British megaproducer Cameron Mackintosh has announced dates and a theatre for his Broadway revival of the long-running Boublil & Schönberg musical Miss Saigon.
This will be a transfer of the hit 2014 London production, which had new staging by Laurence Connor (Les Miz, School of Rock) and revised book and lyrics by Michael Mahler. Previews begin March 1, 2017, and the opening is set for March 23 at the Broadway Theatre—the same playhouse where the original Broadway production opened in 1991. The theatre is currently occupied by Fiddler on the Roof, which is scheduled to close December 31, 2016.
As previously announced, also crossing the Atlantic will be the two London stars, Eva Noblezada, a 20-year-old from North Carolina, as Kim; and Jon Jon Briones as the Engineer. Those roles were created in the 1989 London production and the 1991 Broadway production by Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce, both of whom won Tony Awards for their performances. Noblezada was discovered three years ago by the Miss Saigon casting team at the National High School Musical Theater Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards in honor of the legendary James Nederlander, who passed away last week.
The revival will run less than a year on Broadway, with performances scheduled through January 15, 2018, before launching its national tour later in the year in Providence, RI, followed by engagements in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington DC, Philadelphia and more than 50 additional cities.
Tickets for the Broadway production will be available to American Express card holders exclusively beginning August 21; to Audience Rewards members beginning September 6; and to the general public starting September 12 at Telecharge.com. Group tickets are available at saigonbroadway.com or (800) 432-7780.
Mackintosh issued a statement saying, “Because of the complexity of creating as big a production as Miss Saigon, we have decided to put together one company to play North America, launching with a limited season on Broadway. And I am thrilled that every major theater across the country is eager to host the show, which has not been seen on this grand scale, and with such an unusually large multi-cultural cast, since the original production closed 15 years ago.
”It's hard to believe that it has been nearly 25 years since Miss Saigon first opened in New York, but if anything, the tragic love story of the show has become even more relevant today with the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This new production, directed by Laurence Connor, takes a grittier, more realistic approach than the original production while still delivering the power and epic sweep of Boublil and Schönberg‘s tremendous score. Of all my shows, Miss Saigon is the one that I have received the most requests from the public to bring back, and I am thrilled that Broadway audiences will get to see this tremendous new production that audiences and critics in London have embraced since it opened last year. And I am delighted that our wonderful London stars, Jon Jon Briones and Eva Noblezada, will be bringing their stunning performances across the Atlantic."
Based on Madame Butterfly, the show tells the story of an American soldier during the Vietnam War who falls in love and marries a Vietnamese girl, only to be torn from her side in the fall of Saigon and the Communist takeover of that country. With no way to know if she is dead or alive, he begins life anew in America. Meanwhile, she is doing all she can to fight her way out of her country — and bring along their young son.
Audiences who can’t wait will get a preview of the scale of the production at forthcoming screenings of the Miss Saigon 25th anniversary performance, which was filmed live in London, in selected screens across America September 22.
