Carla Laforteza: Watch 'The Notebook' before the musical
The veteran theater actress wants 'The Notebook' audiences to know the love story before they see it unfold across three generations on stage.
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The veteran theater actress wants 'The Notebook' audiences to know the love story before they see it unfold across three generations on stage.
Rachel McAdams as Allie with Joan Allen as her mother in *The Notebook* (2004).
iMDB
Carla Guevara Laforteza takes on Allie’s mother in Theatre Group Asia’s The Notebook: The Musical.
TGA
If you fell in love with The Notebook through the 2004 film, you probably remember Ryan Gosling as Noah and Rachel McAdams as Allie, with James Garner and Gena Rowlands as their older counterparts. The film became a modern romance classic, following Noah and Allie from passionate youth to their later years, when love endures even as memory fades.
But Theatre Group Asia’s The Notebook: The Musical tells the story differently. Based on Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel, with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, the stage adaptation follows Allie and Noah across three stages of their lives, with three pairs of actors portraying them as young (Sheena Belarmino and Benedix Ramos), middle-aged (Morissette and Laurence Mossman) and older (Celeste Legaspi and Rody Vera).
For Carla Guevara Laforteza, who plays Allie’s mother and a nurse in the musical, that difference makes one thing important: Know the story before you enter the theater.
“I actually suggest that they see the movie before they watch the musical,” Laforteza told DAILY TRIBUNE in an exclusive interview during a cast rehearsal.
“Because I researched and a lot of the people who did not see the movie and saw the musical first, they got very confused and they only started getting it right away,” she said.
“So it's a waste. The feelings that you could have felt, the connection you could have felt if you knew the story.”
And if the movie is not an option, she has another suggestion: “I mean, if not the movie, the book. Read the book.”
For Laforteza, the musical’s three-generation structure is part of what makes it special.
“And it's so beautiful the way it's written. It's lovely,” she said. “And it's also interesting how we work together to create our characters.”
Her own roles give her a perspective on the story that goes beyond its central romance.
“I play two roles. I play the mother and a nurse,” she said. “I'm a real mother of three.”
That includes Sophia Laforteza, the leader of KATSEYE, the global girl group. KATSEYE has since become a major international pop act, with Sophia becoming a prominent Filipino presence in the group.
Laforteza said motherhood helps her find something truthful in Allie’s mother.
“Actually, most of the shows that I've been doing, I've always been cast as the mom,” she said. “Every show becomes special because my character kids are different. And I always learn from the actors that I work with.”
The nurse feels just as personal in another way.
“I take care of my parents,” she said. “So, it's quite natural for me also to be able to be a nurse.”
She also gives the two characters a vocal distinction. Laforteza describes Allie's mom's Southern American accent as a “twang,” rather than a full accent, to set the nurse apart without making it too thick.
“The accent comes out when they're angry or when they want to point out something,” she said. “So, I just call it a twang.”
Laforteza has spent decades on stage, including her work in London’s West End production of Miss Saigon in the 1990s, where she understudied Kim and Gigi and performed as Kim. Her Philippine theater credits include Rak of Aegis, Ang Huling El Bimbo, Snow White and the Prince, Matilda the Musical and One More Chance: The Musical.
Now, in The Notebook: The Musical, Laforteza finds herself inside a story audiences may think they already know. But for her, knowing the story can make the musical’s emotions hit even deeper.
With the Manila premiere still two weeks away, the cast is already eager to take the show beyond the rehearsal room.
“We're soooo ready,” Laforteza said. “We're just waiting for the costumes and the set. To really move into the theater. To really turn on the real magic.”
The Notebook: The Musical, the Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and book by Bekah Brunstetter, based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel, will have its international premiere in Manila. The Theatre Group Asia production is directed by Nicholas Polonio and runs from 3 to 20 September 2026 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. TGA is led by Artistic Director Clint Ramos, with Christopher Mohnani as Executive Director.
