BWW Interviews: Jon Jon Briones, The Engineer In MISS SAIGON!
By: Carrie Dunn Apr. 30, 2014
Miss Saigon, one of the epic mega-musicals of the 1980s, returns to London this weekend. After its original record-breaking West End run, the new cast has the task of reinventing the show for a new generation.
Are they nervous?
"I'm just happy to be here!" says Jon Jon Briones, who plays the Engineer. "There's so much attention to it. I knew it was big, but didn't realise it was so big - there's so much expectation, and because it's been gone 15 years and now it's back, people have been waiting for it for a long time, and now it's here, they are expecting great things."
He's confident that the cast will fulfil those expectations in their new imagining of the show - and they'll attract a new, young audience as well.
"The story needs to be told. It happened. We tell it in a different way, and I think a more effective way.
"When it comes to war, we have not learnt our lessons - it's still around us - and you hear stories of love and sacrifice and all those things."
The Engineer is a role that Briones has played many times before, but he says there is still more to discover in him.
"It's so much fun to play a character who is unlikeable. There's an endless way to find things about him. His objective is still the same, but you can always push the envelope with him - he is such an extreme person and his wants are so defined."
This time round, with leads Eva Noblezada and Alistair Brammer, it's a very young cast that Briones is working with ("I'm older than Eva's parents!" he laughs), and he's adamant that it's a great experience for him.
"They make me young! They're giving me energy to do this - and to keep up with them!" he laughs - and then he's off once more to create the Engineer's American Dream.
Miss Saigon begins its run at the Prince Edward Theatre this week.
