Theater Group Asia (TGA) has presented its highly anticipated 2026-2027 season, which includes three headline-making shows. All will make their Philippine premieres and are based on stories that linger long after the curtain has fallen.
The season will begin in September 2026 with The Notebook: The Musical, which will have its international premiere in Manila.
Based on Nicholas Sparks’ popular 1996 novel, immortalized in the 2004 film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the musical provides a more intimate, thoughtful look at Allie and Noah’s lasting love story.
The stage adaptation, with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, develops the story by following the pair through several periods of their lives, charting how love matures, fractures and persists through memory and dedication.
First staged at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2022, the production later enjoyed an eight-month Broadway run in 2024 and is currently on a North American tour through August 2026, making its Manila engagement its first international staging.
In February 2027, Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba, a Filipino-language staging of Federico García Lorca’s final play, will take on a different tone. Written shortly before the playwright’s death and first performed posthumously in 1945, the drama revolves around the iron-willed Bernarda Alba, who imposes an eight-year grieving period on her daughters following her husband’s death.
As rebellion grows within the strictly regulated household, the drama addresses issues of repression, tradition and resistance. The production uses Chay Yew’s version, which has been transferred by Guelan Varela-Luarca, to provide a local perspective on a timeless story of dignity, freedom and the cost of quiet.
Closing the season in June 2027 is the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Inspired by Georges Seurat’s iconic painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” the musical delves into the obsessive drive of an artist consumed by creation — and the personal toll that accompanies brilliance.
Premiering on Broadway in 1984, the show unfolds across two generations, pairing the story of a fictionalized Seurat with that of his great-grandson a century later, as both grapple with questions of legacy, innovation and what it truly means to create meaningful art. The original production won two Tony Awards, while Sondheim and Lapine received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year.
“TGA’s 2026-27 honors three unforgettable, powerful stories that stir, challenge and transform. This season places the human capacity to influence through love, survival and creation on center stage. While each production proudly spotlights artists and narratives, the season ultimately celebrates something even greater: the power every person holds to shape hearts, defy limits and leave a lasting mark,” TGA creative and overall artistic director Clint Ramos said.
The announcement follows a strong trajectory for the young theater company. After the wordless play Request sa Radyo, TGA formally launched with an all-star staging of Into the Woods last August and is set to cap its 2025–2026 season with A Chorus Line, featuring performers of Filipino descent.
TGA’s 2026 to 2027 season positions theater not just as entertainment — but as a lifestyle experience worth dressing up for.