Miss Saigon: Melodius Masterpiece

A transitory helicopter's thunderous roar supplants the traditionaloverture and transforms the stage into the crowded streetsof 1975 Saigon.  Based on the enduring Madame Butterfly, Boublil and Schonberg (who gave us Les Miserables) have transformed this tragic tale, laced with war's effects on society, into an absorbing musical.

The Abbey Musical Theatre presents a melodious masterpiece that is gripping, dramatic, heartrending and entirely entertaining.

The Abbey's collaboration to pool resources with six other New Zealand musical groups has furnished superb scenery,dazzling costumes, imposing props and impressive effects for the director to populate with inspired casting and staging.

Barry Jones' large, energetic orchestra expressively supplies both mood and music and sympathetically compliments solo and ensemble singing of breathtaking intensity.

The backstage team provides spell-binding lightning and electrical effects, smooth slick scene-shifting, both trucks and flies, and full-on sound - all contributing to a visual and aural feast.

Director/Choreographer Stephen Robertson has melded this highly-talented company into one of the finest stage productions to ever grace the Regent.  Imported from America to play the petite Kim, Melinda Chua is a casting masterstroke.  She invests this most endearing of heroines with an intensity of voice and acting that ensures there isn't a dry eye in the house.  Her stage presence has star quality.  Local actor Bradford Meurk complements her as the love-struck Amrican Chris and his strong characterisation adds another step up on his promising acting and singing career.  Their duets, especially Last Night of the World, are stunningly moving.  Taking over the role of John at short notice, Chris Crowe offers polished strong support to his fellow GI and delivers an admirable passionate anti-war message in his highly emotional rendition of the child refugee song Bui Doi.  Amy Hunt (Ellen), Kyle Chuen (Thuy) and Carrie Green (Gigi) flesh out their characters admirably contributing compelling vocal portrayals in theirsolos.  But it is Scott Andrew's Enginner who links the dramatic events as Saigon falls and he pursues his American dream in Bangkok.  His melodramatic portrayal of one of life's misfits is encapsulated in the emotive If You Want to Die In Bed. His is a tour de force performance of one of theatre's great roles.

The atmosphere surrounding these troubled times is enhanced by the ever-present versatile ensemble of local actors that play multiple roles in fleshing out scenes of tawdry nightlife, violent demonstrations, military attack and retreat, emotional evacuations and American decadence.  A behind-the-scenes chorus boosts complex harmonies and a group of children endow the panic of evacuees with chilling realism.  And scene-stealing 3-year-old Tam's unspoken performance is unforgettable.

Aside from a missing fade on the bedroom scene to denote time passing, there is no weak point to this production of one of the best musicals of the modern era.  This is world class theatre on our local stage.