More than 20 years after its theatrical release, the movie "The Notebook" is still stealing hearts with a romance for the ages.

The classic love story, based on the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel, is now a hit Broadway musical taking the stage in St. Paul. WCCO's Amelia Santaniello had a chance to meet with the best-selling author.

Sparks says Broadway isn't his wheelhouse, so he deferred to the professionals during the musical's inception.

"The key that I've learned, whether it's with regard to film or whether you're going to do a musical, is that you work with people who do know what they're doing. I was very blessed to work with Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch. They were the producers on the project, and then they immediately hired Ingrid Michaelson who did the music and Bekah Brunstetter who did the book, who did a great job," Sparks said. "With that said, of course I had some thoughts that I really wanted to incorporate and say, 'Hey, if you only remember one or two things, remember this.'"

He says he never imagined a movie, let alone a musical, would ever be spun off from his creation.

"I was unknown when I wrote the novel. I didn't have an agent. I didn't have a publisher. I was just trying to chase a dream and, yeah, I had some good fortune," he said. "And then, of course, you have the film, but it was interesting, you know, that the film rights were sold in 1995, and that thing didn't even start filming until 2003. So there's seven years I keep hearing from the producers, 'Oh, we're coming, it's going to work. Here it comes.'"

Sparks says the musical also pulls off the iconic "kissing in the rain" scene on stage.

"A lot of technological advances, and you kind of have a vision for what you want, and then you figure out and you work with, you know, stage people to make sure you find out a way to make that happen," he said. "You want it to be its own unique, wonderful, truly theatrical experience if we're going to do this. And that's really what I think I'm most proud of … You can do things on stage that you really can't do in film. It's interesting, like you, the play of memory and emotion. You can do that in a way you just can't do on film."

Sparks believes "The Notebook" resonates with so many people due to the theme of everlasting love.

"It's a story about a guy that loves a girl no matter what. I love her even though her parents hate me. I love her even though I haven't seen her for 10 years. I love her even though she's now engaged to someone else. I love her even when she doesn't even know who I am," he said. "It's a beautiful story, and who doesn't want that in their lives?"

Sparks also teamed up with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan for the new novel "Remain," which Shyamalan has adapted into a movie starring Jake Gyllenhall.

"The plan for that was, 'Hey, I'm going to come up with an idea. You come up with an idea, it's got to work as both a film and a novel. It's got to work for your audience and mine,'" Sparks said. "So people ask, 'Well, what did he write in the novel?' Nothing. [People] asked me what I did in the film. Nothing. It's, you know, I did my thing, he did his thing, but it was a co-creation of the story."

"The Notebook Musical" runs at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts through Nov. 30.