Eva Noblezada, Jon Jon Briones & Alistair Brammer to Lead the New Revival of Miss Saigon in the West End
The heat is on in Saigon! Newcomer Eva Noblezada, Jon Jon Briones and Alistair Brammer will lead the new West End revival of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s Miss Saigon. Noblezada will step into the role of the naive but strong-willed Kim, Briones will play the sleazy but likable "The Engineer" and Brammer will portray Chris Scott. Directed by Laurence Connor, Miss Saigon will begin previews on May 3, 2014 at London’s Prince Edward Theatre.
Nobelzada, who's currently a student at the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, NC, was discovered by Broadway casting director Tara Rubin when she saw her in a show in New York for U.S. high school singers. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, producer Cameron Mackintosh was impressed with footage he saw of Noblezada and was instantly reminded of the original Kim—Lea Salonga. "Eva’s going to be our new Lea," said Mackintosh.
Briones’ theater credits include the original London cast of Miss Saigon. He played the Engineer in Miss Saigon in Germany, U.S. Tour, U.K. Tour, Asian Tour, the Philippines as well as a return to London for the first production's final year. Other stage credits: Les Miserables, Little Shop of Horrors, Ragtime and A Little Night Music. TV and film credits include Law & Order LA, General Hospital, Model Home and Blood Ransom.
Brammer's theater credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Miserables, Hair, Taboo and War Horse. He played Jean Prouvaire in the Les Miserables movie.
Miss Saigon will also feature Hugh Maynard (Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sister Act, The Lion King) as John Thomas and Tamsin Carroll (Barnum, Oliver!, Dusty, Ragtime) as Ellen Scott. Rachelle Ann Go will play Gigi. The ensemble includes Julia Abueva, Natalie Chua, Jon-Scott Clark, Rob Compton, Callum Francis, Ashley Gilmour, Maria Graciano, Simon Hardwick, Jack Harrison-Cooper, Matthew Jeans, Kurt Kansley, Kittiphun Kittipakapom, David Lee, Mitch Leow, Ela Lisondra, Tanya Manalang, Christian Rey Marbella, Kanako Nakano, Thao Therese Nguyen, Saori Oda, Ariel Reonal, Jon Reynolds, Romeo Salazar, Jordan Shaw, Marsha Songcome, Eloisa Amalia Tan, Christian Tanamal, Thao Vilayvong, Amadeus Williams and Gerald Zarcilla.
Set in 1975 during the final days of the American occupation of Saigon, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman. Orphaned by war, 17-year-old Kim is forced to work as a bar girl in a sleazy Saigon nightclub, owned by a notorious wheeler-dealer known as "The Engineer." John, an American GI, buys his friend Chris the services of Kim for the night—a night that will change their lives forever.
As previously announced, the new revival is a “completely re-imagined physical production” and includes a new song by Boublil and Schonberg called “Maybe.” The show will feature musical staging by Bob Avian and additional choreography by Geoffrey Garratt, production design by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley based on an original concept by Adrian Vaux, costume design by Andreane Neofitou, lighting design by Bruno Poet and sound design by Mick Potter.
Watch a video about the casting process below!