The singer sees her own journey in Allie’s struggle between first love, friendship and the person she chose to build a life with.
THEATER Group Asia’s production of “The Notebook: The Musical” will run from 3 to 20 September, marking its first performance outside the US.
For anyone who remembers “The Notebook” as the 2004 film that made Noah and Allie’s love story a tearjerker, the romance comes down to one question: Will they find their way back to each other?
For Morissette, who plays Middle Allie in Theatre Group Asia’s “The Notebook: The Musical,” the question feels personal.
“The story of Noah and Allie is very personal to me because it’s something that I personally went through before I got married,” Morissette said in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.
The musical, based on Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, follows Noah and Allie across three stages of their lives. Morissette plays Allie in the middle years, when their love is tested by separation, choices and the years that have passed.
“There’s a lot of scenes here that just literally bring me back to moments in my personal life,” she said, particularly citing the scene involving Allie’s mother and the difficult choice she faces.
“The scene with the mother and just having to choose — at the end of the day, it shouldn’t be a choice,” she said.
Morissette understands why Allie struggles between what is already in front of her and what once was.
“I see where Allie’s head is when she was struggling to choose between what is already in front of her and what was there,” she said. “She wanted to check before really making the decision.”
She also understands Allie’s attachment to first love. “But I get the first love,” she said. “He’s also my first love.”
Her own experience has given her a particular understanding of losing someone who is both a romantic partner and a closest friend.
“My now husband in the beginning was just my best friend at first,” she said. “And losing him as a best friend and losing him as my partner meant I lost my best friend.” Morissette is married to singer-songwriter Dave Lamar.
She recalled that there were things she could not comfortably discuss with family at the time. “I couldn’t confide in anybody outside of my family which, of course, there’s stuff that you can’t really — it’s not comfortable to talk to your family about,” she said. “That was my husband for me at that time.”
That experience helps Morissette understand why Allie’s decision is so difficult. For her, the story touches on the person who becomes your confidant, closest friend and the person you turn to when life gets complicated.
It is a connection that also follows her into one of the musical’s most demanding numbers, “My Days.”
“I think the challenge for me with this musical is that, after a musical, it’s so heavy because there’s so much emotion that is also needed,” she said. She has sung the song many times, but no two performances feel exactly alike.
“I’ve sung it so many times, but every time we do run it, it’s different. There are days that I feel it more than others.” The challenge, she said, is singing the number while remaining inside Allie’s experience. “But at the same time, it’s like, this is what I’m going through at the moment. It’s not easy to sing.”
For Morissette, “My Days” also carries a message she wants audiences to take with them. “Not just vocally, but the meaning of the song I feel is just something that people need to be reminded of,” she said. “And I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to sing it every night and remind people of their worth also.”
Morissette finds another personal connection in “Don’t You Worry,” the song associated with Allie’s mother.
“I also think, right now, I always say ‘Don’t You Worry,’” she said. “It’s like a lullaby, it’s very personal, something that Allie can always look back to.”
The song stays with Allie across different stages of her life, becoming something she can return to even when her mother is no longer around.
“There’s always gonna be this song,” she said. “That always gets me. It reminds me of my relationship with my mom as well,” she said.
Known as “Asia’s Phoenix,” Morissette brings an extensive career as a vocalist and performer to Middle Allie. She made her professional theater debut as Mitchie Torres in Repertory Philippines’ Camp Rock: The Musical in 2012 and went on to establish herself as a recording artist and concert performer.
The Notebook: The Musical marks her return to musical theater after more than a decade. She also won Best Actress at the 2025 Manila International Film Festival for her feature-film debut, Song of the Fireflies.
For Morissette, stepping into Middle Allie means drawing from experiences she already knows: first love, friendship, separation and the difficult decisions that can change the course of a relationship. That connection becomes especially clear when asked whether she would survive Noah and Allie’s first major argument and separation, or simply walk away.
“I think I would say I would survive,” she said.
After all, her understanding of Allie comes from knowing that love can survive periods of uncertainty, distance and loss — and that sometimes the hardest part is deciding whether the person you lost is still the person you want to find again.
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.
