Miss Saigon at Adelaide Festival Centre – Review
Miss Saigon is an epic and tragic love story that is visually breathtaking with amazing performances by an incredible cast.
Produced by Cameron McIntosh, in association with GWB Entertainment, Boublil and Schönberg’s incredible musical envelops the stage, delivering a brilliant score, wonderful performances and raw emotion to capture the senses.
This tragic story of control, love and courage follows Kim who is plucked from the safety of her village and thrown into the dark and debaucherous city of Saigon against the shadow of the violent, raging Vietnam War. Kim, played by Abigail Adriano, owns the stage with her powerful, clear and beautiful voice and delivers a flawless performance that is heart wrenching. Considered as little more than a pawn in her own life and tossed from one situation to another, she is held captive by the men in her life and treated with disdain. That is, until she meets Chris (played beautifully by Nigel Huckle), a young American soldier who sees her, not as an object to be desired, or something to be won or abused but as a beautiful, sweet and loving (barely, at age 17) woman who deserves love, kindness and freedom.
Although Kim and Chris marry in a beautiful, peaceful moment of bliss, hidden from the senselessness of the Vietnam War, their happiness and time together is short-lived. They are physically separated and Chris is plucked to safety to in a life-size helicopter that thunders down from the sky against a sea of desperate Vietnamese trying to escape the war and live in the safety of the U.S. Kim and Chris’s bold but futile attempts to reunite mark the downward spiral of tragedy that encapsulates the remainder of the story.
Huckle is another shining star in this musical, his character marks a step away from the jaded, marred US soldiers, simply looking for a “good time” with the “girls” while trying to escape the trauma of war. Huckle’s beautiful, rich voice carries stunning harmonies with Kim, and later in the show, Ellen, played by Kerrie Anne Greenland who has a stunning voice.
If there is anything we can learn from this show, it is that life is full of complexity, freedom escapes many and that war creates destruction and heartache for innocent people, simply seeking safety, peace and to live fruitful lives filled with love. Even “The Engineer”, the show’s resident Vietnamese pimp, craves a new life in America. Played to perfection, Seann Miley Moore delivers an outstanding performance as The Engineer – vulgar, sleazy and offering a bite of dark comic relief. Keep a look out for the “American Dream” number, a shameless depiction of his wannabe life as a big time “hot shot” in America.
Other special mentions include Kimberley Johnson, as Gigi, with her incredible vocals who gives a soulful and disturbing insight into her life as a bar girl in the opening scene.
From the amazing and varied musical score to the tragic storyline (based on Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly), this show is absolutely incredible to witness. The stage and set are second to none, moving fluidly around the performers. The life size car and helicopter onstage highlight the technical genius behind this show while the lighting and costumes are simply dazzling.
The performances are bold, the vocals are unbelievable and the show as a whole brings together an epic theatre musical that will stay with you forever.
We highly recommend this show for adults only as it depicts the Vietnam War and contains many adult themes of a sexual nature and swear words. It also has a confronting and tragic storyline that we feel would be confusing for kids. The opening scene, set in a bar with scantily clad bar girls being forced to sell themselves just to survive, is dark and confronting in itself.
As this production contains scenes of a sexual and violent nature, wartime themes, firearms, coarse language, drug use and the simulated smoking of cigarettes, it may not be suitable for minors.
Adelaide Festival Centre
Miss Saigon is currently playing at Adelaide Festival Centre until Sunday 28 January 2024. Don’t miss it!
Read more about Miss Saigon here
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