Nicholas Sparks’ “The Notebook” is a timeless romance novel that has spawned an unforgettable movie adaptation and a stunning Broadway show. While these seem like heavy acts to follow, Filipino-American theater director Nicholas Polonio isn't shying away from the task.

Coming all the way from New York City, Nicholas is working with Theatre Group Asia to bring “The Notebook the Musical” to its first international premiere here in the Philippines. Previously, Nicholas has shown his skills as a director with works like “The Self Improvement and Male Preservation Society (S.I.M.P.S),” under IRT Theater, “Mary Stuart,” under The Lee Strasberg Institute, and “The Police,” under Hangar Theatre Wedge. He also worked as an associate director for the Tony Award-winning play “Slave Play” and “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” We sat down with Nicholas for a quick chat about what fans of “The Notebook” and curious folks can expect from “The Notebook the Musical’s” upcoming run at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City.

One of my favorite things about theater, and musical theater specifically, is how much adaptation from these larger stories and productions has been there since the beginning. It feels like adaptations are a part of musical theater in a way that other art forms at large don't contend with much. I think it's amazing to deal with an audience that has expectations coming in and already have a relationship with the material. It feels like you can have a deeper, more nuanced conversation about something that they already love or hate or feel challenging in different ways about. For this one, it's not only a movie, but it was a book before the movie and those are both different in their own ways. For me, what “The Notebook” was and is for so many people and what people can come up with is super exciting. As a director, I try to watch and craft something simultaneously for people who love the book, or love the movie, or those who have never encountered it at all. It’s an exciting challenge because it forces you to get to the heart of what the material connects with the audiences in the first place.

It was a gift to have so many points of view and other things to jump to. What you take from the movies, the books, the tens of thousands of blog posts, and the history of book critics from the ‘90s and movie critics from the 2000s, it has been very fun to read as much of the conversations around “The Notebook” as possible. More is more. I’ve never really had a problem with being able to see something and decide not to try and copy or not be inspired by. Getting other people's experiences, bouncing off of the material, is really helpful in digging through these moments, what they mean, and how people feel about certain characters. It's been great to see how people feel about James Marsden, about the book, and the musical. It's like having 20 years of a drama working for you. Often, when you're directing something, you feel like you're the only one who has to obsess over very specific things. There are some people who are still as, if not more, obsessed with it.

I am so excited for the casting. It is literally the greatest collection of talent that I have ever gotten the privilege to work with, and such different types of actors and singers as well. I’m so excited to see how the cast will be able to build off and support each other. It's diverse. What's great about the way Bekah (Brunstetter) wrote it is that it's very intergenerational. Some characters are straight up comics, some are meant to be taken seriously from the beginning, it's this whole large menagerie of different types of people and performers that are asked to do this. I’m thrilled across the board. I’m grateful that everybody said yes. They're the exact sort of people that I wanna see up there.

How do you want audiences to feel after watching the play?

I want them to feel grateful for their lives. I want them to identify what they feel loved for or who they feel loves them. The most radical thing about this story is that the meaning of your life can be one other person and that that is enough. I hope that everyone leaves getting to spend a moment thinking about their own relationship to love and how much that is a part of why they wake up every morning.