In ‘The Notebook’ — across book, film, and musical, we are given a look into what love looks like as it moves through seasons. The kind that becomes a lighthouse by which Noah and Allie navigate their lives.
CELESTE Legaspi as Older Allie and Rody Vera as Older Noah.
SHEENA Belarmino as younger Allie and Benedix Ramos as younger Noah.
MORISSETTE as Middle Allie and Laurence Mossman as Middle Noah.
During a recent conversation with friends, someone said, "You watch over me like a lighthouse." In that instant, the phrase called to mind the love story of Noah and Allie in Theatre Group Asia’s staging of The Notebook, playing for one more weekend at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. In a giant creative leap from Nicholas Sparks’ novel and the 2004 film adaptation, the musical recounts their epic love story through three seasons of their life — as innocent teenagers, as adults, and in their golden years living in a retirement home. Where it becomes an interesting discourse on how love, in its truest form, shifts in intensity over time, yet holds steadfast through to the end. Cue in the waterworks, so do keep that box of tissues handy.
The international premiere of the musical in Manila, beautifully directed by Nicholas Polonio, pulled out all the stops when they casted the show. Young Noah and Allie were portrayed by Benedix Ramos and Sheena Belarmino, who prove why they are set to be theater's biggest stars. Filipino-Kiwi actor Laurence Mossman plays Middle Noah, while Morissette Amon’s Middle Allie shines on stage with her stellar rendition of "My Days." But the beating heart of this show were Rody Vera and Celeste Legaspi as Older Noah and Allie, respectively. Their radiant portrayal of a couple holding on to each other, in the face of dementia and old age, was simply captivating.
There are two objects that are central to the story of The Notebook — a house, and yes, a notebook. Both are tangible manifestations of the invisible thread tying Noah and Allie together. Yes, there is a bit of irony there. Just stick with it.
Life as a house
When Noah and Allie meet as teenagers over the course of one blissful summer, they become obsessed over a house. A rundown one that they refer to as "our house" where they experience many firsts. If you catch my drift. Noah tells Allie that one day, he would buy that house for her. While it was a distant dream for a young poor boy, it was a dream nonetheless that became a representation of a promise. Oh to be young and in love, where anything is possible.
As fate would have it, the young couple is torn apart by her disapproving rich parents. But the invisible thread remains. Ten years later, Allie returns, with a fiancé in tow. She finds Noah, who has returned from the war and rebuilt the house. As he promised to her. Talk about a grand gesture. Into it he has poured his frustration and grief for what he thought was lost, and the passion for the love he hoped to find. Perhaps for Allie, it forced her to confront all those feelings she thought she had locked away.
Miguel Urbino’s design of a suspended house felt like an apt visualization of how a home is built through the memories that fill its open spaces — just like how Noah and Allie’s life would later be built on them.
In their sunset years, the scenes shift to the retirement home, where Noah has moved himself into to be close to Allie, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. While the physical space has changed, he continues to build a space for their love to survive.
A lighthouse to guide you home
Then there is the notebook. In the musical, the audience learns that while she was still lucid, Allie painstakingly writes down their love story before she forgets it all. Immortalizing it for Noah and her family. Every single day, Noah reads pages to her, hoping that it will spark "a memory of a memory of a memory." It is but heartbreaking to imagine what it feels to be on the receiving end of all that uncertainty, yet still cling to the belief that it will happen one day.
In some way, Noah, with the help of the notebook, becomes a lighthouse for Allie. One whose love is meant to shine brightly through the darkness, and carry her through to the other side. He is watching over her like a lighthouse, so that when the end comes, they can walk into the light hand in hand. And when it comes to love, that is as great as it comes.
In the collective story of Noah and Allie, in all its seasons, love becomes the beacon bright enough to keep the passion burning through distance and disease. Because here’s the truth — love is not just a singular thing. It is what lives between the small seemingly insignificant things and the grandest of gestures. The myriad of ebbs and flow defining seasons of holding on tight and letting go.
It is the kind of love that feels like a work of fiction, as assayed in The Notebook, because of its rarity in real life. But it does exist, and the prayer is that we will be among the lucky few who find it. If that penultimate scene of this staging, with Noah and Allie together to the end, brought you to tears, then somewhere in your heart, you’re hoping to find that someone to carry you home. Honestly, everyone does.
Theatre Group Asia’s The Notebook runs for one more weekend until 20 September, with an additional show on Wednesday, 16 September, 7:30 p.m., at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Tickets are going fast on Ticketworld. if you want to get swept up in a love story that endures, then don’t sleep on this one. Also, don’t forget to pack the tissues. In case you did, they’re selling some over at the Forever Shop in the lobby.
