'The Notebook The Musical' cast already in tears at first rehearsal
Theatre Group Asia's table read offered a glimpse of the emotional journey awaiting audiences when the Broadway musical opens this September.
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Theatre Group Asia's table read offered a glimpse of the emotional journey awaiting audiences when the Broadway musical opens this September.
Rody Vera and Celeste Legaspi immerse themselves in one of the musical's most emotional scenes during the cast's table read.
SCREENGRAB/THEATRE GROUP ASIA FACEBOOK VIDEO
SCREENGRAB/THEATRE GROUP ASIA FACEBOOK VIDEO
Director Nicholas Polonio
Theatre Group Asia
The cast of The Notebook The Musical gathers for its first table read, where the story's emotional power left many visibly moved.
SCREENGRAB/THEATRE GROUP ASIA FACEBOOK VIDEO
If there were any doubts that The Notebook The Musical would be an emotional experience, Theatre Group Asia's first rehearsal quickly erased them.
The company released a Facebook video from its table read, capturing a roomful of actors visibly moved by the material. Veteran actress Celeste Legaspi (Older Allie) can be seen reading one of the musical's most heartbreaking scenes, breaking into tears before playfully punching fellow cast member Rody Vera (Older Noah) on the arm. Around the table, the rest of the cast wiped away tears of their own.
The scene follows Older Allie, who is living with dementia, as she briefly recognizes Noah through his hands before pleading, "Help me, Noah. Help me while I'm here."
If Broadway audiences are any indication, the cast may not be the only ones reaching for tissues.
Director Nicholas Polonio, at a recent media interview, recalled attending the Broadway production in New York, where theatergoers were handed mini boxes of Kleenex before the performance.
"I remember going in and thinking, 'Yeah, kind of presumptuous,'" he said with a laugh. It turned out the theater knew exactly what it was doing. "There's nothing quite like the sound of 1,200 people crying at the same time—but in this sort of soft way where they're still trying to hear the scenes. It almost feels like a Greek tragedy or something," said the 28-year-old New York-based director.
For Polonio, however, the tears inspired by The Notebook go far beyond heartbreak.
"I feel like crying is such a healthy thing to do and a way to express—not even to someone, but just the experience of it," he said. "The reason why people are crying is because of how beautiful it is. It's the moment they realize that their lives were worth it that people start crying for each other."
Rather than dwelling on loss, he believes the musical ultimately celebrates love.
"It's a very life-affirming show," Polonio said. "We think about the tears and sadness in the show as being about losing people. But the tears come when they find each other again. The tears come when it feels like the point of life being love—or someone that you love—and that being enough feels so simple and yet so profound."
Based on Nicholas Sparks' bestselling 1996 novel—which was later adapted into the wildly popular 2004 film of the same name—The Notebook The Musical, based on the licensed book by Bekah Brunstetter and music and lyrics by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, tells the enduring love story of Noah and Allie across different stages of their lives, exploring how love perseveres even as memory fades.
Judging from the cast's first table read and Polonio's own experience watching the Broadway production, Filipino audiences who have a soft spot for stories filled with hugot may want to bring a box of tissues. The Notebook could well become one of the biggest tearjerkers ever staged in Philippine theater.
The Notebook The Musical will have its international premiere from 3 to 20 September at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. The production stars Sheena Belarmino, Morissette and Celeste Legaspi as Allie across three stages of her life, opposite Benedix Ramos, Laurence Mossman and Rody Vera as Noah.
