‘Miss Saigon’ in Manila—a passionate spectacle that illuminates the grim aftermath of Vietnam war

The acclaimed composer compared this to other wars happening today, making Miss Saigon remain relevant. Schönberg said that in every war, there is a story like this—children losing their parents, soldiers ravaging innocent women, relationships torn apart. What sets Miss Saigon apart is that its very heart is an “improbable but true, passionate and ultimately impossible love story.”

In a joint statement given last February, Boublil and Schönberg explained why they had to update the opera narrative of the Vietnam War, which propelled them to create what is now deemed today as the most popular and beloved Broadway/West End musical among Filipinos.

“Full of absurd contradictions between extreme violence, crazy nightlife and ultimate betrayal—fashioned the title Miss Saigon and created such real-life scenes as the one in the picture as well as the character of the Engineer, which has gone through various incarnations from Jonathan Pryce’s award-winning performance to that of Joanna Ampil, the first female to play the part in a reimagined, triumphant version recently playing in Sheffield, United Kingdom,” the creators wrote in a statement.

Read also: Joanna Ampil talks about being the first female Engineer of ‘Miss Saigon’

Salonga, revered today as one of the country’s ‘national treasures’ for being the first theatre actor in a leading female role to win both Laurence Olivier and Tony awards, also expressed her delight in the arrival of the production she is greatly indebted to.

“I did not anticipate how much my life would change, thanks to those auditions,” she said in an interview prepared by GMG Productions. Now that the character of Kim has been played by several other stellar actors after her, she is excited about how the younger actors would add their flavour to it.

“I don’t think the description has changed much when telling an actor what Kim is,” Salonga said. “When they first described her to me at the auditions, it was barebones. Kim is a 17-year-old bar girl from Saigon. Her parents were both killed in this ensuing conflict. She falls in love with an American GI, has a child with him, and tries to reunite with this GI and finds out he is married,” Salonga recalled. “Because there are so many actors who have done the role in many parts of the world, I think it’s good that the barebones of that have remained. To give the actor coming into it the freedom to interpret it in their own way, with their own life experience coming into it. Because to try and adhere to how one person did it or how the first person did it, it takes away your creativity and freedom as an actor to turn this into something that is uniquely yours.”

As to why Miss Saigon’s affinity is deep in this country, Salonga associated its beginning with when the original batch of Filipinos left the Philippines to be part of the original West End production. “People like Isay Alvarez, Junix Inocian (may he rest in peace), Bobby Martino, Miguel Diaz—folks from here—plus the attention that the show garnered because of the auditions, which were on blast [at the time]... There were so many Filipinos hoping for the opportunity to go to London,” Salonga recalled. “With the show becoming such a huge hit, and even 35 years on, so beloved. I don’t think Miss Saigon reaching this level was something Cameron Mackintosh even expected to happen.”

“I think Filipinos past that 2000 Manila production have felt a connection to it, and it makes me incredibly happy that it tends to skew younger theatregoers,” she said. Being used to the Filipino audience’s reactions much more vibrant than in other theatres worldwide, Salonga bet the 2024 cast, especially those with Filipino ancestry performing here for the first time, would not be prepared for the clamour they would receive.

“When that curtain call happens, and there are enough lights to illuminate the audience, they [the cast] have no idea what’s going to hit them,” she said. “Backstage crew and staff need to have Kleenex (tissue) on standby,” Salonga quipped.

In addition to the ensemble members of the 2024 production, most of the principal cast members are also proud of their Filipino heritage.

Kiara Dario, who plays Gigi, is a Philippine-based actor who has appeared in productions like Joseph the Dreamer and Ang Huling El Bimbo and recently in Repertory Philippines’s Snow White and the Prince in the titular role.

Filipino-Kiwi actor born in Auckland Laurence Mossman plays Thuy. His professional theatre debut was performing alongside Salonga in Atlantis Theatrical’s production of Fun Home.

Meanwhile, Seann Miley Moore reimagines the iconic character of Engineer by proudly representing his queer identity onstage. Moore is an Australian-Filipino actor renowned for being a beauty and fashion ambassador, not to mention being able to perform at the O2 Arena in London. His theatre credits in Australia include Angel Dumott Schunard in Rent and part of the original cast of the Australian production of Sweet Charity. 

Lastly, Australian-Filipino actor Abigail Adriano has enamoured audiences for portraying Kim in Australia, Manila, and soon, Singapore. Her lead role debut in theatre was Kim at the Sydney Opera House, which she unabashedly manifested after seeing Salonga perform there when she was just in her teens.

The major tweaks in Miss Saigon premiered in the 2014 revival at the Prince Edward Theatre. Since then, the song Maybe was added for the character of Ellen, Chris’s wife after he returned to the US not knowing Kim was pregnant with his child. During the press conference, Schönberg explained that they wanted the audience to understand the situation of Ellen better and see that she is not a villain in this love story but is also brought to it by circumstance. The song aims to make the character more sympathetic towards Kim, leading her to open up about the family she has built with Chris for Tam, his bui doi.

Another significant change was expanding the personality of the Engineer. Now that this character has embraced his sexuality more onstage, his witty puns and punchlines do not come across as misogynistic or offensive but rather rooted in his pursuit of his dreams.

The choreography and directions, especially at the beginning, when we see Kim in the middle of a busy street in Saigon, have made the original lyrics more sense and the character’s history more understandable. Although Miss Saigon has been known for its female empowerment theme, the silent choices of the actors who portrayed the lead character and the subtext in each of her lines and transitions have become effective tools to convey that message.

“For that to be happening, it makes me extremely happy that those envelopes are still being pushed,” exclaimed Salonga. “As an 18-year-old from the Philippines, I could not have anticipated that happening. I did not foresee that.”

To top it all off, Miss Saigon has solidified its reputation for opening the doors for Asian representation on the international theatre scene. With the continuing rise of the number of Asian actors (not only Filipinos but also Vietnamese, Indonesians, and more) in the lineup of every Miss Saigon production, Salonga feels proud.

“Representation has become such a byword, much more so now than it was back then,” she said. “When you see a whole bunch of people up onstage, and you are someone who looks exactly like them, that does something to you even if you’re not always conscious of what’s happening... It’s very empowering.”

Miss Saigon is a world-class theatrical spectacle that, amid its detailed and visually striking new set design and production value, at the very core of it is a hauntingly beautiful tale of love in its many forms. The improved designs for the sets, costumes, props, lighting, sound, and video projections have elevated this timeless narrative to a rich, powerful, and utterly sublime level. Making the transformations of each character possibly realistic and appealing onstage was Estée Lauder, its official makeup partner.

The Manila 2024 run was remarkable in many ways, but what sets it apart is the cast’s bravery in portraying the characters’ plight with high emotion and sustained levels of tension and control. Adriano, in particular, offered a hint of Kim’s pain in her raspy mid-tones and low notes, which are sung with depth and power, while Kim’s innocence and hope can be heard in her soprano brillo. Mossman retained Thuy’s operatic high notes but added his commanding presence in the baritone line. Huckle’s Chris was still a gold-star romantic, and Dario’s Gigi remained satisfyingly sultry, but both actors never failed to hug the spotlight in their key moments onstage. Sarah Morrison, who plays Ellen, was delightful to see onstage. Her precision in blocking and harmony makes her provide reliable support in every scene with Adriano. But the Miss Saigon crown goes to Moore, whose Engineer was completely original and dynamic and might have convinced many people to see the show multiple times to see how the actor would make it fresh every night.

Miss Saigon runs until May 12 at the Theatre at Solaire. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketworld. This is a Cameron Mackintosh, GWB Entertainment, GMG Productions, and Opera Australia presentation.

NOW READ

The international tour of ‘Hamilton’ premieres in Manila, and it is set to be phenomenal

On producing ‘Hamilton’ in Manila: In conversation with international tour producer Michael Cassel

Tanghalang Pilipino mounts a groundbreaking musical based on Emilio Jacinto’s writings