Three actors playing one character
With the announcement of Rody Vera playing older Noah, the lead cast for Theatre Group Asia’s staging of “The Notebook: The Musical” has been fully revealed. Vera joins Laurence Mossman and Benedix Ramos as Noah, while Allie will be played by Sheena Belarmino, Morissette, and Celeste Legaspi.
The musical is based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks that was adapted into a film—directed by Nick Cassavetes, starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands. The musical, with a book by Bekah Brunstetter and music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson, was nominated for three Tony Awards.
And the Philippine production, which is set to run from Sept. 3 to 20, is the first international premiere of the show—marking its first time to be performed outside of America.
Early last month, the cast sat with the media to talk about the upcoming show and to drum up excitement. From the get-go, you could see the chemistry flowing between them. They have yet to start rehearsals, but already there is a friendly vibe shared among them.
The musical is very different from the movie
Another aspect that is discussed—oftentimes, in a joking manner—is how the musical is very different from the movie. The cast is aware that the film is probably what people are most aware of, but the book of the play is its own material.
Mossman jokes about how Ryan Gosling’s performance in the film “has raised the bar so high for men” that it is impossible to reach, while Ramos looks back at his own career in musical theater and noticed how he always played roles that were portrayed by other actors in film roles: Carlo Aquino in “Bar Boys: The Musical” and John Lloyd Cruz in “Tabing Ilog: The Musical.”
“I would lie if I said I don’t feel any pressure playing a role popularized by Ryan Gosling,” says Ramos. He shares that his imposter syndrome would flare up, but he was reminded by friends that he was cast for a reason and that he isn’t playing Gosling—he’s playing the character of younger Noah.
The fact that the play will be revived in Manila, with a Manila cast, means that they can add a Filipino inflection to the material. Legaspi remarks that the show is perfect for Filipinos because what else do we do better as a nation if “not to sing and to love?”
Little changes have also been made to accommodate this run. Legaspi says the key is a little low for her voice range, so they’ve had to rearrange it.
For Vera, the staging allows for “creating a conversation as a Filipino” about the themes of the musical and allows us to see “a different version of ‘The Notebook.’”
One role, three players
The musical’s structure demands that the characters of Noah and Allie are to be played by three different people in three different periods in their lives—categorized as Younger Noah and Younger Allie (to be played by Ramos and Belarmino), Middle Noah and Middle Allie (Laurence Mossman and Morissette), and Older Noah and Older Allie (Vera and Legaspi).
This prompts an interesting question about how they plan to approach playing the same role.
“I have to start it with my youthfulness,” says Ramos. He opines that if he doesn’t start it as innocent and young, then the older counterparts would have to mature their approach even more. If Ramos plays it younger, it gives the Mossman and Vera more room to find the older versions of Noah. “I just have to be pure, innocent, raw, and genuine,” he shares. “I have to be sincere.”
For Mossman, he is excited to work with everyone during rehearsals; to watch each other and see what they can pick up in terms of mannerisms or behaviors that they could sync into. But for him, Mossman wants to “be truthful to the book, to the script, and tell these stories as best as we can with the material that we have.”
At the time of the interview, they hadn’t begun rehearsing yet, so Vera wasn’t quite sure what the director had in mind—but he had seen clips and videos of older productions. He took note of the color-blind casting, “how older Noah is black, and the younger Noah is white.”
“And so, from my understanding, the play does not see the continuity of time but rather shows different aspects of the same character. Youthfulness. Wisdom. Different aspects. And I find that more interesting, trying to see how this particular person has grown,” he says.
Legaspi, on the other hand, shares that she has never had to do a show that required different actors playing the same character at different ages. So this is all new to her.
She recounts how she watched “Forrest Gump” and mentions the scene where Tom Hanks, as Gump, is with his son and they both share the same mannerisms—which she finds adorable. So she immediately turns to Belarmino and Morissette and says, “Ladies, I’m already telling you, we will develop our mannerisms for the show, and hopefully the director won’t tell us not to do it.”
And Belarmino adds that it’s also important to make each of their portrayals distinct, even if they are playing the same character, which is why she wants to make sure her version of Allie is “carefree.”
“Someone who enjoys her life until she meets Noah,” she says.
An enduring love story
The book, the movie, and the musical—with gorgeous songs by Michaelson—may paint a picture of a love story that may seem so unattainable in our world today. Set in the past, the show may present an ideal that may not be so easily achieved by today’s audiences.
So what do the cast want people to take away from this? Or discuss how Filipinos love as they perform this show?
Morissette mentions how powerful the story is because of how hard people fight for what they want in it. It’s a love story that is very similar to her own—something that she really believes in and will play out in her performance of Middle Allie.
Legaspi, on the other hand, shares her own experiences dealing with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s, which Vera takes and builds on as someone who also had to care for someone in a similar situation. “The suffering that the caregiver undergoes is also an act of love,” she says.
It’s easy to be distracted by the earlier parts of the story—the high romance of youth in love—but we tend to forget that the book, movie, and the musical also tackle what happens “after happily ever after,” as Legaspi says.
It’s one of the reasons she loves the material—because there’s a great romantic role for an older woman to play.
