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New York-based Nicholas Polonio to direct 'The Notebook The Musical' in Manila. Handout

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<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784689360733Nicholas Polonio.JPG" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>New York-based Nicholas Polonio to direct &#x27;The Notebook The Musical&#x27; in Manila. Handout</div>MANILA — For Filipino-American theater director Nicholas Polonio, directing “The Notebook The Musical” in Manila is more than another career milestone. It is the realization of a long-held dream — and an opportunity to present a fresh interpretation of one of the world&#x27;s most beloved love stories.Tapped by Theatre Group Asia (TGA) to direct the international premiere of “The Notebook,” the New York-based director said he has no intention of simply recreating the Broadway production. Instead, he plans to build an original staging inspired by the musical, Nicholas Sparks&#x27; bestselling novel, and the iconic 2004 film, while taking advantage of the unique talents of an all-Filipino cast.&quot;I&#x27;ve always wanted to come work in the Philippines,&quot; Polonio said in a media interview Tuesday. &quot;The Manila musical theater audience is the most exciting musical theater audience in the world. So that&#x27;s really who I&#x27;m excited to speak to and work with and tell these stories.&quot;When TGA overall artistic and creative director Clint Ramos approached him about directing &quot;The Notebook,&quot; he said he was &quot;literally in shock&quot; for like two weeks. &quot;It was just immense gratitude and responsibility,&quot; he recalled.Based on Sparks&#x27; bestselling novel, &quot;The Notebook The Musical&quot; features music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter. The production tells the enduring love story of Noah and Allie across different stages of their lives.For Polonio, accepting the project was an easy decision. &quot;It was a dream come true in so many ways,&quot; he said. &quot;This is both, like, my favorite material that I&#x27;ve ever gotten to work on before, and, like I was saying, my favorite audience that I&#x27;ve ever had the opportunity to be able to address.&quot;Although audiences already know the story through the novel and film, Polonio believes that familiarity presents an opportunity rather than a challenge.&quot;I often think about, in theme parks, when they do musicals of movies and you&#x27;re essentially just getting every single scene that happened in that movie one after another,&quot; he said. &quot;What are we doing here?&quot;Instead, he said he wants audiences to experience something that only live theater can offer.&quot;Let me give you an experience that you could not get by going to see a movie, but that is both deeply informed by someone who has the experience of the movie, and also, if someone&#x27;s seeing it for the first time and has never heard of the book before, or the movie before, that it still holds that,&quot; he said.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784712581192753320351_17948950584232278_4737772649685842830_n.jpg" style="width:650px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="650"/>Nicholas Polonio answers questions during a media huddle. Theatre Group Asia/Facebook</div>That philosophy extends to his approach to the Manila production. Rather than replicate the Broadway staging, Polonio said TGA has given him the freedom to create an entirely new production.&quot;Absolutely. It&#x27;s not a replicated production whatsoever,&quot; he said. &quot;I&#x27;m trying to think if there will be any staging in this that looks like the Broadway production. I don&#x27;t think so.&quot;He added that creating an original production was &quot;part of the big excitement&quot; of taking on the musical.He said he envisions a production inspired by the handcrafted romance of classic movie musicals from the 1950s and 1960s, creating an expressive theatrical world that captures the emotional landscape of North Carolina, where the story is set.&quot;I was very, very inspired by some of these early 1950s, 1960s musicals,&quot; he said. &quot;A lot of this production was about thinking about design in that way as well.&quot;While the script remains unchanged, Polonio said the production embraces the identity of its performers by treating Noah, Allie and the rest of the characters as Filipino-Americans rather than asking actors to portray white characters.&quot;We&#x27;re not changing a word of the script,&quot; he said. &quot;We&#x27;re not doing white voices. These are Filipino actors on stage, and it&#x27;s in America.&quot;&quot;A lot of the Filipino-Americans I knew in North Carolina had very similar stories and conversations, just like the ones that take place in &#x27;The Notebook.&#x27; I definitely don&#x27;t think that we are trying to change or avoid the fact that they are Filipino,&quot; he added.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784712617234753205084_17948950557232278_1738152598312728392_n.jpg" style="width:650px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Nicholas Polonio. Theatre Group Asia/Facebook</div>While Polonio remained tight-lipped about one of the story&#x27;s most iconic moments — the rain-soaked kiss made famous by the film — he hinted audiences can expect something memorable.&quot;I think that I could say that all expectations should be surpassed,&quot; he said. &quot;I&#x27;m very excited about how we&#x27;re putting that scene together, and I hope it both gives the surprise and pleasure that it gives in the movie and in the book.&quot;He likewise hopes audiences will experience the same emotional reaction that greeted the Broadway production.&quot;In the Broadway version, you guys heard they hand out mini Kleenex boxes,&quot; he recalled. &quot;I remember going in and being, like, &#x27;How presumptuous. You tell me that I&#x27;m gonna cry?&#x27;&quot;&quot;And there&#x27;s nothing quite like the sound of, like, 1,200 people crying at the same time, but in this sort of soft way, where they&#x27;re still trying to hear the scenes.&quot;&quot;I think even for the people who had seen the movie dozens of times, it still kind of takes you by surprise the way it unfolds here.&quot;Ultimately, however, Polonio said &quot;The Notebook&quot; is less about heartbreak than it is about celebrating life and love.&quot;I want them to feel grateful that they&#x27;re alive,&quot; he said. &quot;I want them to identify what they feel loved for or who they feel loves them and to call that person.&quot;&quot;I think the most radical thing about this story is the idea that the meaning of your life can be one person, one other person, and that that is enough.&quot;

Tapped by Theatre Group Asia (TGA) to direct the international premiere of “The Notebook,” New York-based director Nicholas Polonio said he has no intention of simply recreating the Broadway

Tapped by Theatre Group Asia (TGA) to direct the international premiere of “The Notebook,” New York-based director Nicholas Polonio said he has no intention of simply recreating the Broadway

Fil-Am director Nicholas Polonio promises fresh vision for Manila's 'The Notebook'

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Fil-Am director Nicholas Polonio promises fresh vision for Manila's 'The Notebook'

Vlad Bunoan,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 22, 2026 11:12 AM PHT

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Updated July 22, 2026 05:30 PM PHT

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