Interview - Red Concepcion (Miss Saigon)

Miss Saigon, the blockbuster musical, is back! Setting off on a tour of the UK and Ireland, the show is bound to capture the hearts of many first time audiences, as well as dedicated fans. An exciting cast of performers, old and new, has been assembled for this new tour, and amongst them is Red Concepcion. Hailing from the Philippines, where his achievements in musical theatre include the Aliw Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the Gawad Buhay Award for his performance as Adam/Felicia in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, in his UK theatre debut Red will be taking on the role of The Engineer, the devious owner of the Dreamland bar and brothel where the events of Miss Saigon begin. As he prepares to hit the road, Red Concepcion speaks about his experience of the show, what the rehearsal process has been like, and what he hopes audiences will take away from it at the end.


Red reflects on his experience so far, remarking that the rehearsal process has been ‘a little overwhelming for someone who hasn’t seen the show, and who comes from another country, because obviously the process it very different, but very exhilarating’. It may surprise people to hear that Red has never seen Miss Saigon before. ‘It went to Manila but I think I was too young to see it, but I’ve been a fan of the music for a long time. It’s beautiful, beautiful music’, he explains, ‘When I was a kid it was very big in the Philippines so I think we listened to the cassette tape. I had the whole album and I used to listen to it a lot’.

In some ways it’s possibly advantageous to be coming into the show fresh. It’s undoubtedly an iconic role, and one which frequently divides audiences. ‘The whole show is kind of a cautionary tale about war, and what war does to people, and The Engineer, although he’s funny and whimsical, more than that I want the audience to see the show to be like “if I ever find myself in war, or in a country in turmoil, or unrest, I should not turn into that guy!” Because he’s very conniving, very scheming, to get what he wants’. However, just like the rest of the characters within the musical, Red identifies that The Engineer is a victim of circumstance too. ‘He kind of has this inherent hatred of who he is. He wants to be an American, so he’s got an inherent hatred of himself, but he’s also knows and admires himself for all his cunning and his smarts, so having those two things in one person, constantly battling is very challenging, but a good challenge to be explored.’
Red Concepcion in rehearsals for the Miss Saigon UK Tour
Photo Credit - Manuel Harlan
The new tour features cast members from the West End production of Miss Saigon, such as leading actress Sooha Kim, who previously understudied the role in London before taking the lead in a production in Japan. However, it also features a load of new faces. It’s not hard to imagine that for a production so big, and with such a reputation, the pressure to get things right would be high, but as Red explains, ‘the creative team is very supportive and you can tell than they want us to do good, so it’s a very gruelling process but also a very encouraging lovable atmosphere.’ Reflecting on his experiences in rehearsals so far he laughs, ‘whenever I feel like I’m about to get stressed, everybody’s so loving and there’s really no cause to lose your mind.’

Speaking more generally about Miss Saigon, it’s not a surprise to hear his favourite part of the show to perform is The American Dream. 'It’s a show stopper, it’s so fun to do, working on it with the choreography and with the rest of the cast, I just love doing it’. Undoubtedly The American Dream, an outlandish dream sequence of a song which features countless dancers flooding the stage, along with a couple of pretty big symbols of wealthy America, is a jaw dropping and memorable highlight of the show which allows the actor playing The Engineer to cut loose for several minutes. He notes however that his favourite part of the show to watch is in fact Morning of The Dragon. ‘They pull out all the stops and they’ve got an amazing cast of dancers, and they just kill it every time’. It’s a lesser spoken about but equally breath-taking moment in the show, which shows a parade in Ho Chi Minh City celebrating the third anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam. The moment acts as a time jump within the story, and is just one of many incredible moments of spectacle within the show.

It’s partly this element of spectacle that Red identifies as a selling point of Miss Saigon. He enthuses that ‘Miss Saigon is a modern classic. There’s nothing like it in terms of its scope and its scale, the music that it has, and the storytelling that it manages to do’. And what does he hope that audiences will gain if they buy a ticket? ‘They’ll be laughing, they’ll be enjoying themselves, and thoroughly entertained, but also it’ll open their minds about a lot of things, like race, and war… everything.’

For more information visit www.miss-saigon.com