Based on Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s legendary musical Miss Saigon premiered in London 37 years ago. Set against the backdrop of the end of the Vietnam War, it tells a tragic story of a doomed romance between a young Asian woman and an American Marine Sergeant, whose brief but intense relationship is torn apart by the fall of Saigon.

Nearing the end of its UK & Ireland tour, Cameron MacIntosh and Michael Harrison’s updated production features all of its celebrated songs, including The Heat Is On, The Movie In My Mind and Last Night Of The World.

One of the many highlights of the show is the scene in which the last of the Americans in Saigon are evacuated from the Embassy roof by helicopter. As the evacuation takes place, a crowd of Vietnamese people scream in despair, left behind in their war-torn country and facing terrifying persecution from fast-approaching communist forces. 

The show’s tour is seeing Julianne Pudan make her professional debut as Kim, a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl traumatised by the war, which has killed her family and wiped out her village. She is being forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a disreputable and unscrupulous individual known as the Engineer. Pudan gives a truly remarkable and vocally assured performance, bringing to the portrayal a sense of her character’s strength but also fragility.

One-time X Factor contestant Seann Miley Moore is superb as the Engineer. Flamboyant and sexually ambiguous, it’s a complex and dynamic role which Moore injects with wit, humour and exceptional vocal versatility, quite literally stealing every scene in which the character appears. Previous incarnations of the Engineer have portrayed him as a totally amoral, manipulative and menacing pimp. He still has few redeeming qualities, but his vulnerability is more evident when you realise why he so desperately wants to escape to America: a burning desire to be in a place in which he can feel safe and where he can belong.

Miss Saigon boasts stunning staging, creative choreography, and outstanding and passionate performances from the whole cast. Superb dance routines include the massive production number American Dream. Performed by the Engineer, backed by a full ensemble cast of dancers, singers and showgirls, it’s a cynical fantasy about wealth, capitalism, and the glamorous lifestyles being lived by people in the US. The sequence is loud, chaotic, brash, and full of iconic American memorabilia and dollar signs. Wearing a stars & stripes-patterned gown, the Engineer portrays American excess. The second the song ends, the entire illusion vanishes, and the stage transitions back to the ‘real world’, more particularly a grim alleyway.

If you enjoy epic storytelling and want to experience an unforgettable night of musical theatre, check out Miss Saigon whilst it’s in the Midlands. The cast of 28 actors weave an emotional tale powerful enough to make you laugh but also bring you to tears. Accompanied by a live orchestra of 13 musicians, the music and vocals are phenomenal, the whole performance, awesome. Last night’s standing ovation from an extremely appreciative audience was very much deserved.

Five stars

Miss Saigon was reviewed by Sue Hull on Wednesday 24 June at Birmingham Hippodrome, where it shows until Saturday 27 June