Miss Saigon!

For the second time in my life, I got to watch Miss Saigon. And I'm glad I saw it again because it was amazing!!!

Miss Saigon is such an important musical on so many levels for Filipinos, or at least those who were already alive back in the late 80s. The producers of the show were looking for the right people to join the cast and they came to the Philippines to hold auditions. Lea Salonga became the very first person to play Kim, the lead role (or well the lead female role). This was the break that Lea needed to become a global theater star as she won a Laurence Olivier award and a Tony. She was also joined in the cast by many other Filipinos, including Monique Wilson, Isay Alvarez, and Pinky Amador. Music from the show became immensely popular in the Philippines. Many of us knew a lot of the songs by heart and we had cassette tapes of the original London West End or Broadway recordings.

I first watched Miss Saigon back in 2000 at the CCP. I was with my family back then, including my grandparents. We were lucky that we got to see Lea Salonga reprise her role as Kim. As such, when news came that Miss Saigon would be staged again in the Philippines, we weren't as excited to see it as we were with other shows because most of my family had already seen it. However, my nephews hadn't. I asked them if they wanted to see it and after thinking about it for a while, they decided they did. I thought I'd get my mom a ticket as well.

As it turned out, this decision to watch the show again was a superb one because we ended up enjoying the show immensely. I guess it isn't a surprise because it's an amazing musical. It's also been more than 20 years my mom and I last saw it was almost like a new experience for us again. Actually, I guess you could say it was a new experience for us on some level because we got to see the show with the updated lyrics. (I was a bit sad that the song "It's her or me" which I love is no longer part of the show; apparently, it suppposedly made Ellen look too much like the villain so she now sings a different song during that same part.) Seeing the huge helicopter appear on stage during The Fall of Saigon actually took my breath away, even if I knew it was coming and even if I had seen it before.

Our cast included Louisa Vilinne as Kim, Seann Miley Moore as The Engineer, and Nigel Huckle as Chris and they were all great! Louisa was the alternate Kim but she was still amazing (which is as expected because there is no way you could be cast for such a big role if you didn't have the skill and the talent for it). I also never realized until now how difficult Kim's role is because it's such a heavy role. She's going through so much pain, heartbreak, and struggle for most of the show and that has to be so emotionally exhausting to portray, especially while singing live. I also have to mention to Lewis Francis who played John. He belted out the last part of Bui Doi an octave higher. Wow! Needless to say, he got massive applause.

I have to say that for some reason, I was a lot more emotionally connected to the musical this time around. The first time I watched it, I was impressed with the production and enamored by Lea Salonga and her incredible voice. This time, I ended up being more engrossed in the story, witnessing the trials and challenges the characters faced and going on the same journey with them. Maybe it's the fact that I'm older with a lot more life experience, making me relate a lot more to the loss and the sacrifice. Whatever the reason, I found myself very deeply moved by the musical and I had either goosebumps or a lump in my throat (or both) in so many scenes, including the finale.

I'm really happy that well-renowned and award-winning musicals continue to be staged here in the Philippines. I'm also really happy that I got to watch Miss Saigon again.