From soaring musical numbers to spectacular staging, Miss Saigon makes an impressive Blackpool debut with a production that balances epic scale and intimate tragedy.
Miss Saigon arrived in Blackpool for the first time ever on Tuesday. There’s always a great atmosphere outside the Winter Gardens when the big musicals are in town, and Wednesday’s press night preamble coincided with excited football fans spilling onto the streets after a hard-earned World Cup win. The entertainment levels in the Opera House were probably higher overall than the win over the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the standing ovations proved everyone went home just as happy.
This is a relatively new production of the Schonberg and Boubill sung-through stage musical, reflected in it being badged up as ‘Miss Saigon – The Legend Reborn’. In the programme, producer Michael Harrison promised a massive opening and it certainly delivered. A combination of stunning lighting, imposing sets and a live orchestra got things underway with a bang. And whilst the nature of the plot including prostitution and violent death also had more muted moments it remained enthralling at all points.
I had rather assumed that the lead character in Miss Saigon would be the eponymous Kim. My feeling that Aaron Teoh as the Engineer has rather stolen the show was undermined by the fact that he was last on for the encore. Teoh was deputising for the second night for Seann Miley Moore in the role but gave a superb performance as the strangely likeable pimp and hustler. The big budget headline number homage to the USA he delivers in ‘The American Dream’ in the second half is arguably worth the entrance fee in its own right, it’s superb.
If you’ve ever seen Puccini’s Madame Butterfly on which this is based, or even the film of a live staging of Miss Saigon from 2016, you will know that this is a tragic love story so it moves between light and shade throughout the performance. If you’re a fan of Les Miserables it has many hallmarks from coming out of the same stable in this regard that you can readily appreciate. The production never really makes a false step though in moving between tragedy and moments of humour.
In summary this run of Miss Saigon is a delight. The quality of the singing performances is consistently outstanding, and even difficult staging challenges like a helicopter rescue from the heavens are carried off with aplomb. It’s unsurprisingly been a big draw all week, but there are still tickets available in several price categories on Friday and for both Saturday performances.
