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From Manila to the West End: Miss Saigon's Joanna Ampil

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Philippine singer and actress Joanna Ampil is recognised as one of the most successful and bewitching artists from Asia to hit the London stage as Kim in Miss Saigon. writes Juillia Kuo.

Ampil started her career as a fresh-faced 17-year-old from Manila. Years later she retains her innocence and joyful bearing and leads a simple life. In this conversation she talks about her life and work, her views on the costumes she wears and other visual elements of drama and a yet unfulfilled ambition in life.

On a chilly November day in London, a petite Filipino girl fresh out of high school arrived in misty, rainsoaked London from the sunshine of Manila. Joanna Ampil had no clue that she was about to launch herself onto one of the world’s leading theatre kingdoms. Aged only 17, she had been chosen to play Kim, the female lead in Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil’s musical Miss Saigon, now running for the 10th year in the West End.

“I liked singing, but always thought of it as a hobby,” she told me in an interview. “Then I heard about the audition for Miss Saigon in Manila. I had no idea what a musical in London would be like. I went to the audition just for fun. But it's turned into something serious, something that you get paid for,” said Joanna, now an accomplished theatre performer, who has so far done nothing but leads.

Without formal drama training, Joanna made her West End debut at Theatre Royal in Drury Lane on 1 February, 1993, as the alternate lead playing Kim three performances a week. The role is demanding both vocally and emotionally. However, Joanna applied her youth and inexperience to her advantage and won over audiences as an innocent and determined Vietnamese girl who would do anything for love. Six months later, she became the main Kim, performing five times a week.

“At 17 I was very naïve and didn’t have much experience of life. I used that, because Kim is supposed to be innocent,” Joanna said.

I met Joanna in a dressing room decorated with photos of her loved ones and cards of inspirational poetry. She was dressed in a blue sweater and black sweat pants, her long hair loosely worn in a bun, and nothing but a pair of glasses on her fresh face. Her voice is smooth and melodic. When excited, its pitch rises and her eyes sparkle. She is as her family friend Jocelyn Delapaz describes her – a sweet and easygoing person who could be your neighbour. No trace of struggle is reflected on her youthful face. She is still the innocent lily she was six years ago.

Joanna comes from a happy family. She is the oldest of three children. Her sister is in the tourism industry in Manila, and her brother still a student Although a musical career is not a family tradition, it was the support of her parents that inspired her to sing. Her father, a tile seller in Manila, has always been her most faithful fan, ever since she started singing at the age of six. Her mother, in the real estate industry, encouraged her to sing by buying her musical scores and sending her to singing lessons. Joanna is very close to the family who has made her what she is today.

“I’m a very happy sort of person I’m always upbeat and tend to be a loud person outside of work,” Joanna laughed heartily. “That’s why for me to do the show properly, I have this routine of quiet moments just before the show to think about horrible things just so that I’ll feel down and get into the character.”

Although Joanna doesn’t have the experience of real storms in life as Kim has, imagine a young woman in a foreign land alone – it requires just as much determination and courage. But her upbeat nature has made London life for her a bliss.

“Perhaps now I can say it must have been difficult, but I was too young to take anything seriously then. I was pre-occupied with rehearsals. The stage was like a playground to me.”

Looking back, there are only happy moments in Joanne’s memory. “After work I become myself, you know, a totally different person --just being me. I do normal things like normal people do – I watch the cinema, and I play sports and do all sorts of things. I have a good social life, but I also enjoy staying at home reading books or browsing the Net.”

“I’ve very close friends who are not in the theatre, and they keep me sane, somehow. For example, Jocelyn and her family are like my second family. Sometimes I would stay over their place and her parents would cook Filipino dishes,” she added.

But Jocelyn, who is like an older sister, remembered her lows.

“Joanna is a very independent girl now, she has to be because she started living alone at a young age. But she is very close to her mother and used to be dependent on her, so it was rather difficult for her in the beginning,” said Jocelyn. “She used to call me up at midnight and cry when she felt lost, especially during holiday seasons like Christmas and New Year when she couldn’t be with her family. I don’t blame her because, unlike me whose entire family is here, she is all alone in London. My family is like her family here. But Joanna is a very content person, and she is happy now.”

And, of course, like all of us, there is also an insecurity in this unyielding spirit. Although Joanna’s performance has already been recognised and applauded, she still feels unconfident about her acting.

“Joanna is a very talented actress, but she is more secure with singing than acting because she never had any formal training in acting before,” said her private acting tutor Karen Rabinowitz, who teaches at the Royal Academy of Music.“We work on different speeches for different auditions so that she can experience different parts and learn the ideas behind a scene. I encourage her to try out different things, to explore and see for herself how much she can do,”
Ampil with Tan

“We do private lessons because Joanna feels intimidated about performing in front of a class. She feels obliged to be perfect because she is already a professional, but at the same time lacks confidence. I think Joanna’s concern is unnecessary – she is in fact an experienced and composed actress,” added Ms Rabinowitz.

Her 1995 Australian ‘MO’ Award nomination as best female musical theatre performer, when she reprised the role of Kim in Sydney’s Capitol Theatre, proves that she is a good performer. Her confidence shines through her performances. She never seems to panic when things go unexpectedly wrong on stage. “Something goes wrong in a performance all the time. So, sometimes you just stop and forget about the lines that you’ve forgotten and get on with it. Or sometimes you make up a word that will still make sense, you know. I think it’s the most exciting thing because it’s something different and it’s something you do right there and then, something you try to improvise. It’s fun to change a situation rather than going on and on like it’s exactly the same as last night,” Joanna said vigorously, adding that it is also a good learning process. “When something goes wrong or you forget your lines, then you realise you still make mistakes even though you’ve been doing it for so long. That’s when you realise that you still have to really concentrate on the show.”

Having to play the same role season after season, Joanna has developed a way to prevent herself from burning out.

“You know, there is a solution to it, otherwise I wouldn’t have survived all those years playing the same character,” Joanna laughed lightly. “I keep my performances fresh by doing a lot of courses. I still do acting and singing lessons just so I won’t get into a habit, so I won’t get stuck into something that I shouldn’t. So I have tried to invent and do different things. For example, I try to think differently about a particular scene every now and then, just so I won’t get bored with it.”

Ms. Rabinowitz explained. “Stage performance is strict; you cannot go out of the light, you cannot change a move or a line, besides it’s unfair to take your partner by surprise. But what you can do is think about the details differently while keeping the main objective the same.”

Despite her passion for the role, Joanna is not as keen on her beautiful attire. “I really admire designer Andrea Neofitou’s knowledge about Vietnamese clothing, especially the grand costumes we wear in the ‘Bangkok’ and ‘American Dream’ scenes which feast the eyes of audiences. Unfortunately, I don’t think they look good on me. They are a bit revealing especially when I just put a little bit of weight on, so I’ve always got to try and keep the flab away.”

But Joanna is very satisfied with the stage designed by John Napier. “It is so grand and spectacular. Not only has it given the performers the perfect atmosphere to act, but has also given audiences the feel of being in Vietnam, the war and Bangkok.”

Of course, Joanna’s theatre credits go beyond Miss Saigon. She has also played Mary Magdalene, the leading female role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s newly reprised Jesus Christ Superstar in 1996. A character totally different from Kim that has never before been played by an Asian. Her part as Mary gave her the chance to perform before Prince Charles and Prince Edward.

“I was quite lucky to get the role. In a way it’s like getting in there and breaking the barrier.”

From her experience, she feels the chance for people of colour is not just limited to certain roles that require being played by ethnic minorities.

“Surprisingly the West End theatres are being very open on such issues now. They are using different races in different shows. For example, in Les Miserables, some Filipino actresses have performed the role of Eponine and Fantine. And I did Mary Magdalene – that could’ve been played by a black girl or a white girl. Even with Beauty and the Beast, I know some Asians who are doing the lead role.”

But as Ms Rabinowitz pointed out, the potential boundary Joanna may face as a foreigner is more to do with her legal status rather than her race. “The real issue is that she is not British, meaning whatever production she joins they need to get her a work permit – they need to explain why they are using her instead of a British performer, and I don’t know how difficult it is politically.”

Still, she is optimistic about Joanna’s future in the West End. “ Joanna did get the part of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, a role that doesn’t necessary have to be played by an Asian performer. So I think she is doing very well for her background and age.”

Speaking of her future plans, Joanna’s attitude is to take up things as they come. “You know people often ask me about my future plan, say, how you see yourself in five years time. But I’m the sort of person who doesn’t really plan my future – I never planned any of these. I never though of becoming a musical actress. I had no idea what a musical actress would do. I had no idea what musicals were like in London. Even in Manila I was never a theatre fan, although I watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat, and that really gave me an inspiration to perform on stage.”

Surprisingly, Joanna tells me that her first love is journalism.

“Really I’ve always wanted to be a journalist like you, and be on that side of the entertainment world. I love writing. But I haven’t have the chance since I left high school to do Saigon. It is always nice to do something apart from singing – I can sing any time I want to. I’m considering going into journalism later in my life, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen,” Joanna said lightly.

For now, theatre is her passion. She is still eager to sing. Especially to people in need. “I feel particularly proud when I do charity shows. I believe in the Lord very much and thank Him for all His blessings. In return, I feel obliged to sing for those less fortunate.”

“One thing I miss the most is going to church with my family. The Philippines is a very Catholic country. Unlike here, every Sunday churches back home will be packed with people. I really miss being in that kind of atmosphere with my family.”

Juillia Kuo is a writer and journalist based in Taipei.