Miss Saigon returns to West End
Laurence Connor and James Powell, the directing team behind the Broadway-bound revival of Les Miserables, will reinvent another iconic Cameron Mackintosh mega-musical, Miss Saigon, according to The New York Post. Saigon will reportedly replace Jersey Boys at London’s Prince Edward Theatre. The re-imagined West End production will open in late 2013, then hopes to transfer to Broadway at a yet to be determined date. Casting has not yet been announced. Miss Saigon was penned by composers Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, the duo who also created Les Misérables. The story is an updated telling of Madame Butterfly set during the Vietnam War and revolves around the tragic love story between Chris, an American GI, and Kim, a local Vietnamese girl. The show premiered in London's West End in 1989 and opened on Broadway in 1991, running 4,092 performances before closing in 2001. Miss Saigon won three Tony Awards for original stars Lea Salonga, Jonathan Pryce and Hinton Battle. Salonga and Pryce also picked up Olivier Awards for their performances.
