TikTok&quot; (ANTFest). He has also developed new works with Ars Nova, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Bedlam, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hangar Theatre, Audible Theater, the American Playwriting Foundation, and numerous other organizations. He currently serves as Director-in-Residence for Leviathan Lab.As an associate director, Polonio has worked alongside some of today&#x27;s most celebrated theater makers on acclaimed productions including the Tony Award-winning Slave Play on Broadway, the West End, and its Los Angeles premiere; Public Obscenities at Soho Rep; Jelly&#x27;s Last Jam at New York City Center Encores!; Hamlet at Center Theatre Group; Shit. Meet. Fan. at MCC Theater; X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera, Detroit Opera, Opera Omaha, and Seattle Opera; A Raisin in the Sun at The Public Theater and Williamstown Theatre Festival; Richard III at the Delacorte Theater; A Long Day&#x27;s Journey Into Night at Minetta Lane Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Paris at Atlantic Theater Company; 17 Border Crossings at New York Theatre Workshop; The White Devil at the Lucille Lortel Theatre; and productions of Henry IV, Part I and Richard II at Shakespeare&#x27;s Globe. Most recently, he completed the critically acclaimed production of La Cage Aug Folles starring Billy Porter and Wayne Brady at the New York City Center.<div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784967749023Nicholas Polonio ; Credits - Theatre Group Asia (2).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo courtesy of Theatre Group Asia</div><div> </div>“We are thrilled to welcome Nicholas home to direct the international premiere of &quot;The Notebook: The Musical.&quot; His remarkable artistry, international experience, and gift for revealing the complexity of human relationships make him the ideal director to bring this extraordinary story to Philippine audiences,” Clint Ramos, TGA Overall Artistic and Creative Director, remarked.With The Notebook as a beloved source material since it has a book and a Hollywood film version, which starred Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, Polonio said he found the musical’s background exciting rather than challenging.“Honestly, it was one of the things that drew me to doing it in the first place,” he confessed, smiling.“One of my favorite things about theater—musical theater specifically—is how much adaptation from these larger stories has been there since the beginning. It feels like adaptations are a part of musical theater in a way that for other types of art forms at large don&#x27;t contend with much. I think it&#x27;s amazing to get to deal with an audience that has, like, expectations coming in and already a relationship with the material. It feels like you can often have like a deeper, more nuanced conversation about something that they already love or hate or feel challenging in different ways about. For this one too, it&#x27;s not only a movie, but it was the book before the movie, and those are both different in their own ways,” Polonio enthusiastically shared.<div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784967871122Nicholas Polonio ; Credits - Theatre Group Asia (3).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo courtesy of Theatre Group Asia</div><div> </div>To the young director, &quot;The Notebook: The Musical&quot; is certainly a milestone in his career. Describing his feelings about the project, he was incredulous at first.“It was a dream come true in so many ways. This is my favorite material that I&#x27;ve ever gotten to work on before. Like I was saying, [Manila is] my favorite audience that I&#x27;ve ever had the opportunity to be able to express something to and with. I think I was literally in shock for two weeks. It was one of those things where I&#x27;m not going to believe this until I see this in writing. By the time I think all the emotions dropped in, it was a few weeks later, and it was just immense gratitude and responsibility,” he shared.Now, he’s just excited to move forward and showcase the musical the best way he and the team can.“I always think: what would a good director do? And then I try and do that. To me, it&#x27;s so much of getting the right amount of time, the right amount of resources, and the best possible cast that we possibly can. Everything has kind of fallen into place in the best-case scenario,” the director declared, adding that now that they have started rehearsing, he&#x27;s mostly excited to actually deliver and to make things happen.<div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784968197744An afternoon worth remembering. 💙Thank you to our media friends for spending the day with our d.jpg" style="width:960px;display:block;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo courtesy of Theatre Group Asia</div><div> </div>Polonio, who was involved in the casting for the Manila staging of &quot;The Notebook: The Musical,&quot; expressed his enthusiasm for what the artists can offer to the storytelling and the musicality of it all.“I&#x27;m so excited about the casting. It is literally the greatest collection of talent that I have ever gotten the privilege to work with, and such different types of actors and singers as well. I&#x27;m so excited to see how the cast will be able to build off and support each other as well. It&#x27;s diverse, and what&#x27;s great about the way that Bekah wrote it is that it&#x27;s just very intergenerational. Some characters are like straight comic really. Some characters are meant to be taken very seriously from the beginning. It&#x27;s this whole large menagerie of different types of people and types of performers that are asked to do this,” he said.“So I&#x27;m kind of thrilled across the board with the cast that we got. I&#x27;m so grateful that everybody said yes,” he continued.<div>&quot;The Notebook The Musical&quot; is set to have its premiere this September 2026 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Get your tickets via <a href="https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph/shows/show.aspx?sh=NOTEBOOK26&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=24051626340&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAox7kPOO6A8CSaYlMHnny5c4rOUv9&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwvZHTBhAlEiwA1ug5P21QVe6sUh42qxpdHtfCjCjUsQ5eDvkLjaeC_Xri958bBpWvAQO9qxoCHAoQAvD_BwE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ticketworld</a>. For more information about the production, visit TGA’s <a href="https://www.theatregroupasia.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theatregroupasia/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theatregroupasia/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>.</div><div> </div>Lead photo courtesy of Theatre Group Asia

The New York-based, Filipino-American, and 28-year-old Nicholas Polonio is the director in charge of the Manila production of "The Notebook: The Musical." Here, he expressed his excitement about working on this classic material and collaborating with a brilliant cast.

The New York-based, Filipino-American, and 28-year-old Nicholas Polonio is the director in charge of the Manila production of "The Notebook: The Musical." Here, he expressed his excitement about working on this classic material and collaborating with a brilliant cast.

Nicholas Polonio on Taking the Directorial Helm for Theatre Group Asia’s ‘The Notebook: The Musical’

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Nicholas Polonio on Taking the Directorial Helm for Theatre Group Asia’s ‘The Notebook: The Musical’

Grace Diez

Published July 25, 2026 04:30 PM PHT

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Updated July 25, 2026 04:42 PM PHT

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