‘The Notebook’ musical hits the Civic Theatre this weekend with suprising local ties

The hit Broadway musical The Notebook is playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre this week, and the show has several San Diego ties.

The musical is based on the best-selling Nicholas Sparks novel that inspired the iconic movie. It centers around the timeless love story of Noah and Allie.

San Diego native Jordi Bertrán Ramírez plays Noah’s best friend Fin.

“I would say that Finn is the realist to Noah’s hopeless romantic,” Ramirez said.

The Notebook is Ramirez’s first touring production. 

This also marks his first time performing at the Civic Theatre, though he has attended several shows there over the years. 

“The first memory I have from the Civic is that I came and saw The Wiggles on tour, which I was a big fan of,” Ramirez said. “And now, being able to return to this city and to this theater is a gift that it’s hard to even put into words.”

Ramirez got his start performing with the California Youth Conservatory Theatre. He got his first professional job as a sixth-grader, in The Old Globe’s annual production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

“It’s an opportunity that I continue to stay very grateful for because that is the job that opened up the possibility of this being more than just a hobby and being a real profession,” Ramirez said.

The Notebook’s costume designer, Paloma Young, also grew up in San Diego and received a Master of Fine Arts from UC San Diego.

From there, she designed the costumes for a workshop production of Peter and the Starcatcher at the La Jolla Playhouse. The show eventually went on to Broadway, where Young earned a Tony Award for her designs.

“So if I hadn’t been a student at UCSD, I wouldn’t have been asked to do this little workshop that then became this big play on Broadway,” Young said.

Young has since designed costumes for several big Broadway shows, including &Juliet and The Notebook.

Although she is based in New York now, she said San Diego still plays a big part in her work.

“I think that all artists and designers are very influenced by where they have both grown up and then also where they matured as an artist,” Young said. “San Diego as a place has a very lived-in realness, which is something that I draw on when I design things like the costumes I’ve designed for The Notebook.”

Ramirez, who gets to wear some of those costumes in the show, said that “realness” helps him get into character.

The fact that they were designed by a fellow San Diegan, for a show directed by another UC San Diego alumnus, Michael Greif, and are now being seen on stage in San Diego makes this tour stop extra special.

“I would not be the artist that I am without the community of San Diego and San Diego theatre, and there’s an incredible feeling of pride and also of gratitude,” Ramirez said.

Broadway San Diego presents The Notebook through this Sunday, April 19, at the San Diego Civic Theatre. For showtimes and ticket information, click here.