Miss Saigon is an iconic love story set in the last days of the Vietnam War. 17-year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as The Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris, but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For 3 years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he’s fathered a son.
There are some musicals that can stand the test of time, and this is certainly one of them. In this new and updated production of Miss Saigon, it’s not so much a reinterpretation, but the same Miss Saigon fans know and love, but with a different creative approach.
The role of the Engineer is played by the incredibly diverse Sean Miles Moore, stunning the audience with commanding stage presence and wowing us with vocal range and characterisation. They were the comic relief, which is unusual for an antagonist, but it just shows how much the audience love that character. No other scene came anywhere near as close as a show-shopper than their song ‘The American Dream’. They have the most incredible costume change on stage as the song progresses revealing an American flag dress which was iconic to say the least. They made it seem effortless and just had overall star quality.
Julianne Pundan was absolutely wonderful making her professional debut as Kim. What a voice! To have so much emotional depth and power and with so many songs to keep the momentum up with too. You can’t help but feel for her character and the hardships she’s faced. Made all the more devastating in Act 2 and backed beautifully of course by the live orchestra. Her softness when she had scenes with her son Tam played by Zeyon Le was so vulnerable. Her song ‘I’d Give My Love For You’ sums up how much she loves and wants what’s best for her boy. Zeyon didn’t say a single word in this script and yet got the biggest cheer at the end for bows. He had true professionalism and had great stage presence too.
The set design and the lighting all add to this fresh new take but staying true to the timeframe of the Vietnam war. Set and Costume design by Andrew D Edwards, created slick revolving stage sequences to change scenery quickly and easily, helping the audience to get lost in the story.
The use of video and projections all help to enhance the illusion of a bigger set and helped create the harsh backdrop of bombs falling from the sky and showing the sequence from day to night etc. Lighting design by Bruno Poet and Christian Clark as Head of Lighting and Video did a clever job with this.
For those who know the show will know, there is the moment where Chris goes off on the helicopter and it comes down from the top of the stage illuminating the audience with its lights and filling the room with the hum and sound of the aircraft about to take off. It got a round of applause for the effect alone and whilst different to the last time I saw Miss Saigon 15 years or so ago, it was still impressive to watch. Epic theatre moment right there.
This was easily a 5-star watch for me and judging by the round of applause and instant standing ovation with teary eyes at the end, I think the rest of the audience would agree with me.
Catch the legendary Miss Saigon at Liverpool Empire until Saturday the 2nd May before it continues its UK and Ireland Tour at multiple venues until finishing at Manchester this August. https://miss-saigon.com/uktour/
Reviewer: Emma Lambe
Reviewed: 22nd April 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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