All Starry Eyed – Hampshire Society

It’s the biggest show ever to go on tour in the UK and excitement is high. But two of the stars of Cameron Mackintosh’s mega-musical Miss Saigon are more excited about coming to Southampton than you might expect.

In a perfect example of life mirroring art, romantic leads David Shannon and Ima Castro fell in love while working together on the show and are planning to get hitched during Miss Saigon’s run at The Mayflower. 
Details of the nuptials are being kept firmly under wraps until nearer the time, but the couple are promising something to remember. With guests including Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber, you wouldn’t expect anything less.

In the smash hit show, now seen by more than 29 million theatre fans worldwide, David plays an American GI, Chris, who falls in love with a local girl, Kim, during the dramatic final days of the Vietnam War. 
Ima plays the girl who captures his heart and who later, after Chris has returned to America and started a family of his own, bears their child. 
It’s a passionate, tragic story, brilliantly told and one of the most spectacular pieces of theatre you’re likely to see. Happily, David and Ima seem somewhat less troubled than the couple they play. They met last summer and announced their engagement at the Miss Saigon launch in Southampton this spring. For David at least, it was love at first sight. 

‘The first thing I said to somebody when I joined the show was: ‘She’s going to be the mother of my children,’ says the Dublin-born actor, 31.

Despite his confident performance on stage, David found himself wracked with nerves as he set about wooing the Philippine beauty.

‘I would text her and say ‘Do you want to go to the movies?’ or something. I’m absolutely rubbish at asking women out. I couldn’t ask her face to face.’

Official romantic status finally crept up on the couple while they were watching Pearl Harbor one night although they at first tried to play it down with the rest of the cast.

‘We were both concerned how it might affect the work situation,’ explains David.
‘It turned out it was the worst-kept secret in the company. Everyone was waiting for us to get together.’

David sprang a proposal on Ima on his birthday earlier this year. 

‘I was still in bed, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth,’ says Ima, 27, who awoke to discover an engagement ring nestling in a wooden box on the bed. David continues: ‘It was wonderful watching her face as she realised I was giving her an engagement ring. She hugged me and I said ‘Was that a yes?’

The couple reckon their real-life relationship gives their scenes in the show an added realism. 

‘We feed off each other a lot more. We are a lot more connected. There’s a wonderful element of trust involved on stage,’ says David. ‘Ima is so involved in what she does, she makes me want to be as good as she is. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with anyone who makes me feel that way.’
After Miss Saigon, which ends its mammoth UK tour in Southampton in December, the newlyweds plan to settle in Ima’s native Philippines and become the Pacific Rim’s answer to Richard and Judy. 

‘The possibility of going to the Philippines and having a huge amount of land and a wonderful way of life is very appealing,’ says David. ‘TV is a definite possibility. We would love to do a show together. We both love to cook, so perhaps we could do a cookery show together.’ Ima is a major recording star in the Philippines since sweeping to victory in a prestigious Japanese karaoke contest. Her third album is now in the pipeline and includes a duet with latino chart-topper Enrique Iglesias. 

‘Back home I was singing on TV shows and doing concerts and corporate shows. I love doing theatre now,’ she says. 

The couple decided they had to get married during the Miss Saigon run because it brought them together. 

‘It’s so responsible for us being where we are,’ says David. ‘The company we are with are all our friends. In ten years of doing shows, this is by far my favourite company I’ve worked with. It’s a family.’

factfile

The show features music by Claude-Michel Schonberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jnr and Alain Boublil. 

Its first performance was at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in September 1989.

Actor Leo Tavarro Valdez has played The Engineer for eight years.

The helicopter which stars in one of the show’s most dramatic sequences is computer-operated and life-size. It weighs 800kg.

The Cadillac was designed especially for the production. It folds in half for easy backstage storage. 

The Ho Chi Minh statue is 18ft tall and weighs about 180kg.

The show is transported from theatre to theatre in 22 trucks, each 44ft in length. 

The show features 44 members of cast, 19 musicians and a touring staff of 40. 

Miss Saigon has won 29 theatre awards worldwide, including two Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, four Drama Desk Awards and three Tonys. 

Miss Saigon has played in 18 countries and 98 cities around the world.