Miss Saigon

It's been a busy week in theatre for me- rehearsals, Exit The King and then Miss Saigon on Saturday. I was very excited to see Miss Saigon- the last peice of pro music theatre I'd seen was The Lion King, so there had been a gap. It was good to see a pro show again too. The complex set, the perfect sounding orchestra- that sometimes almost sounds fake, the elaborate costumes, the magnificent lighting and the excellent voices of the cast. This was a great show. Now I didn't see the original production in Sydney but I know it had a different set to the current touring production. I will say though that the set worked brilliantly. I thought it almost bordered on an abstract set- but it was all themed perfectly so that it was like a Vietnamese village. The best set use though came in the 'Kim's Nightmare' sequence at the gates of the American Embassy- and I'm not indicating the helicopter here. The way the set is used here to quickly transform between locations was incredible...and if that moment had got a bow at the end of the show I would have given it a standing ovation. As I was at a matinee the chances for one of the leads to not be performing is increased and sure enough David Harris-'Chris' did not perform. Instead we were treated to a performance by his under study Stephen Mahy- who I thought was absolutely fantastic. His emotions were perfect, his voice was brilliant and I thought he did a magnificent job. Aside from the headlining international cast (who were great too) I thought a stand out performance was that of Juan Jackson who played John. A brilliant voice- especially in Bui Doi- now my favourite song in the whole piece. This rendition made my hair stand on end, a truly fantastic song and scene. This is a powerful story, in a powerful musical with the music and the culture to match. However unlike Les Miserables- which it is often compared to, I did not leave with the tunes of many songs in my head. I did buy the complete recording though and since have listened to the show again and now the tunes are there. I would defiantely say don't go just for the gimick. Yes the helicopter is fun but it's not the story of Miss Saigon. There is so much of a human, touching and heart renching story behind this musical that even those not from the Vietnam War generation can feel touched by (me for instance). After a break from the BIG musicals last year for Melbourne it's good to see them start to flood back in with Miss Saigon at the lead. It should be a few good years in theatre to come in Melbourne if Phantom, Spamalot and possibly Wicked are all of the standard and quality of Miss Saigon. Four stars. Miss Saigon is currently playing at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne- followed by a tour to various capitals around the country.