Miss Saigon: Moving Musical's Powerful Performance

Claude-Michel Schonberg, writer of the music for Miss Saigon, by chance saw a photo in a magazine.  He was appalled at the image of a child about to board a plan for America to live with her ex-GI father that she had never met.  Her face is creased with tears; she will never see her Vietnamese mother again.  The desolation of the mother on the other side of the barrier was the catalyst for Schonberg and Alain Boublil to write Miss Saigon.  How does a mother make 'The Ultimate Sacrifice'?

The show opens at the backstage of the Dreamland bar.  Vietnamese prostitutes prepare to sell themselves.  The Engineer (Scott Andrew) has just discovered untouched flesh with the recently orphaned Kim (Melinda Chua).  She will be a new girl for the war weary soldiers to buy, guaranteed to titillate the hard and weary soldiers to part drunkenly with their money.

Chris, an American soldier (Bradford Meurk) fed up and tired from war comes to the bar with his friend, John (Chris Crowe).  John buys Kim for Chris, hoping it will cheer him up.  Kim takes Chris back to her room.  The opening scenes at the bar only gently portray the pitiful brutality that these young women face.  Maybe this was a ploy to primarily focus on the burgeoning love story of Kim and Chris.  They were enchanting together and their voices soared with "Sun and Moon".  The sudden entrance of Thuy (Kyle Chuen) may ruin Kim's chance of true love.  Thuy had bee promised Kim as his bride by her late father.  Kim tells him that as her father is dead, the promise can be broken.  She loves Chris and he has promised to take her to America.  Yet powers much stronger are working against the young lovers - Chris returns to America alone.

It is now three years later and the precision of crew with faultless scene changes and the choreography of the performers with "The Morning of the Dragon" was a visual feast.  Thuy is now a leader within the new regime and Kyle Chuen's ability to command the stage and his strong voice made these scenes memorable.  Thuy seeks out The Engineer and orders him to find Kim and bring her to him.  Kim is now a mother and she will do anything for her son's welfare and safety.

Melinda Chua was nothing less than amazing in her role as Kim; every word that she sung was so clear to understand.  Every note she effortlessly reached pulled at the heartstrings of the audience.  Scott Andrew as The Engineer, a vital role, will engineer everything that happens in the story slowly grew in his role.  His rendition of "The American Dream" towards the end of the second act was striking.  From the beginning of his explanation as a half breed child when he touted for his prostitute mother to French monsieurs to his vision to have the American dream was vividly portrayed, he would stop at nothing to obtain an entry visa.  Chris Crowe as John gave a powerful performance throughout.  Having left the army he now works to help the orphans left behind as a result of war in Vietnam.  At a rally to raise funds in Atlanta, his poignant song "Bui Doi" opened the second act.  "Like all survivors, I once thought when I'm home I won't give a damn, but now I'm caught I'll never leave Vietnam.  War isn't over when it ends, some pictures never leave your mind.  They are the faces of the children, the ones we left behind.  They're called Bui Doi, the dust of life, conceived in hell and born in strife."  Chris and his new wife, Ellen,come to see John in Atlanta, and the discovery is made that Chris has a young son left behind in Vietnam.  What will Kim do?  She believes that Chris will come back and take her and their son back to America.

Everyone involved, be it on stage or backstage, must be heartily congratulated for the tremendous work they have put in.  Audiences will certainly appreciate this production that works with such passion and precision.