Miss Saigon on Broadway - Closed on January 28, 2001

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 12:54am

Ten years ago on this date, the original Broadway production of MISS SAIGON closed after playing the Sunday matinee at The Broadway Theatre. Lea Salonga, Will Chase and Ruthie Henshall led the closing cast.

Any memories of this show? I was there at the final performance and I can't believe a decade has already passed. Tempus fugit big time.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 1:14am

Has it been ten years? Wow.

Miss Saigon will always hold a dear place in my heart for being the very first Broadway show I ever saw.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:03am

Love the show far more than some. A day worth remembering? Not so much.

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 9:19am

AW!!! My favorite show (I know haters...whatever don't judge). So many great memories of seeing this show. I can't wait to see it this summer at Music Circus in Sacramento!
Updated On: 1/28/11 at 09:19 AM

[mikem]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 9:37am

Can you tell us about the final performance? What happened?

[Huss417]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 9:46am

Was also at the final. Can't believe it has been 10 years.

[Noel&Cole]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:37am

I loved this show. I know it was not perfect but it was so moving and make me cry every time. Of all the british mega musicals this was by far my favorite. I would love to see a return engagement sometime. Les Mis always seems to pop up everywhere. I wish this would more.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:41am

Definitely my favorite Broadway show. I never had the fortune to see it on Broadway, but I did see the tour twice.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:52am

During the run of the show, Backstage was always running ads looking for an Asian child.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:54am

Truly it was a magnificent helicopter.

[Sauja]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:58am

This was the first of the big London blockbusters I saw--before Les Miz, Phantom, or (ugh) Cats. I was about 16 and remember all the hype about the helicopter and being so excited to see it land onstage. I was seated way in the back of the orchestra--row X, I believe, so when the helicopter landed I saw...it's feet (or whatever you call the stand it lands on). Precisely because I so narrowly missed actually seeing it, I've long been convinced that it was THE most spectacular stage effect of all time. :) I know at the time I loved the show. I listened to the cast recording recently and found it surprisingly uneven, but there are still several killer moments: I Still Believe is such a wonderful number. But I'm still curiously partial to The Movie in My Mind. Not the biggest or most important song, but for some reason, it was always my favorite.

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 2:26pm

Cameron Mackintosh took to the stage and thanked the audience and specifically Lea Salonga and Ruthie Henshall - two members of the original London company for helping close the show. (Will Chase was the last Broadway Chris.) Balloons were released from the ceiling and it was a festive atmosphere - even though Kim had just killed herself a few minutes earlier. :o) I still wish Mackintosh let the show run until April so that it would have closed right around the 10th anniversary of its opening on Broadway.

Also, when Lea Salonga returned to the show, Kim took the final bow. When I first saw MISS SAIGON in 1991 a week after she and Jonathan Pryce took home the Tony Awards, the Engineer got the last bow and all other times I saw it in New York, that was the case. But Salonga took the last bow when she first reprised Kim in 1999 and at the closing performance. I don't know how current productions do their curtain calls, but Salonga was the only Kim I'd seen who got that "distinction." That and she is the only Kim who got to sing all three versions of MISS SAIGON's finales: THE SACRED BIRD, LITTLE GOD OF MY HEART and FINALE (THIS IS THE HOUR).

MISS SAIGON remains my favorite of the big imports from London from the 80s-early 90s. It has a memorable melodic score that, IMHO, is quite underrated.

[Huss417]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:13pm

The other thing from the final performance that made me laugh was when the other women are singing the "wedding song" at the end of it one of the girls said "I never liked that song.". There was some laughter and then she repeated it a second time. I found it amusing.

[mikem]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:49pm

Thank you everyone for sharing your memories about the show. I think it is very odd that the Engineer would typically get the last bow. Isn't Kim a much, much bigger part? The Engineer is almost a supporting role.

I also like Miss Saigon more than most people. I think of the big London blockbusters, it sticks out in really following just one person's journey (who is NOT the Engineer...) so it is both epic in scope yet intimate at the same time. (I guess Phantom also just has one principal storyline but I've always found the relationship between the Phantom and Christine to be odd and I personally find it a bit off-putting, although I know other people feel differently.)

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 3:59pm

i'm still upset that i never got to see this show on broadway... saw the national tours over 20 times! haha... easily my favorite show of all time

a friend of mine saw the final shows on Broadway and he said that when the alternate Kim at the time (Melinda Chua) had her final performance, Luoyong Wang gave her the final bow... sweet gesture!

[theatreguy]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 5:09pm

mikem - Kim is the larger role but when the show opened Jonathan Pryce was an established star whereas Lea Salonga was completely unknown (outside of The Philippines, anyway). Similar to Angela Lansbury getting the final bow in Sweeney Todd - Len Cariou was certainly better known than Lea Salonga, but Lansbury had 3 Tonys and was the box office draw.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 5:43pm

A leading role is one that as advertised in bold letters above the show.

Rumours to be revived in London soon.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 6:01pm

I adore this show!

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 6:46pm

@Huss417 I remember that moment after DJU VUI VAI! That was pretty funny. The audience was also very high energy. Lots of applause when the overture began with the helicopter sound, and when Wang and Salonga made their entrances. Ditto right after I'D GIVE MY LIFE FOR YOU.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 6:53pm

a friend gave me a recording of the final show... that wedding ceremony incident was HILARIOUS! also... Luoyong Wang also flubbed his lines during Morning of the Dragon! oooh final shows!

[thesixtyfirstpupil]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 7:29pm

So sad I never got to see this show on Broadway OR on Tour. One of my favorite shows, and Lea Salonga and Will Chase are two of my favorite actors. To the poster above me, would you be willing to send me that audio?

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 8:57pm

@eatlasagna Luoyong Wang flubbed his lyrics every time I saw him and not just at the closing performance. I know that English is not his first language so the diction really suffered especially in the more rapid/almost patter passages for The Engineer. It was incomprehensible at times really especially during BACK IN TOWN. I liked him but he was not my favorite Broadway Engineer. I loved Francis Ruivivar (RIP) followed by Jonathan Pryce.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 10:15pm

One of my very favorites I hope to see it back soon.

[canmark]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:29pm

Miss Saigon was the second show I saw on Broadway (the first being Falsettos) on my very first trip to New York back in the summer of '92. I remember getting front row orchestra (supposedly "obstructed view") seats from the box office and enjoying the show very much.

Updated On: 1/28/11 at 11:29 PM

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:41pm

I love the show. I stage managed for it last year at school and I fell in love with the music. I wish I had gotten the chance to see it. Me and a few of my friends are gonna go see it in Philly in June, I'm really excited to finally see it from the audience perspective.