Miss Saigon: Worldwide hit returns after 23 years
Seen by 38 million people worldwide, Miss Saigon last enthralled Singapore in 2001 at Kallang Theatre. Veteran producer Cameron Mackintosh of Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats fame is breaking that long drought, debuting the beloved musical at Sands Theatre inside MBS.
All my life, I’ve actively avoided theatre and here I was with an invite. Perhaps this acclaimed new production would show me the error of my ways. Or reinforce them – you’ll find out which by the end of this review.
Like a true dilettante, I frantically dutifully did a bit of research before going, safe in the fact that my far more cultured Madam Editor would be accompanying me.
Based on the 1900 play Madame Butterfly in which the titular character was a Japanese girl aged 15, Miss Saigon sets the story around 17-year-old Kim at the end of the Vietnam War. Kim is played by Filipino-Australian Abigail Adriano.
Her lover, American G.I. Chris is played by Nigel Huckle. Lewis Francis as his friend John, Seann Miley Moore as wily French-Vietnamese nightclub owner The Engineer, and Sarah Morrison as Chris’s wife, Ellen round off the main cast.
Performance
The show opens with an all-out song-and-dance number at nightclub-cum-brothel Dreamland. For my very first look at a musical, it was a decadent, loud, enthusiastic and zealously performed affair. No one can accuse the cast, even those in background roles, of being anything less than committed.
I was surprised at how clearly the actors’ voices carried despite their energetic prancing about the stage. The score kept pace so well that it seemed pre-recorded; the conductor’s baton waving about over the orchestra pit gave it away.
You can see the effort that has gone into creating each set. Some may seem simple but are incredibly intricate upon closer inspection. The way in which massive multistorey backdrops are moved about between scenes is a wonder of engineering and design.
Also impressive is the ingenious way the inside and outside of the American Embassy are shown in a single scene simply by reversing certain props.
For many fans, the iconic helicopter scene at the Embassy is the highlight of the show. I agree. Impressive as the thunderingly realistic sound effects and helicopter body were, it was the attention to detail with the rotor assembly that blew me away – it spun at different speeds depending on what the chopper was depicted doing. As someone who’s ridden, roped and rappelled off Hueys, just wow.
Production excellence aside, the heartbreak of that scene and what it signifies for the characters adds to the viewer’s emotional burden. Scenes such as this actually played out during the American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973 and, tragically, were repeated during their botched Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. To see it play out before my eyes drove home the gravity of what had happened on both those instances.
It was fortunate that during my ‘research’, I only glanced over Miss Saigon’s plot; the revelation around which the third act is based came as a complete surprise. Apparently, I wasn’t the only uncultured philistine in the audience – a lady a couple of rows behind me gave a 2-second audible gasp at that scene. I am sure she was clutching her pearls.
While the final scene is not altogether unpredictable, it was brilliantly performed. As with the Embassy scene, it wasn’t solely the performances but also the visions that they conjured in my mind of how the emotions depicted in the lead-up were experienced by real people that made the scene so moving.
What a show.
Final thoughts
As I write this 2 days after watching Miss Saigon, I am a fan.
There are no real plot twists – most of the audience will probably know the complete story anyway – but there is profound emotion conveyed in all its gritty negative and positive forms. What a tragic story this is to tell, where not one major character is blameless.
Our protagonist Kim selfishly abandons the Vietnamese man to whom she is betrothed and does him much worse halfway through the story. G.I. Chris leaves her behind to what he would have known would have been a virtual death sentence for consorting with the enemy. His friend John is the one who pushes him to be with Kim as well as the one who summons him away from her.
There is a redemption arc for each of them.
The Engineer almost defies definition. Seann Miley Moore plays him with aplomb (and perhaps just a tad too much sass) but quite rightly received the loudest applause at curtain call.
As with the characters, Miss Saigon isn’t blameless. At 2 hours 40 minutes (including the interval), it is a bit of a slog if you aren’t an enthusiast. Each musical number has its place in contributing to the emotional landscape the audience is navigating; still, a 2-hour runtime would probably have sufficed.
Not a prude by any standard, I was slightly surprised by how overtly sexualised the opening sequence is. But it has its place. The gritty reality was undoubtedly much worse, and this seedy backdrop of scantily clad women gyrating vigorously worked an intentional contrast to the virginal Kim.
From its inception, Miss Saigon has been criticised for caricaturing Asian women. To me, it simply tells a story that actually happened in hundreds (thousands?) of iterations in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
The stage aside, there were dozens of the same Caucasian gentleman-Asian lady couples in the audience. So, let’s just be less ‘woke’ and accept art – and reality – in all its diverse forms.
Miss Saigon is an immensely popular musical around the world and I can see why. It may not be the best choice for my first theatre experience due to its length but it tells a tale worth seeing in all its musical grandeur.
My first theatre musical didn’t turn me instantly into an avid theatregoer… but the experience has made me much more receptive to the idea.
Miss Saigon plays at Sands Theatre till 29 Sep 2024.
Get your tickets from S$64 on Klook
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