London's New Miss Saigon Eyeing Transfer to the Great White Way

Why not, God? Why not? Mega producer Cameron Mackintosh is toying with bringing the new London production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s Miss Saigon to Broadway next year. According to The New York Times, the decision depends on theater availability and critical reception across the pond. The West End revival, now in previews, is set to open on May 21 at the Prince Edward Theatre.

The tuner would reportedly play Toronto first prior to coming to the Great White Way (much like the current Broadway revival of Les Miserables). Mackintosh, whose musical blockbuster credits include Les Miz, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, told the Times that while plans at this time are “only speculative gossip,” he would consider bringing the tuner to both cities “if it proves to be the success it’s shaping up to be.” He added, noting various scheduled international projects and the technical demands that the production requires (namely, a helicopter), “lining up a theater and production slot is going to be very difficult.”

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.

The current London production, under the direction of Laurence Connor, stars Eva Noblezada as Kim, Alistair Brammer as Chris, Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer; joining them are Kwang-Ho Hong, Tamsin Carroll, Hugh Maynard and Rachelle Ann Go. The original production of Miss Saigon opened on Broadway in 1991 and ran for ten years.