Hugh Maynard on Valjean Dreams, Meeting a Demigod & His Powerful Connection to London's Miss Saigon

There are few supporting roles in musicals as fiery as that of John, the marine-turned-aid worker in Miss Saigon who gets the second act of the musical off to a powerful start with the anthemic song “Bui Doi”—an emotive reminder of the orphans left behind in times of war. The role has led to acclaim for Hugh Maynard, whose rendition stops the show nightly in the West End revival of the Boublil and Schonberg musical at the Prince Edward Theatre. Maynard chatted with Broadway.com about the deep connection he feels to both the show and the song and to talk up his debut album, which comes out in the new year.

You’ve got quite a history with Miss Saigon, don’t you?
Oh yes! I’ve done two UK tours and I don’t know how your life is, but there may be a job you’ve done or an experience you’ve had where you think, “Wouldn’t it be great to go back?” That’s how I feel about this show. There hasn’t been anything else I’ve done that has stuck in my heart and mind quite like this has.

Your return to the West End in this production has been meaningful to you, I gather.
Very much so. I had done Sister Act and was so wrung out by it that I actually thought that was going to be my last show. If it wasn’t for Miss Saigon I don’t think I would have come back to the West End.

Why not?
I had turned my back on the industry and moved to Australia with my then-fiancée. I was also carrying on my world tour with the band Tenors of Rock and just didn’t expect this to happen. And if it weren’t for a cheeky email I sent to Cameron [Mackintosh, the show’s producer], it probably wouldn’t have done.

But if you’d done the tour, didn't Cameron know you could play the role?
Yes, but the email led to me flying back to London and meeting the current creative team. It was more about the handshake and touching base—and about Cameron seeing me physically—than about them hearing me sing.

The part of John isn’t huge, but it can pack a wallop in performance. How do you psych yourself up for it?
It’s funny you ask because I said to Jon Jon [Briones, the Saigon revival’s leading man], “How do you do this every day? I sing one song and I’m beat and you’re singing throughout the show.” He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Hugh, I don’t have to sing pretty,” and that sentence said it all. I have to be at a first-class level every night or the story doesn’t come across.

“Bui Doi” is such an extraordinarily emotive song.
And from my point of view as a performer it’s about giving, giving, giving. Seeing the conditions of the children we are singing about, you can’t help but feel as if they are refugees in a world where to my knowledge there hasn’t been a day without love or without war and that right there is enough to set me off and get me singing from my heart and soul.

Have you felt the weight of tradition with this song in terms of the performers who came before you?
Well, Peter Polycarpou [who originated the role in London in 1989] is the standard, and when he came to see the show about four months ago without my knowledge, I was on my knees. It was like bowing to a demigod. I felt like a schoolboy meeting a policeman [laughs].

How did the conversation between the two of you go?
The first thing I said was, “Peter, I’m sorry for ruining your song,” and he said, “Get up, Hugh, I love what you’re doing!” He was so, so giving.

Do you connect deeply with this song?
Absolutely. I’ve never been ousted from anywhere because of my race or my color but I did spend the first eight years of my life in a children’s home, which isn’t something I have spoken about until quite recently. I didn’t receive my birth certificate until I was 16.

Did you try to contact your birth family?
I did contact my birth mother on three separate occasions. The last time was at a family wedding in Birmingham which went disastrously wrong as far as I was concerned so I just walked out thinking, “This is not my family; it’s all too weird.”

What happened then?
I got a call from my birth mother shouting down the phone saying that I was trying to steal her daughter away from her. I had no idea what was being said, but when I went to call back some months later, all the numbers I had been given were no longer in use. Believe me, my foster family is as bemused by all this as anyone.

You’ve got your first album, Hugh Maynard: Something Inside So Strong, coming out next year. Tell us about that!
Exciting, huh? And there are four tracks that fans can listen to already in the run-up to Christmas. So many people have been asking me for years, “When is your album coming out?” I decided, “OK, maybe it’s time to do it,” though it did take me a while to be convinced that people would want to listen to me singing 12 songs [laughs].

How did you decide on a songlist?
I put it out to my fans. When I was on tour with the band [Tenors of Rock], I would ask people what they wanted to hear me sing and why and so we came up with a mixture of rock and pop and show tunes—everything from Radiohead to “I (Who Have Nothing)” from Smokey Joe’s Café and “Bring Him Home."

Is “Bring Him Home” your hint to Cameron Mackintosh that you might like to play Jean Valjean?
[Laughs.] Maybe I'm planting the seed! But that song is a favorite of so many people and has been sung by so many Caucasian artists that people were saying, “Hugh, we’d love to hear you put your soul into this track.” Though I have to say that for me, it’s about trying not to impersonate Alfie Boe.

It sounds as if you’re in a good place at the moment!
I feel very lucky that the West End has embraced me and taken me back. I truly feel as if this is my time to shine.