In this new international tour, directed by Laurence Connor, Miss Saigon retains everything that made it a smash hit to begin with, including a stellar cast that brings the characters and songs to life. Miss Saigon is set in s, during the height of the Vietnam War, presenting a Saigon that is in shambles and on the brink of being razed to the ground. Girls from the village are left orphaned and homeless, and many are forced to turn to prostitution for survival, selling their bodies to their brand new clientele β the hordes of American soldiers on tour to aid South Vietnam in the brutal civil war against the North.
On an evening where the soldiers have come to have their fun, John Lewis Francis ends up helping his buddy Chris Nigel Huckle by buying time and a room with Kim. They spend the night together, falling in love, with Chris promising to save Kim from her circumstances and bringing her back to America with him.
This however, completely falls through, and the two lovers are separated for three years, with Kim birthing and caring for a mixed-race son in hiding, still pining to see Chris again, while unbeknownst to her, he seems to have moved on, marrying an American wife, Ellen Sarah Morrison , yet haunted by guilt at leaving Kim behind.
Star-crossed due to miscommunication and circumstances, a series of ordeals leads the two to reuniting again in yet another foreign land. Before diving into the review proper, it seems important to address the criticism that has been levied at Miss Saigon over the years, largely surrounding its blatant Orientalism that objectifies Asian women as sex workers, and the perspective that they are looking for an escape by finding someone to start a new life, far away from home.
Throughout Miss Saigon , we view a majority of characters who are forced into their positions due to uncontrollable factors β the women working in Dreamland are damsels in distress who have nowhere else to turn to after the bombing, emphasising the destructive effects of war. Even when one thinks they can leave the past behind, it always finds a way to haunt them and chase them back to America. Kim, as the protagonist, must be someone without sin in order to root for her.
