“The Heat Is On In Saigon”, and the Hippodrome is certainly heating up for the lengthy run of the legendary Miss Saigon, and boy is it good!

Cameron Mackintosh’s restaging of the West End version of Miss Saigon has been one hell of an undertaking, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. The humongous sets from the original show, along with everything else you might expect are here in Bristol and help to create what is possibly the best show to ever grace the stage at The Hippodrome.

Loosely telling a story based on Madame Butterfly Miss Saigon is set in 1975 during the final days leading up to the American evacuation of Saigon. Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American G.I and a young Vietnamese woman. It’s an emotional, thought-provoking (especially with the current political climate) highly charged, and beautifully created piece of musical theatre.

This being a musical, I suppose we must look at the music to start. Written by Claude-Michel Schonberg with lyrics from, Richard Maltby Jnr and Alain Boubil, Miss Saigon is a musical feast, with the atmosphere of the far east being crafted through the musical style and the huge range of emotions which form the show have been successfully transferred to music to form an immersing and overwhelming experience. The music may not be as memorable to Boubil and Schonberg’s other epic Les Miserables, but it comes pretty darn close! “The Heat Is On In Saigon” has been stuck in my head for days since first hearing it, and “The American Dream”, “Sun and Moon” and “Why God Why?” are all truly exquisite pieces of music which manage to stir all the emotions that lie deep inside you and relate them to the story in a way that very few musical songs have ever managed.

Now music would be nothing without a cast which are capable of holding their own on stage and performing each song effortlessly, however Miss Saigon doesn’t have that cast…. they’ve got an even better one! Leo Tavarro Valdez plays the Engineer with such graceful precision and excellence; he has made this a tremendous character, which will delight the whole audience. Ima Castro’s performance as Kim was moving and exceptional. She has been playing the role for three years and that experience shows without any kind of glimmer of boredom in the character or as if she was just going through the motions. Her on stage romance with David Shannon who plays Chris was as natural as it could be, believable and lovable. David Shannon’s voice is mind-blowing and plays a character which is a pleasure to watch and Hugh Maynard’s voice in the powerful Act 2 opening number ”Bui-Doi” can’t help but get the hairs on the back of your neck up.

The wonderful choreography means that there is always something on stage to grab your interest, be it the dancing go-go girls in Bangkok or the truly miraculous Ho Chi Minh City spectacle complete with a 12 foot high statue, flats, banners, back flips and marching.

Now that 12 foot high statue is not the only part of the set, which will have you lifting your jaw up off the floor. Miss Saigon uses every inch of the incredibly large Hippodrome stage to their advantage to craft a view of grandeur and amazement. The vast stage is stunningly surrounded be blinds and plays host to some astounding costumes and sets which all fluently move on and off stage without a stagehand in sight! This is all picked up and enhanced by lighting that is so good, no words would do it justice!

Then there is of course the infamous helicopter, which really takes the breath away when it hovers and swerves over the set and then lands. However, it does look a bit dated to the regular theatre-goer who may have been fortunate enough to see something like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where the flying car really does put this to shame, that said it is still a real sight and for those which haven’t seen anything which is more modern and features better technology, well they’ll be blown away.

The sound was just too quite at times which meant you had to listen intently to understand what was going on, and you missed out on the overwhelming factor which takes you to that next emotional stage, but with any show that can have the majority of the audience crying and then on their feet applauding you have to nit pick tiny things like this to use as problems within the production!

Whatever you do over the next few months do not Miss Saigon. Its epic story, delicate music, electric emotions, graceful chorography, gifted cast, and awesome sets make for a show you’ll never forget…..and I’ll pre-war you, once is not enough!

DID YOU KNOW?

The helicopter is computer operated and life size It weighs 800 kilos and is so large it would need a 2.5m cube box.

The Cadillac was designed especially for the production and weighs 10.5 kilos, and folds in half for easy storage backstage.

The Ho Chi Minh Statue is 12 feet high.

The show will need 22, 44ft trucks to move it between venues.

There are 32 motors used throughout the set, 15 alone are used to move the enormous venetian blinds.

There are 44 members of the cast, 19 members of the orchestra and a touring staff of 40 people.

The show uses 375 costumes and 45 replica hand guns.

Each performances uses 6 follow-spots, 20 vari-lights, 30 moving light curtains, 8 fog and smoke machines, 135 kilos of dry ice, 25 radio mics and 94 winches.

Miss Saigon has won over 25 awards worldwide including 2 Olivier awards, 2 Evening Standard Awards, 4 Drama Desk Awards and 3 Tonys.

Miss Saigon has been seen by over 28 million people.

Buy tickets for events:

The Tick List

Story

Music

Set

Costume

Lighting

Cast

Overall

Performance Time:
Monday - Saturday:
7.30pm

Wednesday and Saturday:
2.30pm

Ticket Prices:

£12.50 to £35

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