Miss Saigon Lane on 20 September 1989 and closed after 4,264 performances on 30 October 1999. The director was Nicholas Hytner with musical staging by Bob Avian and scenic design by John Napier. In December 1994 the London production became the Theatre Royal's (Drury Lane) longest running musical, eclipsing the record set by "My Fair Lady". Lea Salonga played the part of Kim, winning the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award. The Engineer was originated by Jonathan Pryce, who also won the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award for the role. The part of Chris was originated by Simon Bowman. The musical
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane any other theatre in Europe." Except for churches, it was the tallest building in London. The "very popular notion that our theatres ought to be very small" proved hard to overcome. Various accounts from the period bemoan the mammoth size of the new theatre, longing for the "warm close observant seats of Old Drury," as one May 1794 theatre-goer put it. Actress Sarah Siddons, then part of the Drury Lane company, called it "a wilderness of a place" (and left Drury Lane along with her brother John Philip Kemble in 1803). Not only was any sense of intimacy and connection