--The heat is officially on as the upcoming national tour of Miss Saigon
has announced its full cast, including Emily Bautista playing the crucial,
demanding and ultimately heartbreaking role of Kim. So, how does a young
performer like Bautista prepare to take on such a role? We thought hosting a
conversation between her and two former Kim's, Tony winner Lea Salonga and Tony
nominee Eva Noblezada, would be a good start. The three women
came together for an exclusive photo shoot and in-depth discussion about the
challenges of playing Kim, how Miss Saigon continues to captivate audiences, and why
its story is more important than ever.
--Hi, I'm Lea Salonga. --And I'm Eva Noblezada.
--And the two of us are actresses that
have played Kim in Miss Saigon. I've gotten to play this role in the original
productions in London and on Broadway. --And I've had the honor of doing the
revival in London and also the revival on Broadway. --And we're about to introduce
to you someone very special. She is going to be playing the role of Kim on the
national tour of Miss Saigon. --We'd like to warmly welcome our lovely
friend, Emily Bautista.
--Given that the show had already been over 20-something
years old when each of you got into it, when were you each aware of it?
--I just remember the first time like in my teens that I listen to Miss Saigon, I picked it
back up again. I had a 25, 30 minute bus ride to school,
and I would sit there and put my headphones on and listen to the whole
soundtrack. And I actually want to say it was my junior or sophomore year of high
school, so you had done in London, and I had your version, so I just played them
back to back. I had friends who would be like are you crying right now?
--I'd be like, no
I'm fine! But, you know, I would sit there and listen. And I wasn't on a school bus. I
was in Vietnam. I was listening to... I think the music so beautifully captures
the world --Those orchestrations
--Yeah, the orchestrations. It's just it's so
inspirational, and really does transport you to a whole new world.
--It's a great
role to play because it's rangy, and and nuts, but it's....
--Yeah --It's yeah it's that
beast of a show --Yeah, but I mean when it's
sung technically correctly then
you'll know you'll be able to do it the next day. --Yeah
--But that also takes voice
lessons, and if you're trained well, then you have nothing to worry about vocally.
["Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon]
--No one really understands it unless you've done it, so I think the only
person that knows what I have been through with that show is this other one,
because of everything that she has had to experience.
["The Movie in My Mind" from Miss Saigon]
--I will say, I couldn't really see how big of a impact the show made until I came
comfortable in my own Kim. And that day that that happened, it's almost like an
out-of-body experience where you're performing I Give My Life, and you look
out to absolute darkness, but you can hear sniffles in glimpses of light you
see people with their hands on their face, just completely mesmerized by
what's going on. The magic of that, the magic of of Kim I think is what I love. I
love knowing that. The delicacy of the story is you have an audience of
thousands of people in your hands every single night.
These young Asian girls, or these young girls of color that were mixed like me
come in. Seeing them at stage door with tears in their eyes and they go I've
always wanted to do Kim, and I was like me too.
We're the same. Or, I always wanted to sing, and I was like you will. You do sing.
--It's so interesting going to the stage door. You kind of forget that until you see a
little girl that's like this is so cool. I remember my mom coming, I think it was
to Les Mis, and there was a little girl just in her coat and stuff. My mom
started crying. She was like that was you. That was you. And it's, I had
you to look up to, and I mean that was just incredible cuz you know there
weren't many. --Part of the thing that makes this
character really stand out is
that among all of these women, dead in the eyes, scantily dressed, and trying to
get out, here's this angel in the white dress singing with purity and just
speaking her heart. And how all of these men are looking at her with this
lascivious look, and you need to be uncomfortable in your seat watching this
happening. And as an audience member, you have to want to save her. It has to
hit you --In the gut
--In the gut. You have to get punched in the face by the things
that you see because that sets you up for everything else that happens later.
Because if you see just that and walk out, then you've you've you miss out on
what this journey is going to be.
--I'm actually really excited for people to see Lawrence Connor's production. The
one that we did, the one that's gonna go on the tour. Cuz I think it's it's
organic. Its raw. It gives you the taste of romance and passion that you want to
see in Saigon. But also, the dirty, scummy, and I think now, it's perfect time
our in what's happening right now with current events, to be truthful, to be as
honest as we can. And yeah I'm excited for people to see it. I don't know about you,
but --Yeah. I know, same. I think it's very
timely. It shows you there is love in
the most broken of places, and it really goes to prove that. -- Yeah but it's also
timeless, I think. It was just as impactful when you did it.
--The great
thing about it being staged at the time it was originally staged, because it
was still so fresh in people's minds, it was something that everybody felt so
strongly about that this this needs to be seen. The world needs to see something
like this. One, it's it's majestic in scope, and at the time the big
bombastic British musicals were the thing, with Les Mis and the turntable and
Phantom and the Boat and Cats and the junkyard and now here comes a helicopter
in Miss Saigon. And I think people were expecting that it would be such a huge
production with production value, but I don't think what people expected was the
humanness and the humanity and the intimacy in so much of what was
happening.
[music]
--And that a helicopter --And the helicopter!
--Oh my gosh. I just remember when we moved over
to the theater. -- Oh my god that was magical
--Just like this it was weird I
didn't expect it, just like a couple
--We were all crying --Yeah you're just like
that's the world. Not that the helicopter is what Saigon is, but it transports you
there, and because we saw them the documentary's people hanging off it and
screaming out.
--And just trying to get out because they knew what was going to
happen next.
--Just that image brings up all the
emotions and all the... it's crazy.
--I think that's my favorite scene
[music]
--Because when
people come back you get the story through the music.
--Yeah, but people get
obsessed. --Yeah. --There are different entry
points into the show. If you knew Les Mis,
then it would be your kind of your your doorway into Miss Saigon. And the fans of
the show are obsessed with it. They're obsessed with the characters in it. They're
obsessed with the story. And the thing about art is that it's just subjective
in nature, anyway. You want people to be touched by this, and people, because
people were touched by it back in the late 80s early 90s, and when the revival
came out there were people that would just go online and and would not be able
to control themselves in expressing their feelings for for the show. And if
there's anything that tells me is that how timeless it is, how timely it is, and
how ultimately it's the audience's that will keep coming. And if you get them
then you're golden.
[music]