Miss Saigon - Theatre Royal / Prince Edward / UK Tour

I hope not. I found him highly annoying. Though i couldn't tell you why.

Anyone know the date for ATG card priority booking for Manchester and Bristol?!

Cheers.

Did they announce an alternate Kim?

Yes, Joreen Bautista

www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Sooha-Kim-Red-Concepcion-and-More-Announced-for-MISS-SAIGON-UK-Tour-20170411

Just some thoughts on the Miss Saigon revival, typed up to kill time while on the train to work.

I saw the 2003 original tour and didn't enjoy the show, which I put down in hindsight to a weak cast (Leo Valdez, Ima Castro, David Shannon), being too inexperienced in theatregoing (although I loved Les Mis/Phantom) to appreciate/understand the show and seeing it from the back of the Southampton Barnflower. I then saw the cheaper 2006 tour with Jon Jon Briones, Ramin Karimloo and I don't remember the Kim. The cast were strong (Ramin in particular) but the show looked small and the projected helicopter was such a disappointment (the helicopter having been the only part of the 2003 tour to leave any impression on me).

Then I filed it away as a bit "meh" in my mind, akin to "Martin Guerre" or "Elisabeth". I simply didn't understand why people liked it or how it ran so long.

I saw the West End revival in the first few weeks as a matter of course and mostly down to the hype, with the show booking out and breaking records. And I "got" it.

I was in floods of tears by the end and absolutely adored everything, every second. Even the set designs, costumes and orchestrations which I think may have been part of the previous tour, which had left me cold. It was just an entirely different experience than the West End. That summer it opened, it really was the tightest, strongest show in town. I had seen them all and Miss Saigon was the one I wanted to see again and again.

I became something of a regular thanks to readily available day seats, regular agency comps and normal paying, going some 15 times in all. As I grew bored with the performances, I started going in order to see covers.

So seeing as I'm on the subject, I might as well rank the casts I saw:

Engineers:

Jon Jon Briones - absolutely brilliant. Gave identical performances every night which is a dream for Cameron Mackintosh. Not a single ad-lib, blown note, flubbed line. Funny, decent singer. Dare I say definitive?

CR Marbella (1st U/S) - very, very different take on the character. Extremely flamboyant, not as sinister. Yet weirdly less likeable. Vocally the weakest. By no means bad, but felt understudyish.

Romeo Salazar (2nd U/S) - brilliant! More like Marbella's take than Briones, but with a lot more nuance and likability. Cracking singer too and looked the part.

Kims:

Tanya Manalang (Alt.) - mind blowing. One of the strongest female lead performances I have ever seen in a musical, alongside Imelda Staunton in Gypsy and Alice Ripley in Next to Normal. Incredible talent. After seeing her first, then seeing the rest in subsequent visits, I made sure to book only on her scheduled days. She is absolutely tiny with a huge voice which seems to come from absolutely nowhere. Her acting is heartbreaking, particularly in "Too Much For One Heart" and the finale. So much energy, passion and technical skill.

Eva Noblezada - personally I really didn't enjoy her performance. She came off like a spoilt, brattish American on stage, screwing up her face when she was sad, like she was about to have a tantrum. Her voice was strong but indistinct. She had a leading lady air about her, but I found her performance "safe.". In fact, she reminded me somewhat of Kerry Ellis. Competent, strong singer who doesn't seem to try (I'm sure they do really, they just mask their effort) but never seem to fully commit to a role acting wise. I subsequently saw her as Eponine and had all the same problems as with her Kim, so I think she's just not my cup of tea. She didn't seem to share great chemistry with the Chris's I saw her with either.

Julia Abueva (1st U/S) - looked extremely young, like a lost child on stage. Admittedly, she was only 17 and I happened to see her first ever performance as Kim. Real deer in headlights time for her, but no horrible mistakes, and considering how little rehearsal she had I think she did okay. Vocally okay, but very nervous.

Sooha Kim (2nd Cast U/S) - terrible diction. Not sure English was her first language. Sweet voice, largely forgettable performance though. Very flat show I saw her perform in, which won't have helped.

Chrisii:

Alastair Brammer - the real surprise package, because my hopes were so low. Yet he was terrific. I had memories of his very weedy voiced, weedy looking Marius. But he has filled out and his voice has improved exponentially. He looked the part, sang and acted convincingly. A brilliant Chris! Just goes to show that the potential was always there!
Genuine chemistry with Tanya Manalang in particular.

Niall Sheehy (1st U/S) - a carbon copy of Brammer, almost a clone. He looked like him, sang like him (but struggled with the higher notes and the Confrontation breakdown both times I saw him, cracking on high notes both visits). Exactly what Cam Mack wants in a cover!

Dale Evans (2nd U/S) - exactly as above! He was at least visually distinguishable. Solid cover, no added touches.

Chris Peluso - oh dear. He was so wooden, had no charm or charisma. A charisma vacuum, in fact. Stiff as a board, a mediocre-at-best voice. A big downgrade on Brammer and certainly, in my eyes, the cast change was the death knell for this production.


Johns:

Hugh Maynard - WHAT a voice in Bui Doi. Show veteran, very solid and consistent. Not a lot to add - strong performer in a supporting role.

Kurt Kansley (1st U/S) - weaker voice than Maynard, his "Bui Doi" was underwhelming. Came off a little... hmmm... camp. Went on for the final two scenes at one show I saw after Maynard injured himself offstage.


Ellens:

Tamsin Carroll - looked far too old opposite Brammer. Didn't really work for me. Good voice and her "Maybe" was nice.

Carolyn Maitland (1st U/S) - much better than Carroll and a better fit with the Chris's.

Siobhan Dillon - not great either. I know it's not the juiciest part, but I struggle to remember anything interesting about her performance.


Gigis:

Rachelle Ann Go - wow, what a find! Vocally incredible, gorgeous on the eyes and performed "Movie in My Mind" with enormous passion and conviction. It was this scene in my first visit which won me over to the show in general! It was like a belting contest with Tanya Manalang, but it totally worked. Subsequently not too wowed by her Fantine, but perhaps it's that expectation thing again.

Marsha Songcome (1st U/S) sounded and looked like a cover. Had that understudy feel about her (this isn't a criticism, just an observation). Not bad vocally, but not in Go's league. Essentially the role is ensemble with one song, so that song has to be extra strong. I liken it to "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" in Evita.

Natalie Mendoza - thought she was great in Here Lies Love, but seemed to really struggle in this. The worst one I saw and the third main part of a very disappointing cast change.


Thuys:


Kwang-Ho Hong - brilliant!!! What a voice, intense acting. Incredible, can't rave enough. Would make an excellent Phantom. Clearly worked very hard on his diction as I believe he spoke little English.

Sangwoong Jo - erm, pretty bad. As with Hong, his English (Engrish) was a bit cringey. If I didn't already know the words, I would've had no idea what he was garbling about. His voice was nothing to shout about. Clearly trying to replicate the original casting, but this one was a failed experiment.

CR Marbella (1st U/S) - as with his Engineer performance, he at least tried to make the role his own. I didn't like it much, but I respect the effort!

Ethan Le Phong - bad, very bad. Couldn't act for toffee and weak voice. Not sure how he got the role!


After the initial buzz and strong advance sales, business and, later, standards really tailed off for this show. The cast change effectively saw several of the best cast members leave, and be replaced by inferior performances. The energy was sapped from the show and towards the end it felt extremely flat and tired.

As for the "new" tour, which I imagine will be the West End show with slightly smaller everything, it doesn't appeal to me as the West End show was so recent and the idea of paying top dollar for a slightly inferior product seems unnecessary to me.

I've sat in pretty much every seat in the Circle at the Hipp and I don't think there's a bad seat up there. There's two steps between every row so it's consistently raked. Having just a large Stalls and Circle (with no Upper) the seats at the back feel further away but not especially high (think like the Apollo Victoria) - that said, I was pleasantly surprised how intimate it felt for such a big venue.

If you're buying online, have a look at the "View From Your Seat" page - if you're buying in person at the Box Office, they have this printed off as photographs

no probs - I think you'll be fine but if it comes down to it, they do have booster cushions which aren't just for kids too

Ryan O'Gormon? Sold. See you on tour.

Ryan is such brilliant casting!!!

Very happy with the Gigi and John castings

It's not a huge role, but he sings a song called "Bui Doi" at the beginning of Act II which is gonna sound f***ng amazing from Ryan 😍