The musical, Miss Saigon, has been watched by over 33 million worldwide.
You can add probably a few more thousand on to that figure, if Wednesday night’s attendance of the show at Hull’s New Theatre is anything to go by. The place was packed.
Miss Saigon is in the city as part of a major UK and Ireland tour and relates to events during the last days of the Vietnam War, in 1975, exactly 50 years ago.
As soon as the opening stage screen, depicting a huge sacred bird, rose, it was non-stop drama all the way.
Many theatre productions now have glorious video backdrops which, brilliantly, showcase much of the story that there would be no time to explain in words.
And this production was no different with opening images of bombing, fighter aircraft et al showing us the horrors of war.
The musical opens with the seedier side of life in Saigon, Vietnam, at a bar frequented by American GIs and run by a notorious, larger-than-life character called the Engineer.
This man (the absolutely amazing Seann Miley Moore) is camp, fun, but ruthless, as he grabs the money off of his girls as soon as they are handed it by the GIs for their services.
The girls are dressed to thrill, but a new arrival stands out from the seedy crowd – 17-year-old Kim (Julianne Pundan making an utterly amazing professional debut).
The Engineer is very keen to make money out of the teen, who is dressed very conservatively in virgin white, and offers her to whomever will pay top dollar.
Luckily, or maybe unluckily?, for Kim, GI Chris comes to her rescue and the couple seem to fall instantly in love.
Kindly Chris (Jack Kane, whose glorious singing voice and heartrending acting almost stole the show at times), determines to give Kim a better life.
But the fall of Saigon in April of 1975 led to 7,000 Americans being evacuated by helicopter.
The scene in which Chris is airlifted is memorable not only for the dramatics of him being carried high, into the helicopter, but also for the heartbreaking scene of him leaving behind his lover.
However, the lovebirds’ story is far from over and three years later their lives are each turned upside down with events totally out of their control.
The action shifts to 1978 Saigon, now renamed Ho Chi Minh City, then to Atlanta, America, where former GI John, Chris’s close friend, has news of Kim; news that threatens to bring Chris’s civvy life crashing down around his ears.
John (a solid performance by Dominic Hartley-Harris) does his best to advise and calm his friend. But are his efforts in vain?
By 1978, the Engineer is trying his luck in his old “profession”, in Bangkok, Thailand, without much success. But his appearance on stage was always a joy to behold.
I must also mention Emily Langham as Ellen and Mikko Juan as Thuy, who both played their characters with the perfect amounts of emotion, anger and bewilderment, between them; I’m not mentioning their roles though as it would give away too much of the storyline.
This production has everything to keep audiences on the edges of their seats for the duration, over two-and-a-half hours.
The stage setting changed before our very eyes, with large mobile cage structures, shifting effortlessly, doubling as bedrooms and bar rooms. Large sets of steps appeared at intervals, the centre of the stage spun around at times, drapes dropped from above as did a giant US dollar sign and the amazing video backdrop constantly kept up with proceedings, changing every few minutes.
A major dramatic highlight was the aforementioned helicopter evacuation. Wow!
“Gun” shots, haze, strobe lighting and pyrotechnics all added to the drama.
Costumes varied between military uniforms, Oriental dress, miniskirts, casual western wear, colourful US cheerleader outfits and so on.
We never just had all this excitement to contend with, but also the most wonderful music coming from musicians in the orchestra pit who accompanied the fantastic singing voices of everyone on stage that night, with a cache of 28 tunes.
Although all the tunes were new to my ears, that made no difference to my enjoyment of them, so beautifully were they sung by all concerned.
Most memorable for me were Last Night of the World sung by Kim (Pundan) and Chris (Kane), and The American Dream belted out by the Engineer (Moore) and company.
Speaking voices were also loud and clear; although the youngest member of the cast had no speaking role, but he takes the Oscar for being the cutest little thing imaginable.
On Wednesday, theatre lovers braved a rainy night in their droves, and, judging by the rousing standing ovation at the show’s end, all left the theatre happy in the knowledge they’d witnessed something very special.
Age guidance 14+
Miss Saigon runs at the Hull New Theatre until Saturday, January 24th, 2026 with tickets available from (01482) 300306 or www.hulltheatres.co.uk
Reviewer: Jackie Foottit
Reviewed: 21st January 2025
North West End UK Rating: