LONDON—It’s not a movie in her mind; this is really happening. Filipino pop star Rachelle Ann Go is living her dream as a cast member of the Tony Award-winning musical “Miss Saigon” in London’s West End.
The thrill of the very first standing ovation she experienced onstage at the Prince Edward Theatre has not waned; it repeats every performance night. “These are people from all over the world—iba-ibang lahi (different races) applauding us, and there are many Filipinos in the cast. It started on preview night, May 3. I still can’t believe it,” Rachelle Ann told a handful of journalists from home on Wednesday.
Because her character Gigi delivers one of the early show-stoppers, “The Movie in My Mind,” audience members remember her. Some of them wait at the stage door for her autograph after. Filipino fans stop her on Old Compton Street, where the 80-year-old theater stands, for “selfies” or just to converse with her briefly.
All the apprehension that came with deciding to embark on this journey is gone now. “But on my first few days here in London, and especially at work, I was very scared,” she admitted. “I just stood in a corner, very quiet, trying not to tremble in my bikini. Can you imagine—and I am playing a jaded bar girl! All the other girls were (snaps her fingers briskly) from the start.”
THE MOVIE IN HER MIND Filipino pop star Rachelle Ann Go is living her dream and enjoying the “Miss Saigon” experience as Gigi, the bar girl in the revival of the iconic musical. EMMIE G. VELARDE
Snapping out of it
Her Filipino colleagues, especially Fil-Am Jon Jon Briones, who is top-billed as The Engineer, helped her snap out of it. “I soon realized what I was capable of.”
What she is capable of is, to put it simply, more than she ever thought she was. Let alone the flawless singing, Rachelle Ann now bumps and grinds and struts across the stage like the toughened woman for hire that she portrays. Gigi is groped and mashed and slapped around, and she emerges defiant. For the audience, nine times a week, the Filipino singer-actress emerges victorious.
“Our director, Laurence Connor, made it clear to me from the start that he didn’t want Gigi to come across as a victim,” Rachelle Ann explained. “The very first lines of ‘The Movie in My Mind’ should be dripping with anger—‘They are not nice, they’re mostly noise/ They swear like men, they screw like boys’—and delivered by a woman who will get even.”
That was the easy part. It was the costumes that gave her pause—or, more precisely, the alarming lack of body cover. For the most part, she is in sparkly string bikinis. In her last number, she appears in a white mink coat over a bikini bottom and tasseled pasties.
Precious advice
“I’m used to it now but it wasn’t easy. Back home, even in Boracay, I would wear shorts with my two-piece swimsuits.” Besides, she got precious advice from Filipino “Miss Saigon” alumni, including Lea Salonga the original Kim (title role), who urged her to go to the Manila tryouts in 2012 and later famously told her, “People will not remember what you wore, only how you sang.”
As for the physical abuse that Gigi gets from the GIs, Rachelle Ann said, “Everyone is so professional. Even with Hugh (Maynard, British actor reprising the role of the brusque GI John), I have never felt taken advantage of. In fact, it made me empathize with my character more. I realize this is what she has to endure. And when The Engineer slaps Gigi, I feel it in my bones. Kawawa naman si (Poor) Gigi. This is why she is driven by rage.”
Needless to say, she is happy and grateful to be part of the “Saigon” family.
Grueling work
“This environment can only make you better as an artist. There are 18 nationalities in the cast and the bonding is incredible. I have learned so many things since coming here in March (when rehearsals commenced). Sometimes, Cameron (Mackintosh, producer) drops by. Even if his presence is not announced, you feel it; it’s electric. Outside of the producer mode, he is so bubbly, and he talks to everybody.”
It is grueling work, though, at least for now. The cast still has daily rehearsals. Rachelle Ann, who shares a flat 20 minutes away from the theater via Underground train with Tanya Manalang—Filipino cast mate who alternates as Kim—is up at 7 a.m. “Malayo rin ang rehearsal studio (The rehearsal studio is quite a distance),” she explained. Evening performances start at 7:30. She is almost never home before 11 p.m.
“I have also learned many things about myself, as a person, since coming here in March (when preparations commenced). I do everything on my own. The first time I went to the grocery I had to text Mama in Manila because I didn’t know what to buy. Now I am able to cook all my favorite dishes—adobo, gising-gising, kare-kare, chicken with pineapple … About time, too. I am turning 28 this year.”
Her mother, Russell, 50, confirmed in a phone interview yesterday that her eldest is constantly in touch. “We exchange text messages, sometimes chat online, even when she has only a few minutes in the dressing room before the show,” she told the Inquirer.
She is going to London in October, Russell said, with all three of Rachelle Ann’s siblings, including the designer Ozgo and an aunt. Her daughter has “prepared” the whole family for what could be a shock, Russell said. “So we know about the costumes and all the scenes. We told her she shouldn’t worry about us.”
Loving London
Rachelle Ann’s contract is for one year. There is talk of bringing the show to Broadway. She welcomes the prospect, but she is still enjoying the London experience. “Mr. (Claude-Michel) Schönberg (cocreator, concept, book and music) recently asked, ‘Are you loving London?’ I could only say, ‘Yes, yes!’”
She has considered life here after “Miss Saigon.” Maybe another musical? She admitted, “I cannot help wondering, if I went for this or that role in this or that play…”
Meanwhile, she is due for a break in July. “I’m probably going to Paris. It’s a short break,” she said. “We get a month’s vacation each. I broke up mine in parts.”
During that break, an understudy takes over her role. She has two—Marsha Songcome, a Thai who grew up in Sweden, and Kanako Nakano, born and raised in Japan, but has lived in the United Kingdom since 1997. Both are trained in the theater arts. Rachelle Ann told the Inquirer in January that she didn’t think she stood a chance with these two girls.
Her first interview with Mackintosh after that was intoxicating, she said. “He asked if I had friends in London. I said I didn’t. To which he replied, ‘Well, you will now.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Longer exposure
At the after-party on opening night, Rachelle Ann recounted, the producer, who owns the Prince Edward Theatre and eight others in London, thanked her for accepting the role. “He thanked me! That was very gracious of him. I felt really welcome and safe.”
It is quite clear the producer and creators of “Miss Saigon” put much premium on her presence in the production. Keen observers of the musical note longer exposure for the Gigi character and the more elaborate curtain call.
In a Manila fundraiser that featured the music of Schönberg and Alain Boublil (book and lyrics), Rachelle Ann sang a new song written for the “Miss Saigon” revival. “Maybe” is now sung by the character Ellen (GI Chris’ wife). Rachelle Ann told the Inquirer in January, “It was the first time the song would be performed and I knew Mr. Schönberg would be closely watching. I was very nervous singing it, I almost cried. But he was very happy about it and told me later, ‘You are my star!’”
Not highest-paying gig
“Miss Saigon” is not her highest-paying gig so far but, Rachelle Ann told the Inquirer in January, “This is not about money. When I was offered the role, I didn’t even ask about the salary. All I could think of was London, and West End. I was willing to do it for food!”
To think it wasn’t planned. “All I ever wanted to do was sing and I was already doing that. Four years ago, I knew nothing of musical theater,” Rachelle Ann said. “Then I watched ‘Miss Saigon’ in Canada and decided to do that, too, from then on.” And she did, starring in local productions of “Little Mermaid” and then “Tarzan.”
Russell Go said, “I am proud of my daughter, most of all because she made up her mind to do something outside of what everyone thought was her career path, and did it in a big way.”
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