Interview: Emily Bautista Talks Broadway Debut in MISS SAIGON

You don't always need a fairy godmother for your dreams to come true. Instead, nineteen- year-old Emily Bautista was lucky enough to have extremely supportive parents and a boatload of talent. This lucky young woman is now performing eight times a week in the Broadway revival of "Miss Saigon" as an ensemble member and understudies the lead: Kim.

MISS SAIGON tells the story of the last days of the Vietnam War when 17-year-old Kim (Eva Noblezada) is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as the Engineer (Jon Jon Briones). There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris (Alistair Brammer) but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For three years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he has fathered a son.

Bautista and I went to high school together at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts for Musical Theatre, and I was floored and overjoyed to see that she would be making her Broadway debut. Emily took some time in between shows of the Tony-nominated production to chat with me about her experience landing her first Broadway show.

Christopher Castanho: Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from--

Emily Bautista: I'm 19, I'm currently in the Broadway company of Miss Saigon and I understudy Kim. I was recently going to college at Ithaca College for Theatre Studies, and I was actually just in the middle of transferring over to their Communications program. I had a weird college experience where I was planning on going for Musical Theatre and was denied from a lot of colleges, so I was in my head thinking 'Maybe I should try something new'. I started taking a lot of communications courses and then I got the audition for Miss Saigon, so I thought 'I'll try one last time just to see if I can do this.' And deep down I knew this really is my passion, so I went in for the audition, ten auditions later: I booked the job. I was still in Ithaca and it was a complete whirlwind, definitely changed my life.

Eva Noblezada and Devin Ilaw. Photo credit: Matthew Murphy

CC: So you said there were ten auditions, was the first one an open call? How did that all work?

EB: So I got lucky and got an appointment. Two or three years ago my dad actually reached out to Tara Rubin Casting through their website and sent an email saying 'If there are any Miss Saigon auditions my daughter is very interested in Musical Theatre and would love to audition' I had no idea he did this. A year later they emailed him back: asking for my headshot and resume, a couple months past and they set up an appointment with me and I met with Merri Sugarman of Tara Rubin Casting and after that I just kept getting called back in: taking a six hour bus ride from Ithaca to New York City every two weeks. So that was a crazy audition process, but so much fun. A lot of people in the holding room would ask me 'What audition are you on?' and I'd say '10', they would always be so surprised. The roles I were auditioning for was Kim, Kim's future replacement, or Kim Understudy and Ensemble. Luckily I booked the Ensemble/Understudy track.

CC: Have you gone on as Kim in the run?

EB: Not yet, I actually started understudy rehearsals last week. There's an alternate (Lianah Sta. Ana) and then I also understudy the track. Lianah goes on Wednesday and Saturday matinees.

CC: Tell me the story of when you heard you booked the job--

EB: I was in my dorm room, it was absolutely craziness. I was FaceTiming my boyfriend at the time, I was freaking out because one of the guys who I auditioned with messaged me asking if I had heard back yet, and I hadn't heard anything. I was so nervous and then I got an email saying I was going to get a phone call with good news about booking Miss Saigon and I just froze for a solid three minutes. My boyfriend was trying to talk to me like 'Did you get it? Did you not get it? What's up?' I remember not being able to move I was so stunned. It was a crazy day. [Laughs]

CC: What was the rehearsal process like?

EB: We started rehearsal January 12th, it was an 8:30am-5pm everyday with one day off a week. We picked the whole show a part, talked about the historical facts behind it. Laurence [Connor] our director was really great about giving us a lot of historical context surrounding our show, by watching documentaries, really understanding what these people were going through in the Vietnam war, and appreciate the artwork we have in front of us. We did a lot of cast building, our choreographer, Geoffrey Garratt, taught us a bunch of social dances from the time period. The cast really bonded for those two months.

CC: You're in a cast with seasoned Broadway and also prominent West End performers - who do you most admire in your cast?

EB: Oh my god, Eva [Noblezada] and Jon Jon [Briones] both have incredible stories. This is Jon Jon's Broadway debut though he's a little bit older in the business, and watching him work is an incredible gift. I think I cried every time I watched him in rehearsal. It's so fascinating seeing how different he is from his character of The Engineer. Jon Jon is one of the most kind, warm-hearted people I've ever met. So for him to transform into his character, it's like magic. And Eva is just so humble. She's done so much at her age, but she's so modest and crazy talented. Having her as a really good friend and learning from both her and Jon Jon is unreal. It's a great experience.

CC: What's your favorite part of the show to perform every night?

EB: I love "Dreamland" and the nightmare. So much of that is structured improv, it will change every night and playing off of my cast members, discovering new things and moments within the show that we've done eight performances a week is amazing. It was a weird experience at first because in high school you have a limited amount of performances where you give your all every single night. But I've discovered that when you're doing eight shows a week, and luckily we're on contract for a year, you do give your all, but you have more time to play with it. It continues to build and grow, and you have a lot more time to savor the experience you're having. It can get repetitive at times, but the audience changes every night and there's always a little something different.

Company. Photo credit: Matthew Murphy

CC: So you mentioned you're on contract for a year, what are your plans for after that?

EB: I definitely want to keep working, auditioning and booking more work. If there is a national tour going out of this production that would be incredible to be a part of. I just love this lifestyle, so anything to keep me in this rhythm would be great. It's been an incredible experience already and to have that continue would be a dream. In a couple months, I'll start auditioning again, transitioning into our show eight times a week and having understudy rehearsals have been a lot to balance. I definitely have a lot of people within my cast to look up to: my two dressing roommates are incredible. One just wore the gypsy robe and the other one was recently in Cinderella on Broadway. It's so great to learn from them, they give me tips every single day.

CC: You're just doing your own Broadway college experience--Do you have any plans to go back to school?

EB: [Laughs] I would love to continue working, but I definitely think I want to go back to school one day, I'd just love to put myself through it. I have siblings and my parents have done so much for me already, so that would be something I'd want to do myself. But I would still go for Communications, to broaden my horizons.

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Miss Saigon features four stars from the recent London production, Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer, Eva Noblezada as Kim, Alistair Brammer as Chris and Rachelle Ann Go as Gigi. The cast also includes Katie Rose Clarke as Ellen, Nicholas Christopher as John, Devin Ilaw as Thuy. Lianah Sta. Ana will play the role of Kim at certain performances.

Also featured in the cast of Miss Saigon are Carol Angeli, Emily Bautista, Mike Baerga, Billy Bustamante, Viveca Chow, Julian DeGuzman, Colby Dezelick, Taurean Everett, Paige Faure, Graham Scott Fleming, Casey Garvin, Nkrumah Gatling, Dan Horn, Ericka Hunter,Adam Kaokept, Lina Lee, Paul HeeSang Miller, Robert Pendilla, Catherine Ricafort, Casey Lee Ross, Jason Sermonia, Julius Sermonia, Antoine L. Smith, Sam Strasfeld, Tiffany Toh,Kimberly-Ann Truong, Kei Tsuruharatani, Christopher Vo, Travis Ward-Osborne, Charlie Williams, Anna-Lee Wright, Warren Yang, and Minami Yusui.

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 byAdrian Vaux; costume design by Andreane Neofitou; lighting design by Bruno Poet; sound design by Mick Potter; and projections by Luke Halls. Orchestrations are by William DavidBrohn; musical supervision by Stephen Brooker and musical direction by James Moore. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting / Merri Sugarman CSA.

Be sure to get tickets to see Emily and the rest of the cast of Miss Saigon by clicking HERE.