REVIEW: MISS SAIGON IS A RIVETING MIX OF SPECTACLE AND TALENT

(SPOT.ph) Watch for the mesmerizing spectacle, hold on for the brilliant performances. That's how I would describe Miss Saigon's theatrical experience in a sentence. And yes, we're still on a theatrical high a day after gala night, held on March 26. The musical runs until May 12 at the Theatre at Solaire in Parañaque City.

Synopsis of Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon, a sung-through musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madame Butterfly. Set against the tragic backdrop of the Vietnam War, it tells the heart-wrenching story of Kim (played by Abigail Adriano), a 17-year-old orphan from a war-torn village. Following the death of his parents, circumstances force her into working at a bar in Saigon that is managed by the notorious Engineer (Seann Miley Moore). The bar becomes the setting for a fateful encounter that changes Kim's life forever. She meets Chris (Nigel Huckle), an American G.I., and amidst the chaos and destruction, they fall deeply in love. However, their newfound happiness is short-lived.

As Saigon falls, the American soldiers leave the land. Chris loses Kim amid the evacuation and is forced to leave behind the love of his life. The narrative then follows Kim's extraordinary journey over three years as she fights for survival in a war-torn country, all while holding onto the hope of reuniting with Chris, and—most especially—giving their son Tam the life he deserves.

Miss Saigon Theater Review

Despite its popularity (and that it's almost a required viewing for any theater enthusiast), I have never seen a version of Miss Saigon. But I've heard a lot about its production design involving a helicopter onstage. And that, they did, ticking off one of the elements of theater: spectacle.

The stage carefully paints a picture of Saigon in April 1975: from the chaos in the streets to a local bar called Dream Land. The set transports us three years later to Ho Chi Minh with its tattered shacks and the tragedy of the reunification; and Bangkok as a refuge among Vietnamese. In between the scenes are massive props (the head of Lady Liberty included) to bring the audience from one place to another, calculated light design, and several gunshot sounds that feel all too real.

But it's really the performance of the cast that's nothing short of stellar, and I'm not just saying this because most of them are either Filipino or have Filipino roots performing in an international touring production.

Seann Miley Moore stole the show and took advantage of the extravagance required of his character. He interprets The Engineer as The Engin(Queer) to which he brought all the "bakla energy," as he said in a previous interview. While still within the confines of the text, he adds a layer of complexity as to what a queer character has to fight for in an effort to achieve that "American Dream."

Abigail Adriano follows in the footsteps of Lea Salonga, who played Kim in the musical's first iteration in West End (1989) and Broadway (1991). In a press event, Adriano narrated to members of the press that on the first time that the production rehearsed the show, producer Cameron MacKintosh told her: "Abby, when you do Kim, I just want to see you." And she brought that emotional depth to a nuanced character that recognizes her dependence on the men in the show (e.g. Chris, the American soldier; and Thuy, the man she is arranged to marry and later a commissar in the new Communist government), while still believing that she is the master of her life, or at least that's what Adriano tried to address in the rather problematic issues of the original.

Watching Miss Saigon in 2024 raised a few questions, especially when taken in the lens of feminism, Orientalism, and decolonialism. At its simplest, the narrative follows the trope of a damsel-in-distress waiting for his prince. Add to that that Kim is a woman from the Global South, and that Chris is...well, white. Plus, the Vietnam War is basically the foothold of American Orientalism. These are definitely big issues to think about beyond the three-hour run of the show.

The beauty of theater is that it is always alive, and the cast discussed during the media call that there were a few changes made to give Kim some agency as an empowered woman. And while it is minute, that can be seen in Kim's ownership of her fate and Adriano's powerful number in Act I: "I have had my fill of pain, I will not look back again, I would rather die."

Miss Saigon runs until May 12 at The Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort and Casino, 1 Aseana Avenue, Parañaque City. 

2024-03-28T04:05:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd