Miss Saigon Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London on September 20, 1989, closing after 4264 performances just over 10 years later. On April 11, 1991, it opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York, again running for over 4000 performances.
An adaptation of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, it tells the story of an American soldier, Chris, and a Vietnamese girl, Kim, who meet in a Vietnamese brothel during the final days of the Vietnam war, and fall in love. They go through a form of marriage, and Chris plans to take Kim back to the USA with him. The sudden evacuation of American troops at the Fall of Saigon forces him to leave her behind, not knowing that she is pregnant.
Kim brings up her little boy, Tam, alone, and finds herself forced to kill to defend him against her vengeful cousin. She escapes to Thailand, where Chris eventually comes to look for her. During the years of separation, he has met and married an American girl. Kim wants them to take her son to a better life in the USA, but they are reluctant to separate him from his mother. In order to ensure her child's future, she kills herself.
Lea Salonga originally starred as the title role, with Simon Bowman as Chris. Another major role is that of "The Engineer", the Vietnamese pimp. There was a controversy when the production transferred from the West End to Broadway when Actors' Equity refused to allow the white British actor who had played the Engineer, Jonathan Pryce, to recreate the role. However, after pressure from the producer Cameron Mackintosh, the general public, and many of its own members, Actors' Equity was forced to reverse its decision, and Pryce starred alongside Salonga and Willy Falk when the show opened.
Notable songs include "Movie In My Mind", "The Last Night Of The World", "I Still Believe", and "The American Dream".