Inspirational Story: Young Man with a Love for Musicals

Over the past 2 years, the talented young members of the Impact Theatre Saigon musical group have contributed to bringing musicals to a wide audience with a series of performances in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang...

Childhood passion

Two years ago, a group of young people appeared in Ho Chi Minh City doing musicals, the founder of the group was Jay Thien Nguyen. Since childhood, Thien Nguyen has loved art, which is also the motivation for the young man to "hunt" for international art scholarships to study and experience the field he loves.

“10 years ago, I joined a 9-day short-term musical theatre training program for young people who love this performing art. Right after that short course, I realized that musical theatre was the artistic path for me.”

In 2021-2022, Thien Nguyen received a scholarship to study musical theater in the US. In April 2023, when returning home, Thien Nguyen decided to establish Impact Theatre Saigon (ITS), with the desire to carry out educational musical performance projects in the community.

The group gathers a number of talented young people who share a passion for musicals. Only about 1 month after its establishment, ITS held its first performance with 8 members. The performance attracted the attention and enthusiastic applause of the audience. Immediately after the performance, Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc invited ITS to perform at Thien Dang stage. The success of the performances encouraged ITS to expand and improve the quality of group activities, focusing on selecting new members, organizing training in performance techniques, vocal music, etc.

In the past 2 years, ITS has performed many musical shows, including 2 major music projects: Disney 101 in Hanoi and performing excerpts from the classic musical Les Misérables (Victor Hugo) in collaboration with conductor Tran Nhat Minh and the Saigon Pops Orchestra.

In addition, ITS also organizes a series of Broadway musicals (a genre of drama that combines acting, dancing, singing, etc.) such as: Lights on Broadway; Lights, Camera, Broadway!; Broadway in Bebop; the special Broadway Musical - Symphony Colors in the Youth Symphony concert series organized by Ho Chi Minh City National University at universities, etc.

These artistic activities have strongly spread the appeal of musicals - a joyful and colorful performing art form.

New artistic imprint

With the foundation, after excerpts and entertainment projects, this coming November, ITS will introduce to the audience for the first time a complete Broadway musical called Once on this island. This is also the play that marks a new turning point in the journey of creating and spreading the love of musicals to Vietnamese audiences.

Colorful performance by young actors in the musical Once on this island. Photo: THUY BINH

Adapted from the novel My Love, My Love by American writer Rosa Guy, inspired by the fairy tale The Little Mermaid by Danish writer HC Andersen, Once on this island tells the story of an orphan girl named Ti Moune, who grew up in poverty on a small island in the Caribbean (Central America). She was saved by the gods from a storm and accidentally met and fell in love with the aristocrat Daniel. Their love faced class gap, social prejudice and even the intervention of the gods.

The musical brings to the audience the emotions, beliefs and beauty of pure love, expressed through the witty narration of all the characters, along with vibrant and captivating singing and dancing performances...

In addition to recreating a familiar myth in a new form, the play is also associated with many community activities such as recycling old objects into costumes and props to contribute to propaganda and raising community awareness about sustainable consumption and environmental protection. The musical will also be performed on a 360-degree round stage, bringing the colors of modern life, close to the audience.

Once on this island will be performed for 5 shows from November 14 to November 16 at C30 Hoa Binh stage (No. 141, Bac Hai Street, Dien Hong Ward, HCMC). ITS also said that right after this musical, the group has plans to put on the rehearsal stage pure Vietnamese musicals.

Jay Thien Nguyen (Nguyen Hoang Thien, born in 1994), graduated with a Master's degree in Musical Theater Studies from Temple University (USA), and received intensive training in Broadway musicals at YES Academy ASEAN (Jakarta, Indonesia). Jay Thien Nguyen is also a voice actor for Disney in animated films such as The Little Mermaid (2023, as Prince Eric), Mufasa: The Lion King (2024, lion Scar), Snow White (2025, Good King - Snow White's father)...

THUY BINH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cau-chuyen-truyen-cam-hung-nguoi-tre-voi-tinh-yeu-nhac-kich-post820484.html