Miss Saigon

The Bristol Hippodrome is currently home to Cameron Mackintosh's new production of the hit musical Miss. Saigon. Being a big fan of this genre, my daughter and I really wanted to see it, so I bought the tickets through Ticketmaster - £35 for mine, £30 for hers - and we saw it last night, fourth row of the stalls. Miss. Saigon is quite a 'heavy' musical, not one I would recommend for young kids (swearing, murder, suicide, skimpy costumes) or for casual ...
...no spoken dialogue, everything is conveyed through song. I know some people don't like this. I don't think my husband would have enjoyed it much. But my daughter and I loved it. We have the CD and already knew the songs and the gist of the story, although I found the plot much clearer watching it come to life on stage. STORY The musical is set in the 1970s Vietnam war, beginning in Saigon April 1975, just before the American forces leave the country. ...

KarenUK 08.06.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

...entire performance again… Miss Saigon is a remarkable musical/opera – I have never experienced a show quite like it. The passion, the drive, the energy, the simple nightmarish consequences of actions we make – this was a first for me. Normally, I am quite reserved with my emotions – I’ve seen Les Mis and managed to hold back the sniffles ‘till half way through the first act but Miss Saigon caught me unaware in the sixth song of the show and me, a ...
...This is a review of Miss Saigon when I saw it at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. The Palace Theatre itself has undergone and overhaul, both backstage and front of house and looks fantastic. The Theatre itself is easy to get to both by car, follow signs for the G-MEX and then the NCP Palace car park, and by train – Oxford Road Station is just a short walk away. Long since moved on from Manchester, it has plaeyed in Edinburgh and will be in Bristol ...

Critchyboy 10.02.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

...in Manchester. At the moment, Miss Saigon is showing there about 8 times a week (6 x evenings and 2 matinees). It’s been on since last November, and will continue to show until June, and I saw it for the first time last weekend. Not the first time here, you understand, but the first time ever. I’ve seen a lot of musicals in my time, and danced a handful or so, but Miss Saigon has never appeared in that list. The most I know is one song ...
...is based on Madame Chrysantheme, Miss Saigon is a love story with a difference. Kim, our lead, is the latest to be added to the sleazy Engineer’s bar-girl dancer troupe at his Dreamland club, frequented mainly by American Marines. At 17, she’s the youngest performer, and the one who feels most out of place. As an orphan who has fled her home town, however, it’s one of the few options open to her. During a mock beauty pageant to ...

zoe_page 23.04.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

I went to see Miss Saigon on Saturday 19th January 2002, at the palace theatre in Manchester. We had to go to the matinee because all of the evening performances were sold out. The palace theatre itself has recently undergone a development costing in excess of 300,000. There is a modern box office, different signage and front façade, new canopy, another kiosk and merchandise positions and a fully re-fitted pit bar. The surroundings looked and felt ...
...on sale just as you walk through the entrance. The bar prices were a little steeper than I’d imagined them to be charging £1.00 for a small bottle of coca-cola. We sat in the stalls, which made us fairly level with the stage and suitably seated to see the performance at its best angle. The people behind the stage and responsible for the technical side of things are as follows: Alain Boublil – Book, lyrics and original French lyrics Claude-Michel ...

darrenaspinall 22.01.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

One word to summarise Miss Siagon? I would certainly say Intense, intense and intense. I went to the Apollo theatre in Manchetser (after paying a tear jerking amount for my ticket) with no idea of the story, form, style or critical response to the play. Thankfully for me (and my empty purse) I was actually very surprised at the brilliance of the whole affair. Yes, it was heavy and the constant operatic form did, in parts become quite tiring. But ...
...of roses. Miss Saigon is a love story set in Vietnam in 1975. Kim is a 17-year-old orphan who flees the countryside after seeing her family destroyed. Chris is an American Marine officer who visits the sordid strip club called Dreamland where Kim works. He eventually falls for the victimised Kim and they both fall in love with each other. Their relationship progress and he becomes increasingly fond of her son as they move in together. Chris returns ...

consumer5 19.06.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

I went to see Miss Saigon on Saturday 19th January 2002, at the palace theatre in Manchester. We had to go to the matinee because all of the evening performances were sold out. The palace theatre itself has recently undergone a development costing in excess of 300,000. There is a modern box office, different signage and front façade, new canopy, another kiosk and merchandise positions and a fully re-fitted pit bar. The surroundings looked and felt ...
...on sale just as you walk through the entrance. The bar prices were a little steeper than I’d imagined them to be charging £1.00 for a small bottle of coca-cola. We sat in the stalls, which made us fairly level with the stage and suitably seated to see the performance at its best angle. The people behind the stage and responsible for the technical side of things are as follows: Alain Boublil – Book, lyrics and original French lyrics Claude-Michel ...

darrenasprin 07.12.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

I went to see Miss Saigon at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, at a cost of approximately 36.00 per ticket. I wouldn't usually pay so much for tickets, but I heard so much about the production I decided to take the plunge!! As the show began I was slightly unsure of whether I had made the right choice - I had attended musical theatre productions before - but not a musical where there were no spoken words. I soon forgot my reservations as the production ...
...not know the story of Miss Saigon, it tells of a young Vietnamese girl forced to dance in a 'brothel' who is befriended by a GI. The friendship turns to love and they marry. Unfortunately, the soldier, Chris, is forced to leave without his wife, who is left behind distraught. She waits for him for many years and gives birth to his son and eventually manages to get to America to find him......but all is not what she had hoped for....I won't go on ...

holty 01.03.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

...and Down Under acclaiming that Miss Saigon is one of the best productions ever shown around the world! After reading reviews available on-line, I was inspired to write my own review considering that I was able to watch the play for 3 times: April 1997 (New York, USA), October 2000 (Manila, Philippines) and October 2005 (Belfast, Northern Ireland). With no doubt, each review has its own merit of telling us why Miss Saigon is highly recommended play ...
...The first time I watched Miss Saigon was in 1997 in New York, during my short business trip in the US. Luckily, my friend was able to buy two front row tickets. It was really a wonderful experience to watch it in Broadway and got the chance to witness the musical that made Lea Salonga an international star (she gave birth this year to a baby girl). Lea was not playing Kim when I watched it in the US, so when the Cameron Mackintosh production decided ...

digitalenvironmentalist 31.01.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

...first took me to see Miss Saigon in the West End when I was 11 years old and I don't think I truly understood the meanings behind it, but it made a big impact on me even then. The musical begins during the Vietnam war in a Saigon brothel run by the Engineer - an 'entrapreneur' who is desperate to get to the USA to live the 'American Dream'. Its Kim's first night and she is young and nervous but very beautiful. Chris - a US marine who was dragged ...
...seeing her 'husband' again... Miss Saigon is undeniably catchy and unlike most other musicals has many memorable songs that you'll be humming for weeks after you see it. The story takes you through every emotion with funny upbeat songs such as 'the Heat is on in Saigon' to love songs such as 'Solo saxophone' to sad songs such as 'You will not touch him'. By becoming immersed in this show you cannot fail to feel the pain of Kim's suffering as she ...

RuthHolohan 14.07.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

This musical is guaranteed to have you crying (filling up at the very least). What really makes this musical outstanding and different from some of the other Cameron Mackintosh/Andrew Lloyd Webbers is the many different emotions that it has to portray. On minute you are in a brothel and all the girls are singing and performing (literally!!!!), the next you have very emotional ballads between a marine, his wife and his lover (father of his child) ...
...helicopter is bought on stage and all the girls are trying to escape for a better life. If that doesn't make you cry, then the song Bui-Doi will. You are shown a real life film from the Vietnam war and you see all the little children "dust of life, conceived in hell and born in strife" as the song goes. It is one big emotional roller coaster and the ending is just as dramatic and the acting is outstanding. The backstage tour of Drury Lane Theatre ...

anjib 05.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon, a popular love sotry during the wartime. Since it is a story in Saigon, so the whole musical always have a touch of the oriental culture, including the costumes and the backdrop. The story starts at the club owned by "The Engineer" who want to flee from his country. This guy is a real joker and he is the one creating most of the laughther throughout the show. The serious and the most important part is between the love of a poor girl ...
...Chris. They fell in love and even married to each other but only later to find out that he already has a wife, Ellen back at home (America) when she went over with her son, looking for their husband and father. Chris wants to resolve this situation by staying with his wife in U.S. but sending Kim and their son back and supporting them financially. Howver, the whole story ended so sadly as Kim killed herself as she cannot accept this. No doubt, this ...

pehchiong 01.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Miss Saigon