The musical Miss Saigon cam back to the West End theatres in 2014 and the revival was epic. Those who had seen it in theatre 15 years prior were buying tickets and those who knew nothing about were doing the same because everyone knew this was the musical to watch.
Performed at the Prince Edward Theatre, it opened with the curtains closed and a screen with images from the actual Vietnam war. This immediately sets the mood which is morose to say the least and leaves the audience wondering what it’s all about.
Suddenly we see the heroine Kim and what becomes of her family and the Engineer, a protagonist in the musical who I think should be considered one of the main character since he gets the ball rolling on a lot of the events that occur.
After the dramatic opening we’re suddenly transported to a brothel, when the Americans are getting rather happy with a few prostitutes. All of this run by the Engineer and also where Kim is taken to to work as a prostitute herself. The scenes here are very sexualised and actually took me by surprise when the actors first came on. The beginning emphasised that this show may not be suitable for children, unknown to the family of 4 sitting behind us, consisting of 2 young children who looked about 10 years old. The gasp from the mother and the look from my friend was enough to tell me that musicals seem to take away most of the sexuality and thankfully Miss Saigon fought against this norm and won.
The acting throughout was amazing. I don’t know what else to add to that because this is one of those you need to watch it to understand it moments. To be able to act and convey emotion whilst singing is a skill most professional actors would wish for and Eva Noblezada (Kim) had this skill in spades. This Money’s Yours, sung by Chris, our hero, and Kim was one of the defining emotional moments for me. Whilst Chris was good, Kim’s solo explaining how her family were burned down had so much emotion, sadness and power in it that I was on the edge of my seat holding my breath, just waiting to see what would happen next. It was incredible.
The comedy factor was added by the characters of the Engineer and John but even they had a certain sadness surrounding them. No matter what, it was never forgotten that we were in the middle of a war until we were in a flash forward and were in America with Chris and Ellen.
The best part for me was the helicopter scene. Whoever was in charge of that needs to get a raise because honestly, that was awesome. Helicopters in theatres should become a thing.
My review of Miss Saigon is pretty vague at best but that’s because it’s something that I would definitely recommend you watch and I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Miss Saigon will be leaving the West next month to go onto broadway so if you’re going to watch it, buy your tickets asap!
Just be prepared for the tissues, because not everything is what it seems and not everyone gets what they truly want.
Performed at the Prince Edward Theatre, it opened with the curtains closed and a screen with images from the actual Vietnam war. This immediately sets the mood which is morose to say the least and leaves the audience wondering what it’s all about.
Suddenly we see the heroine Kim and what becomes of her family and the Engineer, a protagonist in the musical who I think should be considered one of the main character since he gets the ball rolling on a lot of the events that occur.
After the dramatic opening we’re suddenly transported to a brothel, when the Americans are getting rather happy with a few prostitutes. All of this run by the Engineer and also where Kim is taken to to work as a prostitute herself. The scenes here are very sexualised and actually took me by surprise when the actors first came on. The beginning emphasised that this show may not be suitable for children, unknown to the family of 4 sitting behind us, consisting of 2 young children who looked about 10 years old. The gasp from the mother and the look from my friend was enough to tell me that musicals seem to take away most of the sexuality and thankfully Miss Saigon fought against this norm and won.
The acting throughout was amazing. I don’t know what else to add to that because this is one of those you need to watch it to understand it moments. To be able to act and convey emotion whilst singing is a skill most professional actors would wish for and Eva Noblezada (Kim) had this skill in spades. This Money’s Yours, sung by Chris, our hero, and Kim was one of the defining emotional moments for me. Whilst Chris was good, Kim’s solo explaining how her family were burned down had so much emotion, sadness and power in it that I was on the edge of my seat holding my breath, just waiting to see what would happen next. It was incredible.
The comedy factor was added by the characters of the Engineer and John but even they had a certain sadness surrounding them. No matter what, it was never forgotten that we were in the middle of a war until we were in a flash forward and were in America with Chris and Ellen.
The best part for me was the helicopter scene. Whoever was in charge of that needs to get a raise because honestly, that was awesome. Helicopters in theatres should become a thing.
My review of Miss Saigon is pretty vague at best but that’s because it’s something that I would definitely recommend you watch and I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Miss Saigon will be leaving the West next month to go onto broadway so if you’re going to watch it, buy your tickets asap!
Just be prepared for the tissues, because not everything is what it seems and not everyone gets what they truly want.