Gerald almost lost his voice in 1st show of the Miss Saigon UK tour
Gerald Santos as Thuy in a scene from Miss Saigon: I was so nervous during the gala night. Thank God I was able to pull it off.
Something notso-funny happened to Gerald Santos on opening night of Miss Saigon last July in Leicester, the first leg of the longrunning Cameron Mackintosh megamusical’s UK tour.
“I almost lost my voice,” Gerald Santos, who plays Thuy, told Funfare three days after arriving Monday last week for a two-week break. “Sobrang pagod because of the continuous rehearsal as soon as we arrived in Leicester.”
That was aside from the rigorous rehearsal and training that began in May as soon as he arrived in London from Manila to fulfill a contract that expires in April next year, together with three other Filipino actors who passed the auditions conducted in Manila late last year — Red Concepcion (Sam’s brother) as The Engineer, Joreen Bautista (from Pampanga) as cover for Kim and Christian Rey Marbella as cover for The Engineer.
“I felt a big relief when I was able to pull it off without any hitch,” added Gerald who was incredulous when Mackintosh congratulated him, saying, “You did a great job. You made me emotional.”
After more than 100 performances in four months in Birmington and Dublin (seven weeks), Gerald said that the Thuy character has become like second skin to him.
“I am Thuy eight days a week, with an extra performance in some days,” he noted. “So I am Thuy as soon as I wake up, I am Thuy when I’m eating, I am Thuy when I leave home (15-minute walk to the theater in Dublin). I am Thuy all days of the week.”
But not on Sundays, his rest day, when Gerald sleeps for as long as he wants, does groceries and laundry and cleans the apartment he shares with a Korean actor (also in the musical). “Sometimes, when I have free time I take a walk or I work out in the gym. I am a member of a health club that has jacuzzi and a sauna. Besides the workout, I make sure that I get enough sleep. The performance usually ends at around 10:30 in the evening and I get home with my energy level still high so I take Melatonin to put me to sleep.” To preserve his voice, Gerald said that he has included all kinds of English tea in his diet (no meal at least two hours before he goes onstage and no chocolates except when he performs twice a day to help sustain his energy) and “steaming”
his vocal cords before bedtime. Although he cooks, Gerald really has no problem with food because of what he described as “the massive support” of kababayan who gives him pansit, pandesal, adobo, suman and other Filipino delicacies. “The mom of the boy playing Tam (son of Kim) is a Filipina and she has been very supportive and very helpful. The boy is the third Filipino to play Tam in the UK tour and he’s very good. Mahusay umarte even if he doesn’t have any dialogue.” Aside from the Filipinos, there are other Asian artists in the cast including a Malaysian, a Vietnamese and an Indonesian. “Christian Rey told me that I was very fortunate to be in my group, one of the best and the kindest daw, kaya maganda ang bonding namin. Sila at ang ating mga kababayan make me feel at home so I got over my homesickness easily. I have done shows abroad but it’s the first time that I’m living abroad and doing things myself.” By now, Gerald (who rose to fame after winning Season 2 of the GMA talent search Pinoy Pop Superstar; the first winner was Jona) shall have finished recording an album for Star Records. As soon as he’s back in UK, he
will join the cast in the Cardiff leg of the tour until April next year. Beyond Miss
Saigon, what? “I want to audition for other musicals,” said Gerald. “I am keeping my options open and my fingers crossed.”