Saigon ready to storm city
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They've crashed the helicopter and lost a lead actor to bronchitis but, as they say in showbiz, the show must go on.
With opening night just three days away, the cast and crew of the Abbey Musical Theatre production Miss Saigon are fine-tuning Palmerston North's first performance of the world-acclaimed musical.
On Sunday afternoon, after a caffeine-fuelled weekend of non-stop final rehearsals, a tired-looking production manager Allan Nagy said the show was ready to go.
There had been setbacks - actor Karl Perigo was struck down by illness just two weeks from opening night, and there was a fearful moment when a test drive of the helicopter went awry but all was now firmly on track, he said.
A last-minute replacement had been found for Perigo, in Wellington opera tenor Chris Crowe.
And the helicopter, a purpose-built life-size model of an Air Force Iroquois, was now being safely controlled by off-stage crew, Mr Nagy said.
"It's been a lot of long hours ... but I'm very excited, a lot of the time you are really nervous about opening night but I'm feeling really positive."
Set in 1975, in the days before Saigon's capture by Communist forces at the end of the Vietnam War, Miss Saigon is the epic love story of American GI Chris and a young Vietnamese woman, Kim.
Director Stephen Robertson has been rehearsing the cast since June, with the star of the show American actress Melinda Chua flying over last month.
Chua, who has played the leading role of Kim thousands of times around the world, was bubbly during rehearsal breaks on Sunday.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited, I can't believe it's coming up now after being here for over a month.
"It's been wonderful ... doing it with a new cast is so exciting, they are all so talented."
Although she's been performing the show for about seven years, she still loves it and the audience will too, she promises.
"They are in for a very emotional ride. I don't want to give too much away about the story but it follows Kim from when she arrives in Saigon until three years after, so it's pretty interesting. They should be prepared to cry."
Miss Saigon opens this Friday, with 12 performances Wednesday to Saturday 7.30pm and Sunday 4pm until closing on Saturday, August 29.
- © Fairfax NZ News
