Preview: Miss Saigon at Sunderland Empire

CAMERON MACKINTOSH

BRINGS AWARD-WINNING EPIC PRODUCTION OF

“MISS SAIGON”
TO SUNDERLAND EMPIRE  FOR 3 WEEKS ONLY

Miss Saigon

Sunderland Empire

24 October - 17 November 2018.

Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular award-winning epic production of Boublil and Schönberg’s legendary musical Miss Saigon will land at Sunderland Empire on 24 October 2018 for a LIMITED 3 WEEK engagement until 17 November 2018.

Miss Saigon is one of the largest productions on tour with a cast of 38, orchestra of 15 and a technical team of 32 who bring the show to life 8 times a week.

It will take 16 45-foot trailers to move the production to Sunderland Empire! 100 production and local crew will be involved in putting the show in to Sunderland, working 24 hours a day for 3 days, making MISS SAIGON one of the biggest productions ever to be seen on the Empire stage.

The Miss Saigon touring company includes 38 adult cast members from 10 nationalities including British, Filipino, Thai, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, Singaporian, Swedish, Dutch and Malaysian. The backstage team includes a Company Manager, an Assistant Company Manager, 5 Stage Management, a Retail Manager, 6 Stage Crew, 4 Flymen, 5 Follow-Spot Operators, 3 Touring Carpenters, 3 Automation Operators, 4 Sound Operators, Touring Electricians, 9 Dressers, 4 Wigs Personnel and 5 Wardrobe Personnel. Two touring chaperones (for the children playing ‘Tam’) and a touring physiotherapist. A Musical Director, alongside 15 members of the orchestra. The show also tours with a Resident Director to make sure the shows artistic standards are maintained.

The famous helicopter in the show weighs over 3 tons and the blade span of the helicopter at full extension is 2.6 metres. At full height it’s the same as 1.5 London double Decker buses, it has 10 different moving elements, independently controlled and there are over 35 feedback functions on board. In an 8 show week the Helicopter rotor blades spin approximately 3,600 times. By the end of the tour, the helicopter will have travelled an Olympic running track over 50 times, that’s over 20,000 metres!

The epic love story of our time, Miss Saigon tells the story of the last days of the Vietnam War, 17 year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as the Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For 3 years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he's fathered a son.

Since its London premiere in 1989, Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s legendary musical Miss Saigon has become one of the most successful musicals in history.  The original Broadway production of Miss Saigon opened on April 11, 1991 with what was the largest advance sale in Broadway history ($37 million).  The show went on to play for nearly ten years and 4,063 performances seen by more than 5.9 million people.

Miss Saigon has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil, adapted from original French lyrics by Alain Boublil, with additional lyrics by Michael Mahler. The new production is directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging by Bob Avian and additional choreography by Geoffrey Garratt.  Production design is by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley based on an original concept by Adrian Vaux; costume design by Andreane Neofitou; lighting design by Bruno Poet; projections by Luke Halls; sound design by Mick Potter; and orchestrations by William David Brohn.

Miss Saigon has been performed in 32 countries, 369 cities and in 15 different languages. The acclaimed production has won over 70 awards including 2 Olivier Awards, 3 Tony Awards, and 4 Drama Desk Awards and it has now been seen by over 36 million people worldwide.  

Tickets - Sunderland Empire Box Office on High Street West, via the ticket centre 0844 871 3022* or from our affiliate ATG Tickets: http://bit.ly/SunderlandSaigon.  *calls cost up to 7p per minute plus standard network charges. Booking and transaction fees may apply to telephone and online bookings.