Disclaimer: Press ticket in exchange for honest review.
The heat is on in Sheffield this summer as the first non-replica production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon lands at the Crucible Theatre. A tale of a doomed romance between a Vietnamese woman and an American GI, the story is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly, and was first staged in London’s West End in 1989. Since then, the show has transferred to Broadway, seen subsequent revivals in both locations and had multiple tours across the world.
However, it’s a show that has garnered, and often deserved, controversy throughout its life, and hearing of a new revival in 2023 understandably caused some alarm. I have always adored it, primarily for the score – this won’t be a surprise to those who know my thoughts on Les Mis, aka the greatest musical of all time – but in order to write a fair review I had to see the production. What follows is based purely on the new production at the Crucible. I acknowledge I am seeing this through my own eyes as a white woman and am therefore not best placed to comment on whether many of the show’s criticisms around the portrayal of Asian people have been resolved, but hope that there will be a healthy discussion around the production as opposed to an instant write-off based on the show’s past. For what it’s worth: in my opinion, the Crucible production fixes most of the issues with the show, and what remains would, I think, be a challenge to fix at all.
Let’s start with the set design: in a word, stunning. We’re greeted with a bright grey stage with flickering, television-static-like projections which helps to set the scene for what is to come. Colour is a big theme throughout this production, helping to set the mood and guide us through the tale of Kim (Jessica Lee) and Chris (Christian Maynard). As regular readers will know, I am a huge fan of ‘less is more’ and Saigon brings this to life beautifully. The same basic set is used throughout, largely with only a mobile stairway moving around to set the scene for individual locations. The revolving stage is combined with some of the most incredible projections I have eever seen, in particular the exceptionally clever, yet delicate, Last Night of the World sequence. The combination of set, lighting and sound design really helps to set this apart from previous productions of Miss Saigon – did we really need a genuine helicopter landing on stage? – and places the focus back onto the music, the cast and the storyline. Whether we’re in ‘Dreamland’ in 1975 – projected as though it’s the stripes of the American flag, which also subtly changes later in the show – I don’t want to give spoilers!) – Ho Chi Minh or Detroit in 1978 or Bangkok in the same year, the projections help to create the spaces and seamlessly transform the stage.
As mentioned, the use of colour is significant. Grey, muted tones foreshadow much of what is to come, and contrast the bleak hopelessness that remaining in Saigon presents in the minds of Kim and the Engineer (Joanna Ampil) with the bright, colourful hope of the United States.
One of the most striking changes in the Crucible’s production – and in my opinion the one that has had the biggest impact on the show – is the casting of Ampil as the Engineer. This is a significant change of gender, as traditionally the Engineer has been portrayed as a man. It shifts much of the dynamic back onto the women, and changes, perhaps, how we see the character and their notions and desires both for Kim and for a new life beyond Saigon. Leopard- and tiger-print outfits belie her dreams, as she continues to seek to take advantage of unscrupulous men (or American soldiers) who might be passing by.
It’s a tale of the ‘American Dream’ as raw as any, yet doomed to failure from the very start, due to borders. Let’s be frank: a show that starts in a brothel, is set in Asia and has sex work so intertwined in the storyline is always going to be a challenge to fully rehabilitate, and in particular the Bangkok brothel scenes still felt rather uncomfortable to me. Whilst portraying the tourists as comedic, bumbling buffoons had the audience laughing at them as opposed to with them, and in turn helping to transfer power back to the Engineer, I can’t in all good conscience say that Miss Saigon is fixed. It probably never will be. Nonetheless and with that in mind, it would be difficult, on balance, to objectively give this production anything other than four stars. It isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as it can be given the source material – for me, at least.
Ampil’s performance was truly powerful, breathing new life into a role they had played opposite during the original production, having played Kim in the West End, internationally and on tour. Their rendition of The American Dream had all the sass and power that we see right at the start of the show. They are someone who, no matter how hard the fight is or what the consequences are, knows exactly what they want and how they are going to get there, no matter how futile their efforts might be. Much will no doubt be written of this change across the theatre press, but for me it worked beautifully and there was undoubtedly no one more suited to portraying the revamped Engineer.
The performances of Lee and Maynard were equally stellar, with Lee bringing a vulnerability to Kim which slowly turns to love and then almost anger as circumstances conspire against her. Her emotions are raw and her voice powerful, bringing me to tears a number of times (no surprise) throughout the show. The aforementioned helicopter scene as Saigon is evacuated has been completely reimagined, and the intimate nature of the Crucible really helps the audience to feel the anguish and panic of those being left behind. The use of the stairway as a focal point, along with manic lighting, sound and smoke/fan effects brought the scene to life beautifully, and created an incredible focal point as Chris is airlifted to safety, thus dooming their romance. Maynard’s performance throughout is solid, formidable and relatable. Whilst few of us will ever be able to understand going to war, we can all relate to the emotions portrayed of losing a lover but having to return to ‘normality’, even if that creates more complications along the way.
And it is Shanay Holmes’ portrayal of Ellen, Chris’s eventual wife, which for me was the stand-out performance of the production, as she learns of Chris’s past. Holmes had the entire auditorium in the palm of her hand for Maybe, a gripping and powerful song of love, loss and perhaps hope? It’s a focal part of the show, foreshadowing what is to come whilst almost crafting an alternative ending that is never to be. Again, the simple, delicate lighting and projections bring the focus onto Ellen whilst keeping the space alive, allowing the music and the voice to have command of the stage. Indeed, the entire climax of the show runs remarkably quickly despite its delicate, slow nature, and pacing is something which this production achieves beautifully. We’re on the edge of our seats when we need to be, before relaxing back only to once again be alert. I almost didn’t want the end to come, and for Kim, Chris, Ellen and the Engineer to go on forever, to make things work. Sadly, it was doomed from the start.
Miss Saigon will always be a contentious musical. Given the history of the original, it can’t not be. But we have moved on from the years of yellowface and non-Equity productions and the Crucible and production team has, in my opinion, breathed fresh life into the show. It is a beautifully gripping and powerful modernisation whilst keeping the raw emotion of two unexpected lovers, the dreams of those who want a better life and the ultimate desire to want better for our children. The entire cast and production team is predominantly of Asian background – it is their show, they’re telling. And it’s beautiful. The rapturous applause throughout and the standing ovation at the bows was truly deserved. This is Miss Saigon for the 21st Century as it has never been seen before, in its truest form to date. I’ve fallen in love with it all over again.
Miss Saigon is open now and playing at the Sheffield Crucible until 19 August 2023. Tickets are available here, with performances Tuesday to Saturday evenings with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
