A devastatingly thrilling performance, Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Harrison’s revival of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon is a huge production which ticks all of the boxes of a classic musical.
Originally performed in 1989, Miss Saigon follows a love story between American GI Chris and Vietnamese sex worker Kim, in the final days of the Vietnam war. As the war comes to an end, and the Americans withdraw, we then see Chris back home in America with his wife Ellen. When he learns that Kim has had his child, he must decide what to do next. This production awarded difficult themes their deserved weight, and was a refreshingly human take on the realities of war.
Julianne Pundan played Kim with compelling emotion, and Jack Kane’s Chris was equally impressive. Moments between them, like ‘The Last Night of The World’ showed excellent chemistry and a movingly personal account of hope and love in the midst of complete destruction.
The star, however, was Seann Miley Moore, who warmed up into their role as brothel owner The Engineer throughout. Moore commanded the stage with a smoothly camp and charmingly menacing charisma. By the epic penultimate track ‘The American Dream,’ they are absolutely show-stopping, bringing the house down in the unrivalled highlight of the performance.
Visually, the show was outstanding. Huge sets by Andrew D Edwards immersed the audience in the various cities of the play, and multimedia elements like projections gave clear exposition and kept the emotional drive of the show. The costumes were also modernised for this production, and the seventies-style clothes worn by the women in the first act were equally on theme and completely stylish—this was a brilliant rejuvenation from past conceptions of the sex workers. In keeping with this, Ace’s Gigi had attitude and autonomy, and was a much-needed refreshing take on the character.
The way the production dealt with updating the source material was excellent. Additional writing by Michael Mahler helped it refrain from leaning too much into the exploitative or colonial (though the power dynamics are very much undeniable).
A huge cast of talented performers formed the backdrop of the show, which contributed to the high-budget feel of the whole thing. In the iconic helicopter rescue scene, the ensemble acted as a poignant reminder of the wide reach of devastation, and was completely heartbreaking to watch.
Miss Saigon hit all the marks of a fantastically enjoyable, and equally heartbreaking, musical. It was a haunting tribute to a war which shook a nation and affected so many, and was littered with excellently exciting musical numbers throughout.
Image by Danny Kaan, provided as press material.