Miss Saigon Tour

I'm going to see the tour this weekend. I'm excited to see the show. I've never seen it before. Has anyone else seen the tour cast?

---

I saw the tour cast last year...and was blown away. They do a fantastic job. Some don't like the holographic helicopter...but I'll admit being an idiot, I didn't even realize it was a screen, not for a minute. Jennifer Paz was Kim when I saw it, PHENOMENAL. The guy who played John was literally tone-deaf, Bui Doi was a mess...but the rest of the cast was pretty strong.

I just came back from seeing it. It was really terrific. The whole cast was pretty strong, especially Laurie Cadevida and Eymard Meneses Cabling. Alan Gillespie as Chris was a bit overwrought in places but he was cute and sang pretty well.

---

I'll go a little more in depth on my thoughts on the show.

Laurie Cadevida was just wonderful as Kim. Her voice is excellent and her depth of emotion was very affecting.

Alan Gillespie as Chris wasn't able to match her performance unfortunately, but I didn't think he was terrible (I might be being charitable because of the cute bit of weight he has on him that I can't resist)

I can't say enough good things about Eymard Meneses Cabling as The Engineer. He hit on many different aspects of the part incredibly well. Nice looking guy, too.

D.J. Oliver as John was solid.

Mario Tadeo as Thuy was very good. He was threatening and hateful, but at the same time you could almost feel for him.

Kelly Wilson as Ellen was pretty good.

I really enjoyed Emerita Alcid as Gigi. It's too bad that part isn't larger.

Overall, if you haven't ever seen Miss Saigon before I'd totally reccomend checking out the tour. It's definitely worth it.

---

Updated On: 10/3/05 at 08:33 AM

Elphaba, was the Canadian cast the company that had Charles Azulay as Thuy? I heard he was phenominal and really did a lot with an otherwise dry character. Any thoughts?

patronus......it was so many years ago, that I honestly don't remember, and the playbill is buried somewhere in the mound that is my home office.

---

I will say I was very happy with all roles.

---

I saw the return engagement of Miss Saigon in 1995 in Chicago over 40 times (I worked at the Theatre). The current non-equity cast has some good talent. The sets leave much to be desired (they are way too colorful and sometimes amatuer-ish looking). But I must say some, and I mean SOME, of the direction was an improvement. Some of the lyrics worked better with the new staging. It's an enjoyable evening. The one thing that bothered me was at the end. Chris would let out a scream as the curtain lowered, which made a huge emotional impact, but didn't do so here.

Odd that the Toronto company was mentioned today.

I have been in the process of transfering old video tapes with things I have recorded from TV and one of the things I came across was an hour long special called "Sun and Moon: The Making of Toronto Miss Saigon" it has casting, building the theatre etc.

If anyone was interested, here is the original cast:

Engineer.............Kevin Gray

Kim..................Ma-Anne Dionisio

Kim alternate........Cornilla Luna

Chris................H.E. Greer

John.................Rufus Bonds Jr.

Thuy.................Charles Azualay

Ellen................Melissa Thomson

Just re-visited this tour having seen it a year and a half ago. I was far more impressed this time round. I preferred this staging to the original always but had issues with performances when I last saw it. Gillespie as Chris grew on me: his voice is solid and his acting has improved. Cabling was a revelation as the Engineer. Cadevida as Kim was a delight vocally. Tadeo remains consistently strong. What really made this experience stronger for me was the ensemble. They sound and look great (quite sexy actually). This is a very professional company altogether (can't believe it's non-equity) and whoever has looked after the show (director Mitchell Lemsky or Associate Director, Shidan Majidi) needs to be congratulated.

When I saw it

Jennifer Paz (Kim) WAS AMAZING!

Johann Michael Camat (The Engineer) WAS THE BEST OF THE WHOLE CAST...TOTALLY bleew me away, humor, voice, EVERYTHING!

Ramona Dubarry (Gigi) was pretty good.

Alan Gillepsie (Chris) was OK...He yelled his songs, but still had a TERRIBLY weak voice.

D.J Oliver (John) something was wrong with him. He grovled in his notes and cracked a lot.

Tadeo (Thuy) was pretty good, he was better in the second act than in the first though.

Rachel Kopf (Ellen) WAS HORRIBLE!!!! She was Dreadful. Her voice was very unstable and she couldnt sing on tune most of the time. She TOTALLY screwed up "I still Believe"

I was dissapointed with the helicopter, but that is what you get. I also was angry that I could see the backstage people running around on the stage moving things and stuff while other stuff was going on. Also, when I saw backstage people moving the sets.

It was VERY good though.