MISS SAIGON Tours till 24 June
MISS SAIGON: Music Claude-Michel Schonberg; Lyrics Richard Maltby Jnr, Alain Boublil; Adapted from Original French text by Alain Boublil; Additional material by Richard Maltby Jnr; Orchestrations William David Brohn
Birmingham Hippodrome: 4 April – 20 April, 2h 45m, one interval; tour details below, full info www.miss-saigontour.co.uk
Review: Rod Dungate, Birmingham Hippodrome, 6 April 2006-04-07
Beautiful realisation of a powerful drama
It is one of the biggies, but in this present touring production it’s easy to see why it made such and impact – and why it continues to do so.
Actually, I think it gets off to a slow start (but don’t let this put you off.) The performer’s do a great job – the over-all setting is energetically realised by the company. And Chris, the GI and Kim, the innocent country girl thrown into the seedy sex industry of Saigon, are passionate in their whirlwind romance. But for my taste the romance is too sudden, too broadly painted for me to believe in.
It’s when we move to Ho Chi Minh City that the thing begins to smoulder, burn and then, later, explode into a fierce conflagration.
Through the story of Kim, her love for Chris, Chris’s marriage to Ellen back in the US, Kim’s desire for a better life for their son, this show seriously investigates society’s values, the moral dilemmas of war and the messes we leave behind. And it examines these issues at an emotional level (it engages our heart as well as our head). The music (Schonberg) and highly intelligent lyrics (Maltby Jnr, Boublil) deepen this emotional engagement. The drama, bringing together all elements of music theatre, becomes more and more layered and we are drawn ever more tightly into it.
There is nothing hurried about this production, yet it never feels slow because the drama is given room to breathe. The dilemmas of the characters are given free and passionate rein. Characters in this play do bad things, but we find we can’t apportion blame – they are all victims. Particular moments that spring to mind are the highly charged duet between Thuy and Kim YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM in the first half, and the beautiful scene between Kim and Ellen in the second.
In the second half, the exit from Saigon, the orchestra really comes into it’s own. The strong rhythm really pushes the scene along, urgent and irresistible. It winds the whole up, leading to the appearance of the helicopter. Incredibly the tension never slackens. Jon Jon Briones’s marvellous Engineer (a character intellectually we know we should despise but emotionally we can’t) moves into the wonderfully realised THE AMERICAN DREAM – replete with fabulous Scarfe animations.
I’ve been trying to work out if I’ve seen Saigon before – well, I haven’t. I can only say this production makes it well worth waiting for.
Saigon – April 1975
Kim: Ima Castro/ Miriam Valmores Marasigan
Gigi: Christine Sambeli-Marquez
Yvonne: Kanako Nakano
Mimi: Analin Bantug
Fifi: Natalie Everett
Yvette: Celia Mei Rubin
Bar Girls: Crystal Yu, Maria Lawson, Analin Bantug, Natalie Everett, Kanako Nakano, Azumi Ono, Celia Mei Runin
The Engineer: Jon Jon Briones
John: John Partridge
Chris: Ramin Karimloo
Marines: Neil Dale, Damian Winter-Higgins, Matthew Barrow, Dan Burton, Ian Carlyle, Mark Connell, Eaton James, Lee Mead, Richard Taylor Woods
Barmen: Raby Soc Alfonso, Meynard Marcellano, Sherwin Roux
Vietnamese Civilians: Jun Ofrasio, Ariel Reonal, Miguel C Braganza II, Romeo Salazar, Ian Venida
Thuy: Christian Rey Marbella
Ho Chi Minh City – April 1978
Ellen: Lara Pulver
Tam: Marley Glavin/ Sara Ha/ Jamie He/ Lauren King/ Luca Martorana/ Laurence Newman/ Jacob Zhang
Assistant Commissar: Miguel C Braganza II
Musical Supervision: Daniel Bowling and Stephen Brooker
Musical Direction: Stuart Calvert
Lighting Design: Jenny Kagan
Sound Design: Mick Lidster
American Dream Animation: Gerald Scarfe
Additional Choreography: Geoffrey Garratt
Choreography: Maggie Goodwin based on the Original Musical Staging by Bob Avian
Costume Design: Andreane Neofitou
Production Design: Adrian Vaux
Co-Directed: Mitchell Lemsky, Laurence Connor
2006-04-07 13:05:21