Miss Saigon - Theatre Royal / Prince Edward / UK Tour

I heard someone say Red left the show yesterday and will be doing the US tour. It hasn’t been announced yet but Chuck will do the final week in Plymouth and I imagine the new engineer will start at the next venue.

Really disappointed I won't be seeing Red, is Marbella's or Seng Henk Goh's engineer any good?

Oh darn. Shame to hear Red's left, I was hoping to get a friend who was obsessed with Jon Jon's Engineer years ago along to Bradford to see Red's interpretation.

For me Marbella has a fine MT singing voice but I really don't feel he captures the character, menace and humour of the Engineer as others have and just doesn't have the gravitas to lead such a monumental show.

I hope they have found another replacement.

Hopefully nobody else from this cast goes with him yet, really hoping to see Joreen as Kim in Bradford.

I really didn't enjoy Christian's portrayal of the Engineer.

Yeah his voice is fine, but I didn't get any charisma, any stage presence from him.

He's fine, but Red and especially Jon Jon were vastly superiour.

Haven’t seen the tour, as my last few visits to the once-brilliant West End revival really put me off travelling to see it again.

But I’ve seen quite a few Engineers, and it’s really surprising how much an actor’s take on the role can completely change the character - and by consequence large chunks of the show.

I saw Marbella on a previous tour and then at the revival as alternate. Really not a fan. I found he did everything technically okay. He sings quite well, his acting is solid. But overall he is the worst I’ve seen, with Jon Jon Brooke’s being comfortably the best. Despite his experience (Marbella) he really lacks the star quality or presence to carry the show.

I found him neither camp or showy (Valdez, Salazar), or edgy and dangerous (Briones). He just did the lines and hit the marks. Left no impression either time.

I liked Leo Valdez a lot and Romeo Salazar was great, but nobody I’ve seen so far was a patch on Jon Jon.

I’ve just looked at tickets for this for the final matinee in Sunderland and all the levels are closed except the Stalls, which are very empty. It’s rather sad.

I looked at Wicked as well and most shows are single seats or SRO. I’d imagine that they’ll use October to promote Saigon as their next “big” musical.

Not sure where you're looking? On the official ATG site, all three main levels open, just the smaller gallery off sale - and seems to be selling ok!

Saw this last night at Norwich, and it’s still in as good shape as ever. Of note in particular was Christian Rey Marbella, who was very palatable as the Engineer, however he really did lack the spark given to the character by Jon Jon and Red. I didn’t feel quite as convinced by Sooha as I did last time, but she was still miles better than Eva, acting wise. The helicopter was only a projection, which I assume is due to the smaller stage. I could’ve sworn that Cardiff had the helicopter setpiece like the West End, but memory could be wrong.

About twenty minutes from the end there was an incident going on in the stalls (we were sat in the circle) when we heard a lady proclaiming “here!” and lots of walkie-talkie sounds. The curtain came down and we were informed there had been a medical emergency, requiring the paramedics to come in. Before reading danieljohnson14’s story from the King and I, I hadn’t ever been present whilst medical emergencies occurred during a show, but after last night I was extremely impressed with the way the theatre dealt with the incident. The break lasted for ten minutes and nobody minded whatsoever. Palladium: take note.