Monday 27 January 2014

Miss Saigon cast update – Thuy has been found!

As you know, I was super excited when the main cast for the Miss Saigon London revival was announced, but there was still one important part missing: Thuy! Not only does he make pivotal (and scary as heck) appearances in the show, but I'm a huge admirer of original cast member Keith Burns' portrayal of him, and was eager to see what kind of a man they were going to find to do his job. Just listen to some of the material Thuy has to sing! Doesn't Keith Burns' raspy, menacing voice of power just send chills down your spine? (Thuy starts to sing around 0:40)



So yes, seeing the right man play the part of Thuy is very important to me, and now I'm extremely pleased to find that another fantastic casting choice has been made. Kwang-Ho Hong is his name, he's a Korean musical actor, and he gets his own little introduction video from Cameron Mackintosh. And, holy sweet goodness, his CV includes the title role in The Phantom of the Opera!



I highly advise you to see the introduction video through the link, if you haven't already. Just the few notes that he sings there make it quite clear that he has a voice that I can only describe as insanely well-trained. However, just to see and hear more of him, I dug out a couple of videos from his other performances. It appears he has played Raoul and the Phantom in the Korean production, and there's a video of him singing All I Ask Of You. He sings quite softly here, but very handsomely.


Here's another performance from Jekyll & Hyde. The sound quality is even worse than the previous video, but you get a glimpse of his more powerful style of singing.


I'm so delighted to be introduced to all these wonderful talents from around the world by stalking Miss Saigon, and Kwang-Ho Hong gets a definite thumbs-up from me. The part of Thuy will be in expert hands!

4 comments:

  1. All I Ask of You is so beautiful <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is! It's actually my favourite part in The Phantom of the Opera, which is so full of amazing tunes that it should be impossible to pick one favourite... Anyway, All I Ask Of You was definitely one of the highlights of the performance I saw in London...

      Delete
    2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgnbq6BYfY&list=HL1390880185&feature=mh_lolz
      This is 'The Music of the night' by Kwang-ho. He was Raul at the beginning of the Phantom of the opera Korean production in 2009, and soon he took the role of Phantom. Hope you enjoy!

      Delete
    3. Thanks for the info, and the video! He's really great in that too.

      Delete