Story of doomed affair reflects sad consequences of countries at war

Miss Saigon
New Theatre Oxford
Wednesday, December 17 Runs to Saturday, January 3

THE story of a doomed affair between an Asian woman and an American soldier, Miss Saigon is based on the Puccini opera Madama Butterfly. But it’s also a story that must have occurred in reality many times over in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

This spectacular new touring production opens at the tail-end of that war in 1975. Upright GI Chris (Jack Kane) meets and falls for bar-girl Kim (Julianne Pundan). But history gets in the way of their plan to escape together to the USA. Like the other girls, the comparatively innocent Kim is already under the thumb of the bar owner, a sleazy and sinister figure known as the Engineer. She’s also betrothed to her cousin Thuy.

Jump forward three years and the Americans have fled, Saigon has turned into Ho Chi Minh City and Thuy, now a commissar in the new communist regime, is on the hunt for Kim.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, Chris is married and his wife knows nothing of his Vietnamese love. And neither of them is aware that Kim has had a child by Chris, something revealed at the end of the first act.

The second half brings these various threads together and a resolution of sorts is achieved. If you’re familiar with the Puccini opera, you won’t be surprised to hear that the ending is not altogether happy, and a premonition of this as well as its often sombre subject matter give weight and depth to the musical.

Like Les Misérables, the other global hit by creators Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, Miss Saigon is not afraid to tackle big, historical events and to show human beings struggling to avoid being swept away by them.

But this is an exuberant, boisterous evening, with a finely drilled cast under the direction of Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy flinging themselves into song-and-dance numbers like The Heat is On or the Engineer’s sardonic paean The American Dream.

Quieter moments are provided when Chris and Kim duet together (Sun and Moon) or when she sings to her sleeping child. The lyrics are occasionally lost in full-throated delivery but the action is easy to follow and the stage is full of sound, light and movement. A high point, literally, is evacuation of the GIs by helicopter from the embassy contrasted with the desperation of those who’ve been left behind.

The whole cast is strong but I should single out Seann Miley Moore. He has an absolute whale of a time playing the Engineer, and his zest and enthusiasm set the tone for a very enjoyable show.

Philip Gooden