Mackintosh: Filipinos make music come alive

CAMERON Mackintosh, 69, the theater mogul behind Broadway and West End megamusicals “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” refuses to rest on his laurels.

“At the moment, I’m busy running and reinventing the shows that I have created,” he said in an exclusive interview at Solaire Resort and Casino on Wednesday (on the invitation of Smart Infinity and Concertus, which arranged this one-on-one chat). “After 25 or more years of doing those shows, I felt it was time for a new generation of artists and musicians to retell their stories,” he said.

According to Mackintosh, the version of “Les Miserables” that began its run in Manila last week at The Theatre in Solaire, was the same as the latest incarnation that reopened on Broadway in 2014, and was the version staged in Australia and Japan recently.

“I don’t want the old versions anymore—the only production of ‘Les Mis’ that is still being seen in its original form is the one currently running in London,” he said.

As for “Miss Saigon,” the recent one in London is the version going to Broadway soon, with Jon Jon Briones portraying The Engineer and Eva Noblezada as Kim, the producer said.

Casting dispute

What does he remember most about the dispute with the Actors’ Equity in New York over the casting of Pryce, a Caucasian, in the role of a Eurasian, in “Miss Saigon”?

Said Mackintosh: “Listen, it happened at a time when Asian actors were finding great difficulty to get work. Ironically, they used ‘Miss Saigon’ to get attention for their cause when, as I told Equity at the time—and it turned out to be true—‘Miss Saigon’ has employed more Asian performers (or actors of Asian descent) than any other musical or play in history … it was the wrong show to [pick a fight with]!”

He added: “If it hadn’t been for Jonathan’s extraordinary performance, who knows if ‘Miss Saigon’ would have been the worldwide hit it turned out to be? Another irony is the fact that both Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga won Tony awards for their performances in the [controversial] show!”

The Equity was only too pleased with the show’s latest Broadway run, according to Mackintosh, because the leads are American citizens: Eva, discovered when she was 17, was brought up in America, while Jon Jon, a homegrown Filipino actor, is now an American citizen based in Los Angeles.

“They may be American citizens now, but they’ve got Filipino blood running through their veins!” the producer said with a laugh.

Bold decision

Told that his bold decision in 1989 to cast Lea, Monique Wilson (the original Kim alternate, described by the producer as “very bright”), Isay Alvarez and the other Filipinos in the pioneering production of “Miss Saigon” has opened doors for Filipino performers everywhere, Mackintosh said, “Don’t thank me. ‘Miss Saigon’ has the Philippines to thank for that.”

He added: “It’s interesting to note Jon Jon’s beginnings in the musical. He was just helping run the first auditions, collating the names of the auditionees, getting them in. Then he asked if he could also audition, so we said why not? Later, when somebody fell out, we were able to take Jon Jon to London! Now, he’s about to star in the show on Broadway!”

What sets Filipinos apart from other performers?

Said Mackintosh: “I think two things in your past have made the Philippines the nation that most understands how to perform ‘Miss Saigon’ specifically. It’s a ‘variation’ country with an Asian sensibility because it was a Spanish colony, so people learned to sing the Spanish way. Then, it became an American colony, which explains why you speak English as well as Tagalog. When you sing, you use your throat the Western way, as opposed to the traditional way the Chinese or Vietnamese sing.”

Color-blind casting

Mackintosh’s productions are also credited with “color-blind” casting, the most notable of which was getting Lea Salonga, Joanna Ampil and now Rachelle Ann Go to portray Fantine or Eponine, which have traditionally been assigned to Caucasian actresses.

“I would say it’s natural to do it—but we’ve done it where it works for the story,” he explained. “You’ve got to tell a story that doesn’t confuse the audience [who may not] know what the story is all about.”

How are auditions for “Miss Saigon” in Manila coming along? Has he found another Lea?

“Lea is Lea … as Julie Andrews is Julie Andrews,” he said.

“I’m not looking for another Lea. What I’m always looking for is someone who’s unique … That’s the joy of the auditioning. You hear a song that’s driving you mad because you’ve already heard it sung a thousand times. Suddenly, someone comes up and does something very different with it—and it’s like discovering something for the first time!” he added.

Outside the theater, he lives “a completely different life,” Mackintosh said. “I am a farmer, [with] 700 cows and two farms, one of them a dairy farm in Somerset. I live in [what used to be] a very old priory in a beautiful countryside.”

He added: “I am building three theaters and opening a pizza restaurant in Scotland soon. I also just opened a bakery in my estate in Northwestern Scotland … I love seeing all my friends, but I’m a country boy at heart, always have been.”