Casting is now complete for the upcoming production of Miss Saigon at Paper Mill: State Theater of New Jersey; the Alain Boublil-Claude Michel Schönberg musical begins previews Sept. 4.
Heading the cast are Kevin Gray (The Engineer), Dina Morishita (Kim) and Aaron Ramey (Chris). Roxanne Taga will play the demanding role of Kim at certain performances. Others in the Saigon company include Alan H. Green (John), Kate Baldwin (Ellen) and Steven Eng (Thuy). The ensemble comprises Cristina Ablaza, Randy Ballesteros, Bernie Blanks, Kevin Burrows, Paul Canaan, Terrence Clowe, Francis Cruz, Christopher Davis, Dexter Echiverri, Richard Feng Zhu, Michael Hunsaker, Joanne Javien, Spencer Jones, Mark Ledbetter, Kathy Nejat, Mayumi Omagari, Whitney Osentoski, Bobby Pestka, Diane Phelan, Freddy Ramirez, Summer Tiana Sablan, Adrienne Sam, Michael Vea and Lisa Yuen.
Paper Mill's associate director, Mark S. Hoebee, will helm Saigon, having previously directed productions of The King and I, Victor/Victoria, The Will Rogers Follies and Dreamgirls for the New Jersey theatre. Tom Helm will serve as the musical director, and Darren Lee, now starring on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, will choreograph.
*
Miss Saigon debuted on Broadway on March 23, 1991, and ran through Jan. 28, 2001. Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Nicholas Hytner, the pop opera won Tony Awards for three of its original stars, Jonathan Pryce, Lea Salonga and Hinton Battle. Actor-singer Kevin Gray has starred on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera, The King and I and Jesus Christ Superstar. Also a star of several national tours, he is the recipient of Dora, Drama-Logue, Carbonelle and NIMT awards.
Rehearsals begin mid-August for Miss Saigon's Sept. 4 through Oct. 20 run, and tickets — available at the theatre's box office, (973) 376-4343 — go on sale July 8. Paper Mill: State Theatre of New Jersey is located on Brookside Drive in Millburn, NJ. For more information, go to www.papermill.org.
