Whatever Happened to Miss Saigon? - Page 3

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/31/11 at 9:41pm

I wanna say in London at least by the time of its final week when I saw it, it had a projection of the logo without any text on (what I assume is) the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane's regular curtain. We did end up doing the backstage tour which was kinda corny but it was fun to walk on stage and see the massive set pieces in their pre show storage (and the basement witht he amazing hydraulic lifts, etc). It's a massive stage (the West End's largest) and a massive auditorium with nearly 2250 seats. I'm now trying to find my program because I can't remember the cast aside from Kim--simply because I knew her from the International recording, but I'm pretty sure John Barrowman was back as Chris.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 12/31/11 at 11:46pm

i have a recording of the final show and David Shannon was the final CHRIS along with Joanna Ampil as KIM, Leo Valdez as THE ENGINEER, Kevin Curtin as JOHN (u/s) i believe... Jo Jo De la Cerna as THUY, Grania Renihan as ELLEN and Christine Sambelli Marquez as GIGI

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/1/12 at 12:51am

You're right, I pulled out my London programs and that's the cast--I saw Barrowman in Beauty and the Beast the same trip. Anyway, it was a very strong cast...

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/1/12 at 12:57am

I feel like London got all the strong cast members for this show... I guess it's because most of the Filipino cast came from the Miss Saigon school in Manila!

[allen11375]

Posted: 1/1/12 at 12:50pm

My Oh My and eatlasagna - The 1st National Tour at the Ahmanson is posted on youtube. (house camera, decent sound)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMfjJjwoU38
Miss Saigon, 1st National Tour

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/1/12 at 1:28pm

AWESOME! I think have this on VHS but with Melinda Chua as KIM

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 1/7/12 at 1:02pm

Is there any info on the casting yet? I am so excited to see this!

Also, it would be beyond fantastic if Kevin Gray did it, although that's probably a long shot since he's teaching these days. Anyway, any info on the cast would be great.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 1/8/12 at 12:36am

Have no idea on casting but I'll post something when I do.

Btw, thank you so much allen11375 for that video!!! I saw that exact cast and it's such a gift for you to share that with all of us. The picture and sound are awesome and it brings back wonderful memories. THANK YOU!

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 1/9/12 at 11:01pm

What is the song that they replaced "Now That I've Seen Her" with? I know that "Now That I've Seen Her" was originally used to replace "Her or Me", but I can't find anything about this new replacement, and I really like "Now That I've Seen Her"...
What do you guys think of this whole affair?

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:55am

I hope they didn't replace the song, as I agree, its a really great number.

The difference between "Her and Me" and "Now that I've Seen Her" is pretty minimal I think and mostly consists of a few changed lyrics.

I've never heard of a song replacing it...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 5:05am

Her and Me really did IMHO make Ellen seem a lot less understanding or sympathetic.

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 2/2/12 at 7:33pm

I know it's not meant to be funny, but does anyone else giggle at Ellen's line "...she tried to give away her own child!" in "The Confrontation" ? It's only funny in the Complete Symphonic Recording, but it makes me laugh hearing it from RUTHIE HENSHALL...

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 2/3/12 at 1:58am

Yep, that always sounded a bit "off" to me as well, and stilted, which makes me laugh.

I really love that recording, except for the guy playing Chris.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 2/3/12 at 11:00am

I hate the Chris on that recording as well (the one on the OLC is equally horrendous). They were originally going to use mostly the tour cast as it was in LA (since that's where most of it was recorded), but Peter Lockyer (as you can hear in that video) wasn't deemed strong enough a singer for the recording, and since the Australian premier was coming up they used the Kim and Chris from that production to promote it there.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 2/3/12 at 11:12am

Really? Wow. As much as I disliked Peter Lockyer as Marius, I thought he was a fantastic Chris. Certainly better than Peter Cousens, who I saw in a benefit last year (for the Australian equivalent to BCEFA) and he was still as quirkily annoying as he comes across on the CSR.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/3/12 at 11:18am

I saw Peter Lockyer, Jennifer Paz, Kevin Gray, and Tami Tappan in Los Angeles, and they were all excellent. This show surprised me. I went in with medium to low expectations, but came out liking it better than "Les Mis" at the time.

(Les Mis has grown on me since then.)