Chords for Lea Salonga & Eva Noblezada: Interview - BBC Breakfast (2014)

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Lea Salonga & Eva Noblezada: Interview - BBC Breakfast (2014) chords
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Well, we're just watching Eva Nobles-Arda, who plays Kim in the current production, and Lea Salonga, who played the part.
I [F] can't believe a quarter of a century ago.
It feels mean to say that.
No, we need to say that.
It was 25 years ago.
And I've seen that clip of the close-up singing together and thinking, I hope he did the breath freshener.
Oh yeah, fingers crossed.
No problems there.
Tell us, first of all, how you were chosen for the role.
It came to you as a surprise in some ways, didn't it?
I guess it kind of did.
They had looked, well, according to Cameron and now the Anne and Claude Michel, who were definitely part of the creative team of Miss Saigon,
they had searched everywhere.
They came to London first, then they went to New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu, then to the Philippines.
A worldwide search.
It was a worldwide search, and that's where they found me.
I was 17 years old at my audition, turned 18, and then headed to the UK to start rehearsals.
So it was something.
It definitely changed my life.
And massive pressure on you at the time because it was untested.
Yeah, brand new material.
Whereas for you, although the spotlight's right on it, you knew at least the product was there.
Absolutely, yeah.
My story's not too different from Lea's, though.
I was only 17 when I was picked and I auditioned as well.
And I only turned 18, I think, three weeks into rehearsal, and then we moved to the theatre, so it's quite extraordinary.
You're age to take on such a big role, actually, isn't it?
Well, Kim's age isn't too far off.
Yeah, she starts at 17.
She starts at 17.
[Ab] But it's interesting how much you can see her grow [Eb] in a span of two hours and 45 minutes.
It's an adaptive version of the story Mud and Butterfly by Buccini, isn't it?
Which is, of course, set in Japan, and this has been moved of a woman who falls in love with a foreigner and has a child with him.
And then he goes away and comes back and tragedy ensues.
Shall we have a look at you performing beautifully 25 years ago?
Oh my goodness.
Oh, it's lovely.
You knew from the first night, actually, that it was going to be an absolute smash because of the audience reception, didn't you?
At first preview, [N] after so many of the rehearsals and so many dress rehearsals, and we had to cancel, actually, the first two previews,
just to make sure that all of the technical elements in the show were running perfectly, because we had a few mishaps in a previous dress rehearsal.
But on September the 6th was our very first preview, 1989, and the audience just rose up on their feet.
And I was running down, it was a raked stage, so momentum was just going to carry you all the way to the end.
So run, run, run, hit center, downstage center, and then the audience, you could just see them coming up on their feet.
And it's like, wow, that is crazy.
It was an amazing, amazing sight.
And tell us about the reaction from the audience 25 years later, because you're still moving people, aren't you?
Yeah, [Eb] it was amazing because you could see in the audience there was a mixture of hardcore Miss Saigon fans that were there opening night at Drury Lane,
as well as people who had never seen the production before, so it was a really interesting mix, but yet it was so electric.
So the cast was overwhelmed, it was such an amazing night.
The new production, is it very different to, well, it's going to be largely the same, but there are some changes to the new production to fit the new theater, and there's a new song as well, is there?
Yes, Ellen's new song, Maybe.
I would say that the changes are quite drastic in a way, in a way that the production has a lot more world history now to back it up.
It's a lot grittier and really raw and organic.
Yeah, a lot of lyric changes, actually.
Interesting.
But it's a good [G] thing.
Because it needed to move on?
No, it [E] isn't that.
I think it was always considered a work in progress as far as the creative team was concerned.
This was not working, [N] and even if something wasn't working 25 years ago, yes, you'd have to kind of keep it and see what it was that just wasn't working.
I mean, Ellen's song, Claude Michel would always say that this was the one moment that always felt like it needed something else.
And the new song was only written very recently, like in the last couple of years.
Well, hers is a particularly difficult character to portray in the book and the music, if you like, because she's sort of from, in a sense, not a popular character, but in a sense she's not done anything wrong.
No, she's not done anything wrong.
I think that was the problem with the struggle with her character, having the audience not look at her as the bad guy, because she's not in any way.
She just happens to be the American wife of the
Tell us, what was it like taking on that role and looking back over the recordings that there were 25 years ago?
Did that add quite a lot of pressure?
It did, it did, but
We're so sorry.
No, it did, but it was very inspiring.
It just gave me, as well as the rest of the cast, more momentum to be like, let's do it 25 years later, let's knock this out of the park.
[Eb] But it's nice to know that the Miss Saigon family is so big.
It's big.
It's huge.
You went to Broadway, didn't you?
I did, yeah.
Are you going to Broadway?
They have to do it.
Are there plans to go to Broadway?
It had better go.
It had better go?
I'm seriously saying it had better go.
It needs to go back.
And what about a film?
Because there were suggestions a few years ago that there would be a film, and I think, was it Cameron McIntosh said, well, it depends how the film of Les Mis does?
And the film of Les Mis did all right, didn't it?
I think it did, yeah.
Respectably.
When you first came here to the UK, I read that you were sort of quite intimidated by the costumes, as well.
I was.
It's not intimidation, it's freak out.
Really?
It's freak out.
I mean, I grew up in a very conservative, Catholic home, and covering up was more the norm than it was the exception.
And so when I looked at the costume sketches, I was having a heart attack.
Yeah.
And I told my mother, when I went home, I told my mom, who was living with me, it's bikinis, it's see-through this, it's, it's, it's, I couldn't even say the words.
And I called my father, who was in the Philippines, and I freaked out over the phone with him.
And he's like, honey, they're not going to remember you for the bikini.
They're going to remember you for when you shoot yourself at the end of the show.
So, that makes me feel so much better.
It's, it's 25 years on.
I think everybody knows what happens at the end.
And if you don't, shame on you.
Did you, 25 years later, did you have costume issues, or things moved on so much that it doesn't really matter?
Costumes didn't change.
Not really.
Did you feel awkward, though?
A little bit.
I mean, who wouldn't feel awkward in a bikini on stage?
Yeah, and you're singing in a see-through thing, and you're trying to keep your stomach in, and you're flat, and it's like, how do I breathe with my core all, like, tensed up like this?
One of the lesser challenges of what is a very, very demanding job, which you've both completed very well.
Thank you both so much for coming along today.
Thank you.
Miss Saigon is currently on at the Prince Edward Theatre in London.
That's it from us for today.
Of course, it's a very big day tomorrow.
On Breakfast, we'll be following the proceedings from 6 o'clock tomorrow morning.
We will do.
We'll see you then.
Have a good day.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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Well, we're just watching Eva Nobles-Arda, who plays Kim in the current production, and Lea Salonga, who played the part.
I [F] can't believe a quarter of a century ago.
It feels mean to say that.
_ No, we need to say that.
It was 25 years ago.
_ And I've seen that clip of the close-up singing together and thinking, I hope he did the breath freshener.
Oh yeah, _ fingers crossed.
No _ _ problems there.
Tell us, first of all, how you were chosen for the role.
_ It came to you as a surprise in some ways, didn't it?
I guess it kind of did.
They had looked, _ well, according to Cameron and now the Anne and Claude Michel, who were definitely part of the creative team of Miss Saigon,
they had searched everywhere.
They came to London first, then they went to New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu, then to the Philippines.
A worldwide search.
It was a worldwide search, and that's where they found me.
I was 17 years old at my audition, turned 18, and then headed to the UK to start rehearsals.
So it was _ something.
It definitely changed my life.
And massive pressure on you at the time because it was _ _ untested.
Yeah, brand new material.
Whereas for you, _ _ although the spotlight's right on it, you knew at least the product was there.
Absolutely, yeah.
_ My story's not too different from Lea's, though.
I was only 17 when I was picked and I auditioned as well.
And I only turned 18, I think, three weeks into rehearsal, and then we moved to the theatre, so it's quite extraordinary.
You're age to take on such a big role, actually, isn't it?
Well, Kim's age isn't too far off.
Yeah, she starts at 17.
She starts at 17.
[Ab] _ _ But it's interesting how much you can see her grow [Eb] in a span of two hours and 45 minutes.
It's an adaptive version of the story Mud and Butterfly by Buccini, isn't it?
Which is, of course, set in Japan, and this has been moved of a woman who falls in love with a foreigner and has a child with him.
And then he goes away and comes back and tragedy ensues.
Shall we have a look at _ you performing beautifully 25 years ago?
Oh my goodness. _
Oh, it's lovely.
You knew from the first night, actually, that it was going to be an absolute smash because of the audience reception, didn't you?
At first preview, [N] after so many of the rehearsals and so many dress rehearsals, and we had to cancel, actually, the first two previews,
just to make sure that all of the technical elements in the show were running perfectly, because we had a few mishaps in a previous dress rehearsal. _ _
But on September the 6th was our very first preview, 1989, and the audience just rose up on their feet.
And I was running down, it was a raked stage, so momentum was just going to carry you all the way to the end.
So run, run, run, hit center, downstage center, and then the audience, you could just see them coming up on their feet.
And it's like, wow, that is crazy.
It was an amazing, amazing sight.
And tell us about the reaction from the audience 25 years later, because you're still moving people, aren't you?
Yeah, [Eb] it was amazing because you could see in the audience there was a mixture of hardcore Miss Saigon fans that were there opening night at Drury Lane,
as well as people who had never seen the production before, so it was a really interesting mix, but yet it was so electric.
So the cast was _ overwhelmed, it was such an amazing night.
The new production, is it very different to, well, it's going to be largely the same, but there are some changes to the new production to fit the new theater, and there's a new song as well, is there?
Yes, _ _ Ellen's new song, Maybe.
_ _ I would say that the changes are quite drastic in a way, in a way that the production has a lot more world history now to back it up.
It's a lot grittier and really raw and organic.
_ Yeah, a lot of lyric changes, actually.
Interesting.
But it's a good [G] thing.
Because it needed to move on?
No, it [E] isn't that.
I think it was always considered a work in progress as far as the creative _ team was concerned.
This was not working, [N] and even if something wasn't working 25 years ago, yes, you'd have to kind of keep it and see what it was that just wasn't working.
I mean, Ellen's song, Claude Michel would always say that this was the one moment that always felt like it needed something else.
And the new song was only written very recently, like in the last couple of years.
Well, hers is a particularly difficult character to portray in the book and the music, if you like, because she's sort of from, in a sense, not a popular character, but in a sense she's not done anything wrong.
No, she's not done anything wrong.
I think that was the problem with the struggle with her character, having the audience not look at her as the bad guy, because she's not in any way.
She just happens to be the American wife of the_
Tell us, what was it like taking on that role and looking back over the recordings that there were 25 years ago?
Did that add quite a lot of pressure?
It did, it did, but_
We're so sorry.
No, it did, but it was very inspiring.
_ It just gave me, as well as the rest of the cast, more momentum to be like, let's do it 25 years later, let's knock this out of the park.
[Eb] But it's nice to know that the Miss Saigon family is so big.
It's big.
It's huge.
You went to Broadway, didn't you?
I did, yeah.
Are you going to Broadway? _
They have to do it.
Are there plans to go to Broadway?
It had better go.
It had better go?
I'm seriously saying it had better go.
It needs to go back.
And what about a film?
Because there were suggestions a few years ago that there would be a film, and I think, was it Cameron McIntosh said, well, it depends how the film of Les Mis does?
And the film of Les Mis did all right, didn't it?
I think it did, yeah.
_ Respectably.
_ _ When you first came here to the UK, I read that you were sort of quite intimidated by the costumes, as well.
I was.
It's not intimidation, it's freak out.
Really?
It's freak out.
I mean, I grew up in a very conservative, _ Catholic home, and covering up was more the norm than it was the exception.
And so when I looked at the costume sketches, I was having a heart attack.
Yeah.
And I told my mother, when I went home, I told my mom, who was living with me, _ it's bikinis, it's see-through this, it's, it's, it's, I couldn't even say the words.
And I called my father, who was in the Philippines, and I freaked out over the phone with him.
And he's like, honey, _ they're not going to remember you for the bikini.
They're going to remember you for when you shoot yourself at the end of the show.
_ So, that makes me feel so much better.
It's, it's 25 years on.
I think everybody knows what happens at the end.
And if you don't, shame on you.
Did you, 25 years later, did you have costume issues, or things moved on so much that it doesn't really matter?
Costumes didn't change.
Not really. _
Did you feel awkward, though?
_ A little bit.
I mean, who wouldn't feel awkward in a bikini on stage?
Yeah, and you're singing in a see-through thing, and you're trying to keep your stomach in, and you're flat, and it's like, how do I breathe with my core all, like, tensed up like this?
One of the lesser challenges of what is a very, very demanding job, which you've both completed very well.
Thank you both so much for coming along today.
Thank you.
Miss Saigon is currently on at the Prince Edward Theatre in London.
That's it from us for today.
Of course, it's a very big day tomorrow.
On Breakfast, we'll be following the proceedings from 6 o'clock tomorrow morning.
We will do.
We'll see you then.
Have a good day.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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