Red Concepcion, the Filipino who plays the Engineer in the North American Tour of Miss Saigon recently shared that the show will be closing due to COVID-19. This is the most recent casualty brought by the pandemic which has also shut down Broadway in New York City.
Just last week, it was announced that Miss Saigon was going to have a two-week break. Red was going to use the time of social distancing to write his memoirs which he might call “What A Waste: The American Dream Interrupted”.
Today on Facebook, however, Red shared that they were already notified of the tour’s closing because of the threat of Coronavirus. In his FB post, He already said “au revoir” to the musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and expressed his gratitude after approximately doing 850 performances in three countries, and two continents. He says, “Today we just got word that the Miss Saigon North American Tour has come to a close due to the very real threat of CoVid19. An abrupt ending to such an amazing journey. Not the way I would’ve wanted to go, to be sure. But all in all, I couldn’t ask for a better experience. I have loved every goddamn second of it, but more importantly, I fiercely love each and every person I have met along the way”.
Miss Saigon’s official website shows that the musical was already booked to have performances up to June 2020 in US cities including Baltimore, Columbus, and Milwaukee. It also said however that “The health and safety of the audiences, theater employees, cast, crew, and musicians are our top priority. Theaters may be closed and performances canceled/postponed as a result of COVID-19 Coronavirus precautions or mandates.” No official announcement yet on its closing.
Red leads the Miss Saigon cast along with Emily Bautista as Kim, Anthony Festa as Chris, J Daughtry as John, and Eymard Cabling, another Filipino in the ensemble who also plays the Engineer in certain performances.
As of this writing, messages of love and support are already pouring, in response to Red’s post including ones from former cast members, friends, and fellow thespians from Manila.
Red’s time in Miss Saigon is definitely not a waste because he has made so many Filipinos very proud. We will miss Saigon but we also can’t wait to see him shine in his next projects.
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