SAIGON AT 25: Thoughts From The Gala!

When tickets for Miss Saigon's 25th anniversary performance went on sale, Delfont Mackintosh's website crashed as thousands of people logged on to try and buy tickets (at 1989 prices) for the one-off performance on Monday night. I spent an hour prodding frustratedly at the website and 15 minutes on hold before I made a last minute dash across London to get to the box office five minutes before the priority window ended and was lucky enough to get tickets in row D of the Upper Circle (as an indication of how fast tickets were going, tickets in Row A of the same section disappeared in the time it took the man at the box office to say "I can do you two in row A of the Upper Circle").

And I can say it was definitely worth it to see cast - past and present - mark the special night. There weren't any changes to the show itself for the anniversary (at least not as far as we could tell from our perch in the gods) except that the audience was, predictably, in full voice and showing its appreciation at every opportunity. The cast sounded and looked great and were clearly giving it their all - something that I'm sure will be evident when the recording of the gala is broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

As the cast took their bows, bottles of champagne were passed out in the auditorium and as the cheering finally died down, Briones stepped forward and asked the audience to bear with them for a few minutes and they'd be back with a special finale - Cameron Mackintosh style. So, sipping free champagne (the best sort of champagne), reading our special souvenir programmes we all waited with bated breath.

When the curtain went back up, it was as if they'd reset for the start of the show. A figure in black, wearing a conical Vietnamese hat stood centre stage. But when the figure looked up, it wasn't current Kim Eva Noblezada, but Lea Salonga - the original Kim from 1989 - in a black tux with sparkly lapels. Now I'll admit that at this point I dissolved into a mess of tears as she sang on stage - with a massed cast coming out to join her. This was followed by a reprise of Movie in My Mind with Salonga joined on stage by Rachelle Ann Go, which saw some awesome riffing from Go - which Salonga really enjoyed. Then original Chris, Simon Bowman, joined Salonga to sing Last Night of the World, which turned into a bit of a duel of the couples - as current Chris and Kim, Noblezada and Alistair Brammer, joined in - only for the Chrises to swap Kims mid-song and do a bit of competitive romance.

This was followed by an encore of The American Dream - with original Engineer Jonathan Pryce in the rickshaw and strutting his stuff - joined later in the number by Briones. There were a few lyric changes with Pryce referencing his advancing years - "Ah here come my carers" as the ensemble appeared and "Matron told me I'd enjoy it" as he started his speech at the end of the number!

Cameron Mackintosh, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg were the occupants of the American Dream Cadillac and made speeches at the end of the number. By this point the stage was already pretty full - of the current cast and Miss Saigon alumni - but they were joined by the 1989 cast who pushed Jon Jon Briones down to the end of the line - referencing the fact that he was in the ensemble 25 years ago. Then the red and gold ticker tape exploded over the audience and it was over - as champagne was passed around on stage and the massed casts started taking selfies. I do hope those TV cameras were recording. Hint hint.

Verity Wilde is a journalist.