Miss Saigon 2024: My First Musical Theater Experience

In school, we are taught about Filipino icons — heroes that fought for our freedom, scientists that made significant contributions to the world, and of course, artists that placed our country on the world stage. One of them is Lea Salonga, who made their mark by booking the lead role for the musical Miss Saigon. From then on, I have always kept my ears and eyes open for musicals so you can imagine my surprise when earlier this year, my cousin told me she bought us ticket for the latest iteration of Miss Saigon that is touring the world and will have shows in the country. This is my first musical theater experience and here's what happened that day.

Heeding the advice from the people who have seen past shows on the Theater at Solaire, we made sure to arrive at the venue hours before the show starts. We arrived 3 hours before showtime — I know it sounds too early but believe it or not, it was just enough time for us to do everything we planned to do. Upon arriving, we had our digital tickets printed.. We paid Php50 per ticket and it was a perfect souvenir.

There are lots of backdrops where the theater goers can have their pictures taken. As we arrived significantly earlier than most, there were no lines just yet and so we were able to take our sweet time to take as much photos as we'd like.

After taking all the photos and videos we like, we went down to the casino's food court to have dinner before we watch the show. It was a bit over an hour before the show starts when we returned upstairs and at this time, there's already a notable amount of people. Everyone was either having their tickets printed, lining up to take photos, or having snacks. Thank goodness we have already done that earlier and so we're able to relax at the lounge. Not so long after, we went upstairs and lounged out for a bit more while waiting for our doors to open.

They weren't lying when they said there are no bad seats at the Theater at Solaire. We had balcony seat tickets but we are able to view the stage very clearly. Before the show started, the theater announced that the national artist BenCab was in the audience with us. It wasn't part of the show but I thought it was so cool. A few moments later, the lights were dimmed and the show started.

Almost 2 hours had passed and act one of the show ended. Thank goodness there were lots of bathroom at the venue so I had ample time to relieve myself in the 20-minute intermission. By this time I am already so enthralled to see more of the show because the cast was just that good. "So this is what really talented people sounds like" is the only thing I can think of.

Before act two started, it was announced that Abigail Adriano won't be continuing the show that night. I'd have to be honest that I felt a bit afraid that the quality of the show may deteriorate if the lead female cast would be replaced but never in my life was I so glad to be proven wrong. Act two started and I was so engulfed by everyone's performance that it took me almost half of the second half to realize that they've replaced Kim. The Kim understudy (I apologize for not being able to remember her name, I wasn't listening well to the announcement earlier and I suck with names) did so well that in our debriefing session after the show, we concluded that we were fortunate to have been able to see 2 actresses play Kim that night. Bows were given while cheering and applause echoed throughout the theater. The show was over and it was finally time to go home. It was way past my bedtime but I am far from over with talking about how amazing my first musical theater experience was. The company spared no expense when casting the actors. They all fit their respective roles and have exceeded my expectations. This show has been running for more than 30 years and truth be told, I am a bit skeptical about how good of a show this will be. I am glad that they were able to keep the quality of it over the years.

To sum everything up, this first experience have been really great. I'd like to thank this opportunity to thank my cousin for bringing me along with the ride. This is a really positive experience and it has made me look forward to see more musicals. If you can, I implore you to see a musical at least once in your life. I would have loved Hamilton to be my first musical to see live because I am literally obsessed with it but unfortunately, I wasn't able to go see them when they had shows here last year. Have you seen a musical before? How was your experience and will you go again?