One of the world's most popular stage musicals has landed in Southampton's renovated Mayflower Theatre.

BBC Southampton's Thelma Etim went to see the lavish production.

 

This is the first production in the newly renovated Mayflower Theatre - £2m of improvement work was completed over the summer to allow the theatre to accommodate the biggest touring productions.

 

The epic production of Miss Saigon fills every inch of the new stage area as we are transported back to the era of the Vietnam War.

 

As the American army battled the Communist Viet Cong fighters in the steamy jungles, hoardes of off-duty young GI's poured into Saigon - the beleaguered country's capital.

 

Miss Saigon opens with an 'Apocalypse Now' style thunderous roar of a helicopter landing, loaded with 'all-American boys' out to have a good time, regardless of the consequences.

 

The scantily-clad cast cavort and gyrate across the stage, transporting the audience into a seedy Saigon brothel where the soldiers "smell like men" but "screw like boys...".

 

The young, innocent Kim, convincingly portrayed by Ima Castro has already lost her parents, her home and witnessed her village being destroyed. She joins the impoverished young women forced sell their bodies for the almighty American dollar.

 

Kim is at the mercy of an unscrupulous brothel owner with a wonderfully sleazy grin, known as the "The Engineer", played brilliantly by Leo Valdez.

 

Even though she is engaged to young a Vietnamese man named Thuy, she falls for an American marine, Chris and they have two weeks together before he is forced to leave when the Americans unceremoniously quit Vietnam.

 

The spectacle of helicopters leaving the roof of the American Embassy is one of the most enduring images of the Vietnam war and is breath-takingly re-created on stage.

 

Leo Tavarez (The Engineer), Ima Castro (Kim) and David Shannon (Chris) talk about the show.

 

The tragic story of love across a political and cultural divide unfolds - as little does Chris know that he has left behind more than just his new Vietnamese bride.

 

We see the old city disappear forever under the red banners and massed ranks of the Viet Cong. Kim tries desperately to escape and the story inevitability raises questions about all innocent people caught up in conflicts.

 

Miss Saigon is based loosely on Puccini's opera Madam Butterfly. The idea came to Claude-Michel Schцnberg and lyricist Alain Boublil when they saw a photograph of a little Vietnamese girl who was about to board a plane from Ho Chi Minh City to the US where her father, an ex-GI she had never seen, was waiting for her.

 

The powerful and emotive songs exploiting the expert range of the cast coupled with the spectacular choreography make this show, on its UK tour, a must see!

 

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/realmedia/entertainment/saigon.ram

Nottingham Nigel Bell

 

The gamble pays off as the hit musical proves why it's been a success for so many years.

With one and a half million pounds taken in advance ticket sales the pressure is certainly on Miss Saigon. A six week run is a mighty chunk to take out the Royal Centre’s autumn schedule.

But those who booked the touring version of the West End smash can rest easy. Miss Saigon delivers…and some.Before we go any further...

 

The story

 

It’s set in 1975 during the final days leading up to the American evacuation of Saigon. It's a love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman. Anyone who knows Madame Butterfly, on which it was based, will know this is no easy ride.

 

The verdict

 

The Royal Centre has hosted some major theatrical productions over the years but even after Cats and Chicago, Miss Saigon raises the bar of perfection.

The sets are stylish, it’s a visual treat but above all it’s the singing that blows you away. I’ve never heard a production where all the cast ooze such vocal excellence.

Good voices, of course, can be ruined by poor sound and here’s where Miss Saigon scores again. The acoustics for this musical are spot on and if plaudits are to be sent to the cast they must also go to the technical crew especially the sound engineers.Bring a sackful of hankies with you – the plight of Kim and her young son Tam will have you blubbing long before the heartbreak finale.

And don’t feel you need to know this show to appreciate it. I was a Miss Saigon virgin. I had a vague idea of the story but hadn’t heard any of the songs. It doesn’t matter. They drive the plotline along in a way that makes you listen and the quality audio in the theatre means you won’t miss a word.

Too many highlights to mention them all but much vocal and presence praise for Leo Tavarro Valdez (Engineer) and Ima Castro (Kim) – but the whole cast was splendid.

Showstopping moments – the tumblers, the disturbing seediness of the opening Dreamland sequence, Bui Doi, The American Dream and the helicopter, so good you had to check the rotor blades weren’t crashing into you head. And then there was young Tam, played in this performance by 5-year-old Matthew Choi; enough to bring a tear to anyone’s eye.

The Royal Centre’s got its work cut out; there’s a real danger the autumn season might have peaked already because this production will be hard to top.

Ima Castro’s first break in the music industry came when she won the Grand Prize in the 1991 Panasonic nationwide Quest for the Best singing competition. Since then, she has won several local and international awards including Best Singer Award in Osaka, Japan and Best Interpreter in the First Asia Song Festival in Bali, Indonesia. Her album MAMAHALIN KITA-IMA, became a gold record thanks to her popular duet with Lloyd Umali entitled ‘Nanliligaw, Naliligaw’. Soon after that, Polygram Records decided to make her second album, a self-titled one which was released in 1997. It includes ‘Shine’, her winning song in the 1996 Metropop Song Festival. She has guested on the albums of other well-known male performers including Martin Nievera, Nonoy Zuniga and international artists David Pomeranz and Mike Francis. She also recorded a duet with popular Latin singer, Enrique Iglesias entitled ‘You’re My Number One. Aside from being a recording artist, Ima also appeared in the pop-zarzuela, PAGLAYANG MINAMAHAL where she played the lead role opposite Albert Martinez. The successful play which was staged at the CCP Little Theatre was her very first theatre work before she successfully auditioned for the Manila production of MISS SAIGON. She was offered the lead role of Kim after Lea Salonga finished her contract. She was offered it again, this time by IMG Australia for the Asian tour in Hong Kong and Singapore. Impressed with her talent and professionalism, Sir Cameron Mackintosh asked her to join the UK tour of the show for two years where she got the chance to travel and live in beautiful places like Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and Southampton. The composer of the show, Claude-Michel Schonberg calls Ima “a miracle from Manila” which for her is the greatest compliment she has ever received.

 

• http://www.miss-saigon.com/castandcreative/biog.php?peoplekey=45

After conquering the international stage via the mega-musical Miss Saigon, Filipina actress-singer Ima Castro captured the heart of her leading man, David Shannon, who played Chris to her Kim.

 

After an onstage and offstage romance that began in Dublin and culminated in the South Hampton leg of the UK tour of Miss Saigon, the hunky David officially became the real-life leading man of Ima twice over. They first tied the knot in South Hampton, England, on Oct. 26, 2003, as witnessed by David’s family and their Miss Saigon castmates and colleagues. And for the second time, the Shannons marched down the aisle on Feb. 21 this year, at the Villa Escudero resort in Tiaong, Quezon, for the benefit of Ima’s side of the family. (best friend since way back Judy Ann Santos acted as Ima’s bridesmaid.)

 

The love story of Ima and David not only defied cultural differences, but also the bride’s own initial resistance to her groom, believe it or not! The first time they met in Manchester, Ima didn’t hear violins. “We just said hi and hello,” Ima remembers. “At that time, I was already doing the tour, while David was still playing Chris opposite Joanna Ampil who was Kim in the West End run of Miss Saigon.”

 

Finally, he joined the UK tour in the Dublin leg and the two got to know each other better – or worse! “At first, I thought he was arrogant,” Ima laughs at the memory. “That he was a ‘player.’ He really looked like a playboy.”

 

So the dainty Filipina in Ima gave David a tough time, making him endure a six-month courtship. “I played hard-to-get,” Ima chortles.

 

When she got over her first impression of David, Ima discovered that her onstage partner had all the traits she was looking for in a possible lifetime partner.

 

“I realized that 90 percent of the rumors I heard about him were false,” Ima says. “That he wasn’t a heartbreaker at all. In fairness, he admitted to me that he was kinda selfish in the past. But that was only because his priority was his work.”

 

But when it comes to matters of fidelity, “he’s a one-woman man,” Ima says, beaming with unmistakable pride. She says that she has never been happier and more fulfilled than now. Married life is bliss, she quips. It has also taught her countless lessons on life and love. “I realized that I can really be thoughtful,” she points out. “Selfless. I really worry about him. Like when he travels in a plane, I really pray hard that he’d be safe.”

 

She has learned not to think only of herself. “I’ve become more patient,” she asserts. “I thought I never had that in me. But with him, I’ve become better in that department. I’ve also learned to be more expressive about my feelings. Before, I would keep everything bottled up inside. But David encourages me to open up with my emotions.”

 

Needless to say, her current personal joy has had a profound effect in the professional sphere. After three years in Miss Saigon, Ima has chosen to move on and make a comeback in the Philippines.

 

Indeed, the pert, petite and pretty Pinay did the entire nation proud, when she took over the role of Kim in the mega-musical Miss Saigon not only here in Manila (at the revered Cultural Center of the Philippines), but also in the Cameron Macintosh production’s Asian tour (in Hong Kong and Singapore) and in the two-year UK tour.

 

“My stay in Miss Saigon has taught me to value the talent I was blessed with,” she intones. “I’ve become more responsible as an artist. I’ve always been a professional, but working abroad has taught me to push myself even harder. I’ve become even more disciplined as a performer. There are a lot of talented people out there, but what really spells the difference is having the right attitude and character.” Ima’s bond with the other Filipinos in the UK tour of Saigon became stronger throughout the play’s run.

 

“We were like one big happy family there,” Ima relates. “Every weekend and every time there was a special occasion like birthdays, we would get together and cook kare-kare, tuyo, and other Filipino dishes. We would also play mah jong, to cope with the stress and the homesickness.” And Ima was able to impress not only her partner David and her Pinoy compatriots, but also the rest of the Saigon cast and crew, most notably producer Cameron Macintosh, composer Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, and director Matt Ryan. Schonberg, in fact, hailed Ima as a miraculous talent.

 

“In the past, I was always putting myself down,” Ima recounts. “I had little self-confidence. So our director Matt told me that I should have more faith in my abilities because Schonberg himself called me ‘a miracle from the Philippines’.”

 

Now, the marvelous miracle is home. The newlyweds have decided to pursue their brilliant careers in the Philippines. David, in fact, will be sharing the stage with another Filipina international star Lea Salonga in the new Atlantis musical, Baby, this August.

 

Ima, for her part, is raring to get back to work and pick up where she left off. Nowadays, she is preoccupying herself with almost-daily workouts in the gym, to shed the extra pounds she has gained because of marital bliss. “I want to be in great shape when I start doing concerts and shows once again,” she affirms. “I spend at least one hour max in the gym with my personal trainer. I do cardio. Weight lifting.” She has also taken up different sporting activities with hubby David, like badminton and scuba diving. “David is an expert diver,” she explains. “In fact, he’s a dive master. He can teach scuba diving. He tells me that his dream is open a diving school and resort in one of the country’s best beaches!”

 

Ima, on the other hand, dreams of publishing her own coffeetable book of the photographs she has taken underwater. “It’s really relaxing down there,” she enthuses. “It’s like a totally different world.”

 

Indeed, Ima is in the swim, diving in the sea of love!

 

• http://www.davidshannon.co.uk/?p=73
  

• FEATURES

 

It’s the biggest show ever to go on tour in the UK – and excitement is high. But two of the stars of Cameron Mackintosh’s mega-musical Miss Saigon are more excited about coming to Southampton than you might expect.

In a perfect example of life mirroring art, romantic leads David Shannon and Ima Castro fell in love while working together on the show – and are planning to get hitched during Miss Saigon’s run at The Mayflower.

Details of the nuptials are being kept firmly under wraps until nearer the time, but the couple are promising something to remember. With guests including Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber, you wouldn’t expect anything less.

In the smash hit show, now seen by more than 29 million theatre fans worldwide, David plays an American GI, Chris, who falls in love with a local girl, Kim, during the dramatic final days of the Vietnam War.

Ima plays the girl who captures his heart and who later – after Chris has returned to America and started a family of his own – bears their child.

It’s a passionate, tragic story, brilliantly told and one of the most spectacular pieces of theatre you’re likely to see. Happily, David and Ima seem somewhat less troubled than the couple they play.

They met last summer and announced their engagement at the Miss Saigon launch in Southampton this spring. For David at least, it was love at first sight.

“The first thing I said to somebody when I joined the show was: ‘She’s going to be the mother of my children,’” says the Dublin-born actor, 31.

Despite his confident performance on stage, David found himself wracked with nerves as he set about wooing the Philippine beauty.

“I would text her and say ‘Do you want to go to the movies?’ or something. I’m absolutely rubbish at asking women out. I couldn’t ask her face to face.”

Official romantic status finally crept up on the couple while they were watching Pearl Harbor one night – although they at first tried to play it down with the rest of the cast.

“We were both concerned how it might affect the work situation,” explains David.

“It turned out it was the worst-kept secret in the company. Everyone was waiting for us to get together.”David sprang a proposal on Ima on his birthday earlier this year.

“I was still in bed – I hadn’t even brushed my teeth,” says Ima, 27, who awoke to discover an engagement ring nestling in a wooden box on the bed.

David continues: “It was wonderful watching her face as she realised I was giving her an engagement ring. She hugged me and I said ‘Was that a yes?”’

The couple reckon their real-life

relationship gives their scenes in the show an added realism.“We feed off each other a lot more. We are a lot more connected.

There’s a wonderful element of trust involved on stage,” says David.“Ima is so involved in what she does, she makes me want to be as good as she is. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with anyone who makes me feel that way.”

After Miss Saigon, which ends its mammoth UK tour in Southampton in December, the newlyweds plan to settle in Ima’s native Philippines – and become the Pacific Rim’s answer to Richard and Judy.“The possibility of going to the Philippines and having a huge amount of land and a wonderful way of life is very appealing,” says David. “TV is a definite possibility. We would love to do a show together. We both love to cook, so perhaps we could do a cookery show together.”

Ima is a major recording star in the Philippines since sweeping to victory in a prestigious Japanese karaoke contest. Her third album is now in the pipeline and includes a duet with latino chart-topper Enrique Iglesias.“Back home I was singing on TV shows and doing concerts and corporate shows.

I love doing theatre now,” she says.The couple decided they had to get married during the Miss Saigon run because it brought them together.“It’s so responsible for us being where we are,” says David. “The company we are with are all our friends.

In ten years of doing shows, this is by far my favourite company I’ve worked with. It’s a family.”

 

• FACTFILE

The show features music by Claude-Michel Schonberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jnr and Alain Boublil.

Its first performance was at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in September 1989.

Actor Leo Tavarro Valdez has played The Engineer for eight years.

The helicopter which stars in one of the show's most dramatic sequences is computer-operated and life-size.

It weighs 800kg.

The Cadillac was designed especially for the production. It folds in half for easy backstage storage.

The Ho Chi Minh statue is 18ft tall and weighs about 180kg.

The show is transported from theatre to theatre in 22 trucks, each 44ft in length.

The show features 44 members of cast, 19 musicians and a touring staff of 40.

Miss Saigon has won 29 theatre awards worldwide, including two Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, four Drama Desk Awards and three Tonys.

Miss Saigon has played in 18 countries and 98 cities around the world.

 

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