We went down to London last week to step inside the rehearsal room for the UK tour of Miss Saigon before it heads to the Birmingham Hippodrome for 8 weeks.

 

Winner of a record-breaking nine Whatsonstage Awards 2015 including Best Show, this extraordinary love story tells the tragic tale of young bar girl Kim, orphaned by war, who falls in love with an American GI called Chris – but they are torn apart from one another by the fall of Saigon.

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of the Boublil and Schönberg’s musical tells a triumphant story through an epic and iconic score. After the revival being a smash-hit in the West End, and now on Broadway, the production will be embarking on a UK tour.

Whilst maintaining the huge production values of the show when it was located in the Prince Edward Theatre, and of course the sensational score and brilliant book, it is going to feel fresh and new. Director Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy, who is returning to the production after directing the West End version said: “In terms of its scale and its epic nature it is very very similar. I think the thing that makes Saigon different is the people that play the roles.” With Sooha Kim reprising the role of Kim, and Ashley Gilmour as American GI Chris, they are about to take on a huge emotional rollercoaster.

“What is brilliant, is when you look at something that is well written and well-constructed the way that Saigon is, there is scope to find new detail and colour that perhaps has never been seen before. I think the expectation of what the show will be if they’ve seen it before will be similar, but I think what they’ll find is a slightly different focus in terms of the storytelling and what the different people bring to the story,” Jean-Pierre said. “I think the cast we have assembled are incredibly exciting. It is quite a young cast, it is very vibrant and has a lot of energy – it’s quite edgy.”

Talking about the emotion in the piece, Ryan O’Gorman who is not shy to an emotional role stressed the importance of giving it your all in the production, but then stepping away from in everyday life. “It is so important as an actor to have that separation and downtime. Something I like to do is to literally step away from work, it is hard when you are hammering out scene after scene – particularly when you’re rehearsing it time and time again. To kind of leave all that emotional baggage behind is a skill in itself,” he said. “But the music does so much for us, it is so emotive and strong.

Ashley Gilmour’s character Chris deals with a lot in the show after he is torn away from Kim, he talked about how he has to put a lot of mental effort into understanding what it would have been like to be in the war. “It is also about going on that journey with Kim, and that happens quite naturally if you invest in the lyrics and music. They take you on that journey so when you’re in the scene in that moment, you don’t really have to think about it that much.”

Despite the heaviness of the emotion, the character of the Engineer lifts the show with his vibrant numbers and brings a tremendous amount of humour to the musical. With jazzy musical theatre numbers like American Dream, there really is something for everyone in Miss Saigon. “There is so much within the show that makes it thrilling to an audience regardless of if you like musical theatre or not,” Jean-Pierre said. “Saigon I think broadens its accessibility because it has many different styles within it.

You have musical theatre comedy in the shape of things like American Dream, you have those big impassioned duets that are very much in the style of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil with Last Night Of The World and Sun and Moon. So stylistically there is lots of different things within the piece.”

Red Concepcion, who is taking on the complex role of the Engineer, unlike most members of the cast had never seen nor been in Miss Saigon before being cast in the role. The Engineer is the sleazy owner of the bar and brothel Dreamland, he is charming in a very manipulative way as he takes Kim under his wing in hopes that her romance with Chris will be his ticket to migrating to America and getting out of all the horrific trouble occurring in Saigon. “His mind is always spinning and the gears are always working,” said Red.

“Every day I am discovering new things about him. It is like magic that just comes out of you, I do it and then sit back down and analyse how it happened and it is just amazing. It is an honour for me to play this part as a lot of the engineers are Philippinos like me, so it is an honour for me to pin my name on there.”

Touring this production is going to be very exciting for the cast, as a lot of them haven’t even been to the UK – let alone Birmingham! Ashley said: “Ive toured before but I’ve only done weekly tours, so it is going to be nice to have a longer time in each city and explore it a bit more – I’ve never done the Birmingham Hippodrome so I am excited.” Red added: “For me I’ve never been to England and there is a place I’ve heard that’s really nice called Birmingham.”

We couldn’t agree more, we can’t wait to welcome the cast of the Miss Saigon UK tour to our stage from 26 July to 23 September.

Information and tickets can be found on our website.