Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s legendary production of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical masterpiece MISS SAIGON, takes flight this week following an epic 9-week run at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Since landing at the theatre on 26 July 2017, the iconic musical has been seen by nearly 100,000 audience members, with 40% of those made up of new attendees.

Arriving at Birmingham Hippodrome in 16 45-foot trailers, a 45-strong team of production staff and backstage crew worked around the clock for two and a half full days and nights to bring this epic production to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage.

The celebrated UK touring production, described by The Times as ‘a triumph of popular entertainment’, features an international cast of 38 plus 15-piece orchestra – one of the largest currently touring in the UK. The smash-hit musical will go on to visit Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin (Wednesday 4 October to Saturday 18 November), Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (29 November 2017 – 6 January 2018), Festival Theatre Edinburgh (17 January – 17 February 2018) and Mayflower Southampton (21 February – 17 March 2018) as part of a major new UK Tour.

Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome, Fiona Allan, said: ‘When it comes to five-star spectacle and production values to match, musicals really don’t come much bigger that Miss Saigon. The audience response to the show over the last nine weeks has been truly phenomenal and the great reviews just keep on coming in. We’re particularly delighted to have welcomed so many new audiences through our doors to witness this incredible show in what has been a highly successful Summer season here at Birmingham Hippodrome. As ever, we are extremely proud of our long-standing relationship with Sir Cameron Mackintosh and our reputation for bringing the very best of the West End to the West Midlands. We wish the show every possible success for the remainder of the tour’.

Since its London premiere in 1989, Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s West End and Broadway blockbuster Miss Saigon has become one of the most successful musicals in history. Last seen on the Birmingham Hippodrome stage in 2005, this new UK touring production stars Red Concepcion as ‘The Engineer’, Sooha Kim as ‘Kim’, Ashley Gilmour as ‘Chris’, Zoë Doano as ‘Ellen’, Ryan O’Gorman as ‘John’ and Gerald Santos as ‘Thuy’. At certain performances ‘The Engineer’ will be played by Christian Rey Marbella, and ‘Kim’ will be played by Joreen Bautista. Marsha Songcome will play ‘Gigi’ until 1 August when Na-Young Jeon will take over the role.

Winner of a record-breaking nine Whatsonstage awards including Best show, Miss Saigon tells the story of the last days of the Vietnam War, in which a 17 year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as the Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For 3 years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he’s fathered a son.

The original Broadway production of Miss Saigon opened on April 11, 1991 with what was the largest advance sale in Broadway history ($37 million).  The show went on to play for nearly ten years and 4,063 performances seen by more than 5.9 million people.

Miss Saigon has been performed in 28 countries, over 300 cities in 15 different languages, has won over 40 awards including 2 Olivier Awards, 3 Tony Awards, and 4 Drama Desk Awards and been seen by over 35 million people worldwide. In March, this production of Miss Saigon opened on Broadway where it plays to nightly ovations.

When the smash-hit run of this production opened in London in May 2014 to record-breaking advance sales and critical acclaim, Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph wrote, “This thrilling new production spills out beyond the theatre and speaks directly to the times we live in”. The show swept the board at the 2015 Whatsonstage.com awards winning a record breaking nine awards, the most awards ever won by a single show in the 15-year history of the awards including: Best West End Show and Best Revival of a Musical.