Joanna Ampil breaks ceilings as the first female Engineer in 'Miss Saigon'

Joanna Ampil was only 17 when she first auditioned for the role of Kim in "Miss Saigon." When she got the part, she was immediately flown to London to rehearse for the West End company at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Today, after playing Kim for several years in London, Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland and 10th Anniversary Performance productions, she is now playing The Engineer at the Sheffield Theatres at the South Yorkshire, England.

Traditionally a male role, The Engineer was portrayed by some of the great award-winning actor-singers like Jonathan Pryce, Leo Valdez, and Jon Jon Briones.

But when Sheffield Artistic Director Robert Hastie and RTYDS (Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme) Associate Artistic Director Anthony Lau told British producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh about the reimagination of the popular musical by having its first female Engineer, Mackintosh gave his blessings immediately when he found out that they were thinking of Ampil to portray The Engineer.

Now 48, Ampil has appeared in a number of musicals in the West End, on Broadway, Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore, Philippines and other parts of the world, namely "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Les Miserables," "Rent," "Avenue Q," "Hair," "Sing!," "The Musicals of Musicals: The Musical!," "Pinocchio: A New Musical," "Defying Gravity: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz," "Cats," "West Side Story," "The Sound of Music," among others.

We interviewed Ampil via Zoom and below are excerpts of our conversation.

Congratulations on being the first female, the first Filipina engineer in "Miss Saigon." Can you talk about what that means to you and how did you get that part?

It's a big deal for me because as you know, my career started with "Miss Saigon" as Kim, so this is a full circle for me in finally playing the Engineer with a completely different perspective.

So yeah, I got the part. It started when I received an email from my agent asking me to meet up with the artistic director and associate artistic director of The Crucible in Sheffield. It is a very reputable theater company based in Sheffield. And of course, I didn't want to turn that down and I didn't want to turn down the opportunity, so I said yes.

So, we set up a meeting, and I was really racking my brain here. "I wonder what we're going to talk about because they did say it's about a show that they'd like me to do." They actually mentioned, "It's a big show that we want to see Jo for," so I thought, "I wonder what show it is."

Photo: Sheffield Theatres

I went there and I did not expect it to be "Miss Saigon," and when they told me that the show is "Miss Saigon," I was like, "Okay, I'm either the mother or you want me to play an old Kim, I have no idea."

It was Anthony Lau, the associate artistic director, and he said, "No, it's for the role of The Engineer."

At first, I was so stunned. I really didn't know how to react because all these thoughts were running through my head thinking "How's that going to work?"

So instead of showing my excitement, I was confused about the whole idea. I said to him, "Yeah, let me think about this. I'm going to go through the script. I'm going to go through the lines and how I'm going to tackle this role."

I was walking aimlessly around London thinking about the lines of the Engineer. "How are they going to do this and how are they going to do that? How are they going to change?"

Eventually, we agreed, "Yes, we're going to have to change some of the words, we're going to have some lyrical tweaks, and of course, the key change needs to happen."

It started sinking in, the whole idea, and I started having all these ideas about how I want to play the role and how I see her as The Engineer. I started researching the character way back, like last year when they told me that I was going to do it because I just wanted to be so ready for it. Some people think it's a make or break, but I said to him, "Look, it's going to have to be a make and not a break because this show really means a lot to me and it's beloved by everyone." So that's how it happened, that's how I got the part.

Do you know whose idea was it for a woman to portray The Engineer and why?

I think it was Anthony's idea. I'm sure Rob was part of it. I really don't know. It's either Rob or Anthony, but it was Anthony who spoke to me about it. I know Anthony loves the show too. I don't know whose idea it is. But the thing is, when they were thinking of me for the role, it was months before they offered it to me because they wanted to stage "Miss Saigon."

But they told Cameron, this is what I heard, they told Cameron that, "Oh, we want to stage 'Miss Saigon,' but we want a woman Engineer to play it," and I believe Cameron said, "It depends on who's going to be playing it." And they said, "We are thinking of Joanna Ampil. And Cameron thought, "Yeah, it's a very good idea." I was like, "Oh, that's really kind of him to say." I'm not really sure whose idea it was initially but yeah, I'm just ecstatic that they trust me enough to offer me the role.

As a woman, what do you hope to bring to this role as an Engineer? And what do you think was the feedback? What feedback did you get from a female portraying Engineer?

So far, the feedback has been quite positive.

There are, of course, people who are purists and theater aficionados who just don't want to touch "Miss Saigon," they just want to keep it the way it is. They were a little bit, "I don't know how that's going to work out." Of course, you will have both negative and positive there, but lots of positives of course, because this is all about women's solidarity and women empowerment.

Women in general should be happy about this progress. The reactions mostly are positive, thankfully.

I'd like to bring the sentiments of a woman to the role. It's so different portraying her as a woman. I find that you can delve into the emotions much more. I don't know. I don't want to say that women are more emotional than men because sometimes it's the other way around, but I feel like it's so different when you are in solidarity with, for example, the women in the show.

It's a completely different relationship there as compared to having a male Engineer. I feel like I can get away with a lot more being a woman because a woman's charm is so different from a man's charm, I suppose, in that way. I guess the little things that I find whilst I'm rehearsing it, I feel like, "Yeah, I can get away with that because I'm a woman" or, "I can say that, and it's more charming." I don't know. It's for people to judge.

I don't want to say that I can get away with this and then they watch the show and then it's completely different. I don't really want to do that, so I'll let them watch it and then see for themselves.

Photo: Sheffield Theatres

You played Kim several times and now you're doing the Engineer. How was the interaction between your Kim and your Engineer?

The girl playing Kim? We've got two Kims. Two wonderful Kims, a Korean girl called Jessica Lee and an Indonesian girl called Desmonda Cathabel. They're both wonderful. And you know what? In the script, they've changed that line, I noticed, "I'm 17 and I'm new here today," to, "My name is Kim and I'm new here today."

We want to be a little bit ambiguous when it comes to her age. We don't necessarily want to give a label when it comes to that. We can present her as a virgin, but it's like presenting her as a virgin rather than she is a virgin. You know what I mean? So, there's that change.

It's wonderful because our Kims are very, very feisty, and very worldly-wise, and I love that. In this day and age, I think we need that. And for the show to have longevity, I think there are certain issues in the show that needs to be addressed, and that's what we're trying to do with this particular version, we're reimagining the version of our production. Because in this day and age, we have a lot of information now when it comes to gender, women empowerment, misogyny, how the women are perceived nowadays and how they're presented on stage.

We want to use this platform to address those issues, not necessarily correct them because I don't want to judge the past productions, especially now that some of them are still running because there are people who will support that.

I love that version too, because I grew up with that version and it stays with me. It will always stay with me because it's a huge part of my life. We are just looking at it, this is just a completely different narrative, a different perspective.

Some people might like it, some people might hate it. I suppose we just want longevity for this show because we needed it to run. We need to tell its story. It's a huge part of our history as Asians.

Some of your friends, Jonathan Pryce, Leo Valdez, Jon Jon Briones among others all portrayed The Engineer. Did anybody reach out to you and give you some tips or did you talk to them?

Tips, no, we didn't speak about the show. They were just rooting for me. They were just being very supportive and encouraging and wishing me luck.

Particularly Red Concepcion who recently played it, and Jon Jon's always there loving my posts about the show. So, it's really quite wonderful because they are, at the end of the day, they are my friends and we're constantly supporting each other and supporting each other's works. So, it's nice.

What do you think this breakthrough change will do to other musicals? Do you think there will be more musicals like this that will be reimagined and the characters will be gender-fluid? What do you think will happen now?

It is happening already. I don't want to say that we are the first ones because I know that there have been some productions of other shows that have gender-bending already.

For example, the "Company" had a female Bobby (named Bobbie), which I saw in the West End. Patti LuPone was part of that (gender-flipped revival of the landmark 1970 musical) production and I thought it was wonderful. I'm hoping that it will not be such an issue anymore that people can play, whoever can deliver, and it doesn't matter what your gender is.

It doesn't matter what your color is, as long as you can deliver and you can be really, really good at it and you can take the story, you can transport the people who are watching you through your journey, through the story, then I think that you should play the part.

Photo: Sheffield Theatres

What kind of preparation did you do for The Engineer? Did you do any more research on him, or does it really matter because this is your version?

Of course, it matters. I welcome any suggestions from friends, from mentors. My husband is a huge source of reference for me because he studied theater in UP and I know he's a huge fan of "Miss Saigon" as well. We discussed it extensively.

When I was in Korea doing "Cats," I had the script with me already. I was constantly going through the script and trying to see how I can deliver this line that can be mine. I did a lot of that whilst I was away, so I had a lot of time to prepare.

How was it being directed by Robert Hastie? Was that your first time working with him?

Yes. They are so incredible. It's a completely new process for me. I have been in productions where I've been very collaborative but not as collaborative as this because before I left for Korea, we had an alignment meeting because I wanted to see them just to make sure that we are all on the same page when it comes to how I'm going to portray the character. Also, to let them know my ideas, how I'm going to look in the show perhaps, and what my perception is when it comes to certain scenes and certain songs.

We spoke about that. We had a meeting prior to me leaving because, of course, I was going to be away for six months, and I just wanted to make sure that for those six months I was already preparing.

We were in constant contact with each other via email. Like when an idea pops up in my head and then I can just email them and let them know, "Oh, what about this might be an interesting take on it." So, it's a lot of back-and-forth emails.

I had a Zoom meeting with (songwriter-composer) Claude-Michel Schönberg, who's very involved. He changed the keys for me, whatever is comfortable for me. We did that. I know that Cameron is involved as well. They're back and forth with ideas for Cameron for him to approve, and he's quite excited about the whole thing as far as I remember them telling me that Cameron is actually quite excited about this whole reimagined version.

Do you see this reimagined version going to the Philippines or to the US?

I did ask that question when they offered me the role, they said, "You know what? It puts pressure on someone when you have to think about life after Sheffield. So, we're really just concentrating and making sure that this is going to be properly done. Anything else will be a bonus. But at the moment, we are just concentrating on Sheffield and we're not talking about anything beyond that for now."

What's your next project?

I'm going to Singapore for a series of concerts, and then I'm off to Manila. I believe I'm joining this celebration for CCP, for the anniversary of CCP, in September. So just preparing for those series of concerts that I have. I've not had a holiday for two years. So, after that, my husband and I will probably go somewhere and holiday together.

I know sometimes this is very stressful, so how do you relax and let go?

I'm very, very lucky because I am in an industry that I truly enjoy and love and being here is like having a holiday and getting paid for it. Because I'd go crazy if I'm not doing something like this. I think for me, I relax or thrive more when I'm under pressure, especially when it comes to theater stuff. I really enjoy it. So yeah, I don't see myself giving it up anytime soon.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News