The new production of “Miss Saigon” just completed a triumphant UK/International tour that played 19 months and visited 14 cities, and its highly anticipated engagement in San Diego at the San Diego Civic Theatre runs through July 14.
Tickets are available at the San Diego Civic Theatre Ticket Office, by phone at 619-570-1100 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, or at BroadwaySD.com. “Miss Saigon” tells the story of a young Vietnamese woman named Kim, who is orphaned by war and forced to work in a bar run by a notorious character known as the Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American G.I. named Chris, but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For three years, Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he’s fathered a son. This new production features stunning spectacle and a cast of 42 performing the soaring score, including Broadway hits like “The Heat is On in Saigon,” “The Movie in My Mind,” “Last Night of the World” and “American Dream.” The new production by Cameron Mackintosh debuted in London in 2014. “It’s hard to believe that it has been over 27 years since ‘Miss Saigon’ first opened in North America but, if anything, the tragic love story at the heart of the show has become even more relevant today with innocent people being torn apart by war all over the world,” Mackintosh said. “This brilliant new production, directed by Laurence Connor and featuring the original dazzling choreography by Bob Avian, takes a grittier, more realistic approach that magnifies the power and epic sweep of Boublil and Schönberg’s tremendous score. “Of all my productions, despite its popularity, ‘Miss Saigon’ is the one that the public has had the least chance to see as it requires such a huge international cast of Asian and Western performers and a vast array of visually stunning sets. Now, for the first time in 17 years, as it continues to wow audiences in major cities around the world, theatregoers across America will be able to see one of the most spectacular musicals ever written in all its glory, in a new production that critics in London and on Broadway have embraced,” Mackintosh said. Casting for Mackintosh’s acclaimed new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical “Miss Saigon” includes San Diego native Jackie Nguyen. Other cast members include Red Concepción will lead the tour as the Engineer direct from the current UK Tour, Emily Bautista will play Kim having also performed the role in the most recent Broadway production and Anthony Festa will play Chris. Joining them will be Stacie Bono as Ellen, J. Daughtry as John, Jinwoo Jung as Thuy and Christine Bunuan as Gigi. At certain performances, the role of Kim will be played by Myra Molloy. They are joined by Alexander Aguilar, Eric Badiqué, Brandon Block, Eymard Cabling, Joven Calloway, Rae Leigh Case, Kai An Chee, Matthew Dailey, Julie Eicher, Noah Gouldsmith, Adam Kaokept, David Kaverman, McKinley Knuckle, Madoka Koguchi, Nancy Lam, Brian Shimasaki Liebson, Garrick Macatangay, Jonelle Margallo, Kevin Murakami, Matthew Overberg, Emilio Ramos, Adam Roberts, Michael Russell, Paul Schwensen, Julius Sermonia, Emily Stillings, Tiffany Toh, Nicholas Walters and Anna-Lee Wright. The role of Tam is played by Tyler Dunn, Haven Je, Fin Moulding and Adalynn Ng. Concepción and Jung are appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance with this production. Concepción received rave reviews as The Engineer in the UK Tour of “Miss Saigon.” His many theatre credits in his native Philippines include “Adam/Felicia” in “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” for which he won the ALIW Award and Gawah Buhay Award, Tommy in “The Normal Heart” and Alan Strang in “Equus,” as well as the musicals “West Side Story” and “Hairspray.” Bautista made her Broadway debut in the Broadway revival of “Miss Saigon” where she understudied and played the role of Kim. She has been most recently seen as Éponine in the current national tour of “Les Misérables.” Festa has most been recently been seen in NYC in the Outer Critics Circle Award-winning best musical, “Desperate Measures.” He has also toured with the companies of “Wicked” and “Finding Neverland” and played Tony in “West Side Story” in the West End and on International/UK Tour.  Daughtry has been seen on Broadway in “Beautiful—The Carole King Musical” and “The Color Purple.” His TV appearances include “Boardwalk Empire,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary” and “Orange is the New Black.” Bono has been seen Off-Broadway in the Barrow Street production of “Sweeney Todd” as the ‘Beggar Woman/Pirelli’ and “Avenue Q” as ‘Kate Monster/Lucy T. Slut.’ Regionally, Stacie has been at the Guthrie Theater, Tuacahn and Denver Center. Jung was born and raised in Korea and was most recently seen Off-Broadway in “K-Pop.” He has performed regionally in “La Cage aux Folles” (East West Players), “The Christians” (Mark Taper Forum) and will appear in M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming new film “Glass.” Bunuan’s credits include the national tour of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Writers Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf, Marriott Theatre. “Miss Saigon” has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil, adapted from original French lyrics by Alain Boublil, with additional lyrics by Michael Mahler. The new production is directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging by Bob Avian and additional choreography by Geoffrey Garratt.
Production design is by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley based on an original concept by Adrian Vaux; costume design by Andreane Neofitou; lighting design by Bruno Poet; projections by Luke Halls; sound design by Mick Potter; and orchestrations by William David Brohn. Music supervision is by Stephen Brooker and James Moore, with casting by Merri Sugarman for Tara Rubin Casting. The original Broadway production of “Miss Saigon” opened on April 11, 1991 with what was the largest advance sale in Broadway history ($37 million). The show went on to play for nearly 10 years with 4,111 performances and was seen by more than 5.9 million people. “Miss Saigon” has been performed in 32 countries, over 350 cities, in 15 different languages, has won over 70 awards including two Olivier Awards, three Tony Awards and four Drama Desk Awards and been seen by over 36 million people worldwide.