Review: Miss Saigon, Hippodrome

There is a certain sort of musical that at some point in its history ceases to be just another show and assumes the mantle of a “theatrical phenomenon.” Miss Saigon went past that point years ago. It has been stupidly successful and taken shedloads of cash.

At that point a show begins to be described exclusively in numbers. I’ll get these over quickly. Miss S opened on April 11, 1991 with what was the largest advance sale in Broadway history – $37 million. It went on to play for nearly ten years and 4,063 performances, seen by more than 5.9 million people. It has been performed in 28 countries, over 300 cities in 15 different languages and has won over 40 awards. See what I mean?

No wonder this latest production and tour is staged by Sir Cameron Mackintosh. It`s bound to be a nice little earner.

Pics: Johan Persson

It’s easy to be snobbish about a show with such mass appeal – easy to consider it low-brow fluff, not worthy of serious attention. But most theatrical phenomena are usually very good. They are popular because they work. Work consistently and well.

Miss S is such a musical, but it is not an easy or comfortable watch. It is based on Puccini`s Madame Butterfly, which has just as much dubious morality. It is a love story between Kim, a Vietnamese girl caught up in the 70`s war – played beautifully here by Sooha Kim – and Chris, an American GI performed by Ashley Gilmour. But it is also how the West exploited the East at that time, and has a particular contemporary relevance to Trump’s America – after all, who is allowed into the US these days?

We are supposed to have a certain empathy for Chris, but throughout the story he acts in an extraordinarily repugnant fashion. He meets Kim in a brothel, fathers a child, abandons her to return to America where he marries “one of his own kind” and finally, when he realises Kim has given birth to his son, has no compunction in taking the boy away from her so the child can live a better life in the “land of the free.” In despair, Kim shoots herself. John is not a standard all-American hero – but then neither is Puccini`s Pinkerton.

If you don’t know the story, that might make Kim sound a weak, ineffectual character: but Miss S is a tragedy, and Kim’s ultimate sacrifice ennobles her.

The big star of the night is undoubtedly the splendidly-named Red Concepción, who plays the Engineer. He`s the sinister but occasionally charming brothel keeper who first introduces Kim and John, and who continues to play a huge part in their lives until the very end. Again, he is a man untroubled by any morals, but he has an audacity, a flamboyance that attracts the audience like a magnet. He is on stage for probably eighty per cent of the show, but every time he’s absent you miss him. Concepción`s performance is simply exhilarating.

Red Concepción with the company

He also has the best song of the night by far. Three quarters of Miss S unfolds without one memorable, hummable tune. The musical is the creation of Boublil and Schönberg (no, me neither: but apparently, they also wrote Les Misérables and not surprisingly the Miss S songs are very similar. B and S must be very, very rich).

(Almost) finally, the Engineer belts out The American Dream and all is well with the world. It’s an ironic but upbeat and feelgood number that sets the audience up for the inevitable standing ovation. Interestingly, it’s not the doomed lovers who get the final curtain call in this production but Concepción – and very well deserved too.

Miss Saigon continues at the Hippodrome until Saturday, June 23. For more information and tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/miss-saigon/bristol-hippodrome

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