LOS ANGELES—Almost 20 years after Lea Salonga debuted as Kim on the West End, “Miss Saigon” continues to be a “cottage industry” for Filipino performers all over the world. To this day, there are “Miss Saigon” productions featuring Pinoy talents in key cities around the globe.
For Fil-Am actress, Jennifer Paz, who has played Kim in four productions, the “Miss Saigon” “cottage industry” continues to bring awards, as well. She just won her first Ovation Award from the LA Stage Alliance (which honors the best of theater in the LA area every year) for playing the tragic heroine in a Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities production in May this year.
Ballads
For her performance in a national US tour in the early 1990s, she scored a Carbonnell Award (in Florida, 1993) for Best Actress in a musical and a Helen Hayes Award nomination (in Washington, DC, 1994). Jennifer, who was raised in Renton, Washington, but is now based in LA, also trilled those show-stopping Kim ballads in a North American tour from 2003 to 2005, and in a Starlight Theatre (San Diego, California) version in the summer of 2005.
“I had an incredible evening, and was so touched by the honor,” Jennifer told us via e-mail about her recent win. We asked how Jennifer, who is currently starring as Belle in a Seattle area production of “Beauty and the Beast,” managed to attend the awards show in LA. The Philippine-born actress explained, “Luckily, the awards ceremony was on our dark day from ’Beauty and the Beast,’ so I flew to LA for the ceremony and flew back to Seattle the next day for the 7:30 p.m. show.” Jennifer’s presence at the show, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was fortuitous. “Miss Saigon” earned the most Ovations, including Best Musical.
Role
In Jennifer’s acceptance speech, one of the people she mentioned was Ty Kelly, to whom she recently got engaged (they’ve set the big day for June next year). She thanked him for being a nonactor, which got a big laugh from the audience made up largely of actors. She told us that, for the rest of that memorable evening, Ty was known as “the nonactor.”
“How wonderful, I’m thrilled for her!” Lea exclaimed in an e-mail when we sought her comments about Jennifer’s recent triumph. Lea, who started it all in September 1989 and swept the Olivier, Tony and other awards in the process, graciously added: “That role is really something, and I’m glad that it won Jen the Ovation award! Well-deserved!”
Lea, who is herself touring a “Cinderella” production around Asia, also wrote, “‘Miss Saigon’ has interestingly been (as you correctly call it) a ‘cottage industry,’ with various international and US productions employing Filipino actors, singers and dancers in the show. Our musicality is what keeps us getting employed. As artists, we’re a meld of east and west, which works for the production.”
It’s hard to believe it has been two decades since Lea first auditioned before Cameron Mackintosh for the chance to portray Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s tragic heroine. “Twenty years is a lot of time, and I’ve grown up a lot since being cast as Kim,” added Lea, who’s now a wife and mother, when we asked her how she has evolved from that fateful audition moment in 1988. She has admitted that back then, she had to be coached by her…mom for those kissing scenes with her leading man in “Miss Saigon.”
“I think I’ve grown vocally and emotionally, as a woman and an artist, and have become much more confident when I step on a stage,” she reflected. “The show also trained me how to be a leading lady for such a large cast of actors. I grew up in the show, as well as after it, and I’ll always be grateful for the wonderful opportunity.” We wonder if there will be a 20th anniversary production of the Vietnam War-set pop opera. That would mean more jobs for our very talented “cottage industry” workers.
Coincidence
Back to Jennifer, she’s also getting good notices as Belle, which, by coincidence, Lea was reportedly in talks to do in Broadway many years ago, but negotiations apparently fell through. Here are some excerpts of reviews citing Jennifer’s performance in the Village Theatre’s production of “Beauty and the Beast,” which runs in Issaquah, Washington until Jan. 4 next year and in Everett, Washington, from Jan. 9 to Feb. 1 (more information is available at www.villagetheatre.org):
Nancy Worssam, The Seattle Times: “Petite Jennifer Paz has a sweet, but powerful voice just right for the heroine, Belle—a kind and beautiful girl who loves to read.”
Gianni Truzzi, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Jennifer Paz delivers a sound and sweet rendering of Belle, her disciplined voice in songs like ’A Change in Me’ conveying the longing and sensibility of a misfit in her provincial village.”
David-Edward Hughes, Talkin’ Broadway: “Jennifer Paz as Belle has just the right shimmering vocal style in all her songs, especially the plaintive ’Home,’ and even makes the ballad ,’A Change in Me’ (added in and then, kept in the show midway during its decade or so on Broadway), seem necessary to the plot…”
When we asked Jennifer to share an interesting experience she’s had so far as Belle, she gamely shared: “Gosh, dare I share this story? But, here goes: As I mentioned earlier, I am newly engaged. During the half-hour before the top of the show, it’s customary for stage management to collect your valuables and store them in the safe at the theater during the duration of the show. Just until this particular incident happened, I would usually pass on giving my valuables and store my engagement ring elsewhere—I’d pin the ring to my show bra. Well, during a performance, somehow the safety pin got undone, and I only discovered my ring was gone during a quick change in the last part of Act Two.
“I was in a panic, obviously, in the next two scenes. Suddenly, during the song, ’A Change in Me,’ I could feel something poking my ankle, but I couldn’t look down to see it. Finally, in the next ’Mob Scene,’ I saw the ring shimmering down the top of my foot, inside my tights. I had no idea how it made it underneath all those layers, especially since I used the bathroom at intermission. Thank God, it didn’t fall in the toilet! Since then, I’ve been leaving my valuables with the stage management in the safe before each show.”
Of the musical, Jennifer said, “The show has been a truly magical experience. Especially during these hard economic times, I’m finding that people just want to have some sort of escape, and a chance to spend time with their families. Despite the sluggish economy, Village Theatre has broken their box-office records with ’Beauty…’ and surpassed the ticket sales of the other hit shows they’ve had. It’s a perfect holiday show! Over the recent Thanksgiving holiday, it was an awesome gathering place for my visiting family and friends. Since I’m newly engaged, it was a fantastic opportunity for both families to meet and share a great night together.”
Album
We also asked Jennifer, who has an album, “Awakening,” that is available online and at US record stores, to comment on how her career has paralleled that of Lea’s. There was a great moment toward the end of the pre-Broadway production of “Flower Drum Song” in LA when both Lea and Jennifer were onstage that was symbolic of their professional kinship.
“I admire Lea Salonga in so many ways,” Jennifer wrote. “We’ve both had great success with ’Miss Saigon,’ as have many Filipino and Asian-American performers. We’ve had incredible opportunities since. It continues to inspire so many Asian performers, and I’m grateful to be in that company of people. That said, I think we’re all trying to forge our own paths now, which can be challenging. But, if you persist, something eventually comes along that reminds you why you love this business so much.
Opportunities
“I’ve had incredible opportunities in regional theatre since ’Saigon’—getting to play a diverse number of lead roles—Eva Peron (‘Evita’), Sally Simpson and Mrs. Walker (‘The Who’s Tommy’) and Maria Elena Holly (‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’), for example. These were roles that, traditionally, I wouldn’t have been cast in. I believe I was able to land those roles because of my experience and exposure in ‘Saigon.’ Of course, there’s the obvious, interesting parallel now with Lea. We’re both playing Disney princesses at the same time! How did that happen?”
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