LOVE STORY OF ‘MISS SAIGON’
‘Miss Saigon’ star says be ready to ‘experience love in its truest form’
The spectacle, soaring score and tragic love story at the heart of “Miss Saigon” sparked an acclaimed revival and national tour that makes its way to Pittsburgh next week.
The musical’s return has reignited questions that have followed the production since it scored 11 Tony nominations in 1989: Does its depictions of Asian characters as victims or villains perpetuate stereotypes? If a show is offensive to some of the people it represents, should it live on?
These are questions producers and directors cope with constantly as they revisit works such as “Miss Saigon,” which is based on the Puccini opera “Madame Butterfly.”
Much of the initial criticism was casting white actors in roles written for Asian characters. Brit Jonathan Pryce won a Tony Award in 1991 as the half-French, half-Vietnamese Engineer, a pimp who uses a young girl to further his own ambitions.
The Tony-nominated 2017 revival — also a big hit in London — set right the casting issues, but the controversy didn’t end there.
Amid the chaos of the Vietnam War, “Miss Saigon” tells the story of Kim, an orphaned teen. In a seedy bar called Dreamland, Kim falls for Chris, an American GI who is equally smitten. But as Saigon is overrun and American troops flee, she finds herself alone and pregnant. Against all odds, she fights for survival in the belief she will be reunited with Chris.
Emily Bautista, who plays Kim on the national tour, was a sophomore at Ithaca College in 2017 when she won her first
Broadway role, as understudy to Tonynominee Eva Noblezada in “Miss Saigon.” She is aware of the musical’s issues but asks that theater-goers take another look.
“The biggest takeaway from our story is it is only one story, from so many, and it is based on historical facts,” she said by phone Wednesday, before a show in Knoxville, Tenn.
“There’s strength in our story, and there are messages of love past racism, love past fear. And even though it is one story, I feel like in ‘Miss Saigon,’ there’s something you can take away from each of the characters.”
Before rehearsals started, director Lawrence Conner had the cast watch “a bunch of these documentaries with footage from the time,” she says. “And then a couple of months ago, I went to Vietnam, and that opened my eyes even more.”
One of the most moving and educational experiences came at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon.
“It has so many artifacts and so many testimonials from that time, from people on the American side and the Vietnamese side and other countries that helped. It was helpful to read these biographies and comments by people who lived through that time period.”
The exploitation of Kim and her choices to make a better life for her son are central to the debate about “Miss Saigon.” In Bautista’s experience, audiences are not only moved by the show but often eager to share their own experiences.
“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of children of the Vietnam War — their parents either fought or were refugees — and they are so supportive,” she says.
In Oklahoma City, the sister of a soldier killed during the war spoke with the show’s leads about how cathartic watching “Miss Saigon” had been for her.
He had died soon after he was deployed, “so they never got the letters or heard from him firsthand what it was like. It was so heartfelt and touching to hear how our show helped her through that experience.”
The role of Kim is daunting for Bautista, 21.
“Having to dive into that psyche and trying to do that justice, it takes a lot,” she says. “But it’s so rewarding to talk to the audience members afterward and see how it has affected them, and that’s how I know I’m doing my job right.”
The musical numbers that hit at almost every performance include “Bui Doi,” opening Act II. “The audience goes crazy every night and J. Daughtry, who plays John, he’s sooo good.”
The role of Chris’ G.I. pal earned a Tony for the original John, Hinton Battle. His replacement was a Broadway newbie,
billed as W. Ellis Porter. He now goes by Billy.
“‘American Dream,’ the 11 o’clock number, our Engineer [Red Concepcion], he knocks it out of the park every night,” Bautista says. “And ‘Last Night of the World’ is another big one. It’s this big beautiful number that Claude Michel Schonberg and Alan Boublil wrote, for before the war takes over and the chain of events unfold.”
There are moments, too, when she gets to feel like an audience member. Her favorite scene is the iconic image of the helicopter taking the last Americans out of Saigon. The Vietnamese ensemble clambers at the gates to get aboard.
“It’s such an impactful moment,” she says. “To be able to watch every actor give their all to tell this historical point in time, it grounds me and amazes me every single night as to what kind of production we are a part of.”
How Bautista got there is a showbiz story of timing and a dad who had the idea to send “a random email” to producer Cameron Mackintosh’s website. “My daughter is very accomplished, she loves musical theater; if you guys have any auditions, we would love to have her be seen,” he wrote.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” recalls Bautista, until a call came from the agency casting “Miss Saigon” and asking for Bautista’s headshot and resume.
Her second show as Kim on Broadway had about 100 supporters in the audience, she recalls. But that first night, it was just her parents.
“For that email to land me on a Broadway stage and for my parents to be there was a very special moment,” she says.
Feeling that love and support is what “Miss Saigon” is all about for Bautista, and she hopes it is for others as well.
“Come with your hearts open and be ready to experience love in its truest form,” she asks. “That’s why we tell our story.”