Tonight You Will Be Miss Manila

[Phantom of London]

Cameron Mackintosh and Dong Alegre, the representative of Mackintosh in the Philippines, will hold the Manila auditions for the West End revival of one of Cameron Mackintosh’s late ‘80s mega musicals, “Miss Saigon,” at Philippine Opera Company's brand-new headquarters, the Opera Haus (3657 Bautista St., Makati City), on Monday, November 19 until Tuesday, November 27.

“’Miss Saigon’s’ executive producer, director, choreographer, and musical director will be flying in from London to hold auditions for the restaging of the hit musical, which paved the way for Filipino talents such as Lea Salonga, Monique Wilson, and Isay Alvarez, among others to shine on the world stage,” said Alegre.

“They will be holding auditions for the role of Kim [a 17-year-old Vietnamese bar girl, originally played by Salonga and Wilson in London]. They are also looking for ensemble cast members,” added Alegre.

“Miss Saigon,” a sung-through musical, features music by “Les Miserables” collaborators Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, and lyrics by Boublil and “Closer Than Ever’s” Richard Maltby, Jr., based on Giacomo Puccini’s popular opera “Madame Butterfly.”

The most familiar songs from the musical include “Sun and Moon,” “Last Night of the World,” “The Movie in my Mind,” and “American Dream.”

Audition requirements will be announced soon.

Like "Miss Saigon": The 2012 Auditions page on FB.

[Phantom of London]

Who is big enough to play the Engineer? Marcus Brigstock or Rowan Atkinson or Mattew Kelly perhaps.

As you can probably worked out I am rubbish at casting genuinely, you can get people who can see in a flash who would be good at playing those roles, not me, as abobe testifies.

[Jonwo]

Guessing this if for Autumn 2013, it's been in the planning for a while. The Engineer will be the hardest to cast, they won't cast anyone who isn't of Asian descent.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Jackie Chan?

[alterego]

Why, God why?

[AnythingGoes23]

Because it's a good musical... It's been over a decade... A new generation to see it.... I could go on...!

Above all I imagine, commercially, having it open and the planned film for 2014 is a wise option....

As said for along time the revival has been planned for quite sometime. Now the film has been completed, Cameron can focus time on this revival. The production is expected for The Edward, although recent reports indicate the Holland production could be expanded more ala Original Drury Lane and it open at The Palladium.

[Phantom of London]

Could it be too soon for a revival?

I enjoyed the show and saw the original twice, but couldn't see the revival lasing anymore than 2 years.

Going back to the original question i.e. casting, I agree the engineer should be of Asian orientation, however the original engineer was Jonathan Pryce, who certainly aint Asian in any form, probably one of the most inspired colour blind casting of all time?

So with my tongue firmly in my cheek and guess the role should go to someone of Asian persuasion, how about:

[Jonwo]

Miss Saigon seems like an odd fit for the Palladium, it would fit but a bit of a departure from the shows it has held in the last 15 years although A Chorus Line is doing a five month run in February and that certainly isn't as family friendly compared to previous shows.

With Miss Saigon and possibly Barnum in the next year or so, it'll be another busy year for Cameron Mackintosh, let's hope he gets round to finally getting the facade of the Queens back to its former glory.

[theatrepaul]

I thought the Prince Edward was being lined up for Miss Saigon?

Any revival will have a lot to live up to. The original production was brilliant in every way. I hope that the revival will live up the original which was so big and lavish in its staging.

[246015]

As I have said numerous times on this board, I absolutely adored the most recent UK tour of the show! It was a stunning production of a stunning show - the best touring show I have ever seen and up there as one of the best productions I have ever seen. I fell in love with "Miss Saigon" from that moment on and eagerly await this West End revival!

[rockyhorrorfan]

As I've just reported in another thread Whats On Stage tweeted last night that a representative of Cameron Mackintosh Ltd says the rumours of a revival are way off the mark.

Maybe they're already on planning on casting the movie.