Featured image courtesy of Theatre Group Asia.
MANILA, Philippines — In an announcement, Theatre Group Asia (TGA) reveals its 2026-27 season theatrical lineup featuring three globally celebrated works, all of which, is set to be staged in Philippines for the first time.
TGA Creative and Overall Artistic Director Clint Ramos shares, “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.”
Key visual courtesy of Theatre Group Asia.
The Notebook: The Musical
Opening the season in September 2026 is “The Notebook: The Musical”, set to make its international premiere in Manila. Featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a script by Bekah Brunstetter, the musical debuted in 2022 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater under the direction of Michael Greif and Schele Williams. The production is acclaimed for its emotional restraint and lyrical storytelling, offering a more intimate and reflective take on Nicholas Sparks’ iconic novel.
Best known through the 2004 film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the stage version expands the narrative by portraying Allie and Noah across multiple stages of their lives, allowing audiences to witness how love matures, fractures, and ultimately endures. As a contemporary romance written with modern musical sensibilities, “The Notebook: The Musical” holds cultural significance for its tender exploration of memory, aging, and devotion, redefining the epic love story for a new generation.
Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba
February 2027 also marks the Philippine premiere of “Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba”, a Filipino-language staging of Federico García Lorca’s final and most powerful play. Written shortly before Lorca’s death, the work premiered posthumously in Buenos Aires in 1945 under the direction of Margarita Xirgu and was immediately recognized as a cornerstone of modern drama. The play follows the tyrannical Bernarda Alba, who enforces an eight-year mourning period on her daughters after her husband’s death, ruling her household through fear, tradition, and repression. Beneath the suffocating silence, desire and rebellion grow until the family is driven toward tragedy.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Spanish-language plays of the twentieth century and adapted countless times for stage and film, Bernarda Alba remains a searing critique of authoritarian control, patriarchy, and social conformity. In its Filipino incarnation in Chay Yew’s adapted version and transposed by Guelan Varela-Luarca, the play resonates with renewed urgency, underscoring the universal human struggle for freedom, dignity, and life itself.
Sunday in the Park with George
Concluding the season in June 2027 is Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Sunday in the Park with George”. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1984 under Lapine’s direction and was initially met with awe for its intellectual ambition and emotional depth, even as it challenged conventional musical theatre audiences. Inspired by Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, the work explores the obsessive drive of an artist consumed by creation and the personal costs that accompany artistic brilliance.
A parallel narrative set a century later reflects on legacy, innovation, and the enduring question of what it means to make meaningful art. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985 and now widely regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever written, Sunday in the Park with George stands as a profound meditation on creativity, sacrifice, and the power of art to transcend time.
With the announcement, the three productions form what is described as Theatre Group Asia’s boldest season yet. TGA’s Season 2026-27 is made possible with the support of Ayala Land, BPI, and Philippine Airlines.
For more information, visit TGA’s website www.theatregroupasia.com, Instagram @theatregroupasia, or Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/theatregroupasia.
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