Sheena Belarmino and Benedix Ramos are at the top of their game, sharing an easy chemistry with each other, much like their characters Young Allie and Young Noah in Theatre Group Asia’s “The Notebook.”
Let’s start this off with a fact—we all love a great love story. One that takes you through all the emotional highs then leaves you in a puddle of tears by the last page or the end credits. Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook recounts the epic (and enviable) lifetime-long love of Allie and Noah, and we are there for all of it.
Now amplify all those feelings from a different point-of-view, or shall we say three—the idealized lens of youth, the realities of adulthood, and the nostalgia of old age.
Set against the backdrop of singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson’s original music and lyrics, The Notebook: The Musical, is an exploration of why love, when fought for, will always be worth it. The show makes its international premiere, by way of Theatre Group Asia, in Manila this September, and we cannot wait.
Cast as the younger versions of Allie and Noah are two of Philippine theater’s brightest young stars. And that is a statement we do not make lightly. Both Sheena Belarmino and Benedix Ramos have stepped beyond their showbiz roots to find more success and fame on the legitimate stage. They’ve played opposite each other so many times, including musicals like Tabing Ilog, Next to Normal, and most recently, the play Yemaya, that the two share an easy chemistry, even in real life.
“I’m so used to her and how she is on stage,” says Ramos about Belarmino. “Often, I can anticipate what she will do next, so the reaction feels natural.”
“I can say the same about Benedix,” she says, echoing his sentiment. “I love that we are able to play off of, and balance each other out when we are on stage.” Maybe it’s time these two got a moniker of their own. ‘Sheenedix’ has a rather good ring to it, don’t you agree?
In the past year alone, lead roles in musicals and straight plays have garnered both great reviews, and a number of Gawad Buhay nominations for both actors. Well-deserved, in our opinion. More so hearing them endlessly wax poetic about how the craft has changed them – as actors and as human beings. And when the curtains go up, they’ll certainly earn every single bit of applause.
While they may be playing the youngest versions of the musical’s two central characters, Ramos was only a child when the book and movie came out. Belarmino wasn’t even born yet! That fact did not keep them from falling in love with all things The Notebook.
“I cried more with the book because of how I imagined they were like and everything that happened to Noah and Allie,” shared Belarmino, who also confessed that The Notebook was the first Western romance movie she ever saw. While he admits he isn’t much of a bookworm, it was the movie that sent Ramos down a rabbit hole of emotion, especially when he revisited the film as an adult. “It just hit different. I realized then that the world is not designed to always give you the life that you want,” he explains further. “More than just our disposition in life, our common thread is love. We need to love. Realistically, and practically.”
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There were some parallels in the way the musical unfolds across different ages vis-à-vis how the film affected them at different points in their own life. “At first I cried because of what happened to Allie. She is so privileged, but everything is dictated by her parents,” says Belarmino. “When you watch it again, you realize how hard her life was, too. She lost who she was while trying to make the right choices for herself and not disappoint her parents.”
It also led the actress to realize that sometimes life takes you down unexpected paths. “I never thought I would start working at such a young age, or that I would get paid doing something that I loved,” she explains. “Life can be unpredictable, but I was meant to get to live this life. That is a privilege. I have to make the best of it.”
For Ramos, the crux of his understanding about the film lay in the unspoken truth about social status. “Magkaiba ang mundo ng mayayaman at ng mahihirap. It’s a painful reality, but it still exists,” he points out. “We all live in the same world, pero ang hirap ipilit ang pagmamahal ninyo kung hindi pareho ang mundo ninyo.” Fighting for that love then becomes a choice: “Because you never know if you’ll get it. Just don’t lose yourself if you don’t get the love that you want because there is still life left to be lived,” says the actor. “Ang hirap mabuhay kung ikaw si Noah,” adds Belarmino.
All these musings about love had both actors pondering its greater impact not only on their own lives but in the pursuit of their craft. Just barely out of her teens, Belarmino recognizes how fully diving into theater brought back the joy and love for her craft she once had when she first started in show business. “You’re wearing a mask all the time. So you lose yourself, and impostor syndrome kicks in. Theater became my Noah,” shares Belarmino. “It was where I saw my flaws, but also what I am capable of as an artist. I learned to see and accept myself, and found my confidence on the stage.”
Finding fame by way of Pinoy Big Brother and then working in TV and film, theater struck a balance between discipline and the unexpected that became Ramos’ panacea. “I love acting. The gift of being another person, and stepping into their lives,” he enthused. “When the curtains go up, everything is happening in the moment to you, your co-actors, and the audience. You have to be present (“and save yourself!” quips Belarmino), because there is no take 2!”
With The Notebook going into rehearsals this week, these two are eager to channel all that creative passion and energy into molding themselves as Young Allie and Young Noah.
Both confess to having done their own rendition of the now familiar My Days, which is sung by Middle Allie in the show, long before they even heard the musical would open in Manila. “I can’t even put into words how I feel about it, because that experience is yet to come, but I already feel the excitement,” says Ramos. “The image is so clear in my head, and I cannot wait to do it onstage.”
The excitement for Belarmino goes beyond being a lifelong fan of the book and the movie, being cast alongside Celeste Legaspi as Older Allie and Morisette Amon as Middle Allie, saying, “Imagine all the things I will get to learn from them in playing this character. How I will get to grow into this role because of what I see them do during rehearsals.”
At the heart of The Notebook: The Musical is a story of love. Both Ramos and Belarmino, or shall we just say “Sheenedix,” agree that it is the kind of special story that hits straight to the heart. “Young love is raw, genuine, innocent. And young,” says Ramos. “There are just certain things you cannot learn until you experience it. Even all the toxic traits.” “Young Allie and Young Noah need to learn all those lessons as they figure out what their love means,” adds Belarmino. “Even the hard parts. I hope we will get to show that to you come opening night.” Ramos jumped in to add, “I, myself, learned the hard way,” as our chat drew to a close.
From the page to the stage
Unlike most mainstream musicals, the central love story of The Notebook unfolds as its characters advance in years. It is a moving display of the great emotional depths that one willingly goes for the sake of the one who matters to you the most. Where true love wins in the end, no matter how circuitous the road was to get there. We have heard, read, and seen this story a million times over; it just doesn’t get old.
After all, we have been invested in Allie and Noah for the past 30 years. It is a rare occurrence that one story gets three chances to woo us. When The Notebook came out in 1996, Sparks was introduced to the world as a romance novelist. It sparked, pun intended, a frenzy among fans of the genre, sending it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. In 2004, the film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams had even grown men bawling by the time the end credits rolled in.
Twenty years later, the novel found new life once again as a musical on Broadway, featuring Michaelson’s original songs and the Tony Award-winning book by Bekah Brunstetter. It ran at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway for the better part of 2024 before closing at the end of the year and embarking on a national tour. Rumors hint at a possible West End debut next year.
But for now, Manila is proud to be home to the musical’s international premiere, and with an all-Filipino cast at that. Joining Sheena Belarmino and Benedix Ramos is a multi-generational ensemble that brings not only an inherent musicality to the stage, but also serious acting chops and emotional range.
Aside from Amon and Legaspi, playing the Middle and Older versions of Noah are Laurent Mossman and Rody Vera, respectively. In the supporting and ensemble cast are Markki Ströem, Omar Uddin, Carla Guevara-Laforteza, Floyd Tena, Jillian Ita-as, Felicity Kyle Napuli, and Kathleen Francisco, among others.
Theatre Group Asia stays true to its thrust of putting the spotlight on the global Filipino creative, bringing in New York-based Filipino director Nicholas Polonio—who has quite an impressive resume—to direct the musical.
The Notebook: The Musical, presented by Theatre Group Asia, runs from September 3 to 20 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Tickets are now available at Ticketworld. Pass the tissues, please.
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