Miss Saigon was one of my most anticipated shows coming to Norwich Theatre Royal this year, having heard a lot about it over the years. It’s now arrived and I’m excited to dive in!
The show has a book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, and lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. The story follows a 17 year old called Kim who is forced to work in a bar tun by The Engineer as the Vietnam War nears its end. She and an American GI, Chris, fall in love but are separated as Saigon falls. Kim spends the next three years trying to get back to Chris.
The central story is powerful, with a romance set to a backdrop of the devastating Vietnam war and different factions. The show is a longer one at 2 hours 40 minutes roughly, and it feels epic in scale, though could be more efficient. The romance between Kim and Chris happens a touch quickly, while other elements of the story feel more dragged out. Nonetheless, the staging for this show is excellent, utilising a turntable in the stage and multiple levels to good effect for the story. This is somewhat a sung through musical, and thus it’s important the score makes an impact and it absolutely does that. Songs have great power to them such as “I’d Give My Life For You” and “Why God Why”, but there’s also some more frenetic numbers such as “The Heat is On in Saigon” near the start of the show. I will definitely be listening to the soundtrack this week!
The entire cast were terrific and made for a very high energy and snappy production. Jack Kane plays Chris, and gives a lot of sincerity to the role, tapping into the wide eyed kid of the character as Chris wants to give Kim a new life. Julianne Pundan’s Kim manages to give some incredibly powerful vocals, while giving some subtle facial and voice cues to add some extra emotional weight. The audience couldn’t take their eyes off her.
Seann Miley Moore meanwhile plays The Engineer and this was the most surprising part of the show. Moore has so much energy and charisma on stage, with the character really contrasting to the heavier parts of the show. He had me and the audience laughing throughout and while I felt the character created some tonal dissonance with the rest of the show, I can’t fault Moore for this and the levity he and the character provided was welcome.
This was a stellar show! Miss Saigon plays at Norwich Theatre Royal until 23 May. Book your tickets now!
Chris.
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