Not only is Miss Saigon making a highly-anticipated return to Broadway in spring 2017, but producers have now announced that the musical will return to the place where the original Broadway production became a critical and commercial hit -- the Broadway Theatre.
The revival of the musical, which is set during the end of the Vietnam War and its aftermath, was announced late last year. Miss Saigon will follow another revival, Fiddler on the Roof, which is playing at the Broadway Theatre through Dec. 31.
Created as a modernization of Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madame Butterfly by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil -- who also created Les Misérables -- Miss Saigon is centered on Kim, a teenage orphan who works at Dreamland, a nightclub and brothel in Saigon owned by a hustler known as "The Engineer." She falls in love with a U.S. Marine, Chris Scott. However, with the Vietnam War ending both internal and external forces separate the two lovers. The musical features a memorable scene in Act II depicting the helicopter evacuation of the Americans from Saigon with astounding stage effects, as well as popular songs like "Sun and Moon," "Last Night of the World" and "I'd Give My Life for You."
The original Broadway production opened in April 1991 following the successful West End production, which opened in 1989. The opening night cast on Broadway included Lea Salonga as Kim, Jonathan Pryce as The Engineer, and Hinton Battle, all of whom won Tony Awards for their performances. Miss Saigon closed on Jan. 28, 2001, just eleven weeks shy of its tenth anniversary on Broadway. Salonga, who originated the role of Kim in both London and New York, returned to the production in its final weeks to reprise her Tony Award-winning role.
The Broadway revival of Miss Saigon is actually a transfer of the West End revival that premiered in 2014 and closed earlier this year. It is directed by Laurence Connor, who directed the current Broadway productions of School of Rock - The Musical and Les Misérables. Producer Cameron Mackintosh, who produced the original Broadway production as well as the 2014 West End revival, is also producing the Broadway revival. The leads in the recent West End production, Eva Noblezada (Kim) and Jon Jon Briones (The Engineer), will follow the show to Broadway. Briones was nominated for the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and the revival was nominated for the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
Miss Saigon is currently scheduled to run at the Broadway Theatre through Jan. 15, 2018, after which the production will go on a U.S. tour. Tickets for the show will become available as the debut grows closer.
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