Miss Saigon at Bristol Hippodrome – Review

Being a busy Mum nights off are rare, but last week I went out! A trip to the theatre to see Miss Saigon was our destination. Miss Saigon opened at Bristol Hippodrome on 23rd may and will be running for a month until 23rd June. 

Being someone that spends too much time on my phone (working, scrolling, shopping and researching you know the drill Mums) there aren’t many places that I totally switch off to the outside world. But I have found a sanctuary The Theatre! As soon as the opening curtain rose, I was hooked. I wasn’t aware of the full details of the story, so it was very interesting and emotional to see it played out. The twists and turns along the way 

As much as I loved the production, at points, it was hard to watch. Seeing how the young Vietnamese women with treated and exploited. Whilst they were just desperate to find freedom in the west. The story portrays the basic human instinct just to survive in the nightmare time.

Kim played by Sooha Kim so very well, making you feel like you just wanted to hug this frightened young girl, who was caught up in the horror of the war. As the production played out, she grew from the girl that fell head over heels in love with Chris. To a strong mother that would do anything to protect her son and give him the best possible future. She shunned the proposal of marriage from Thuy to wait to find the love of her life Chris and reunite him with the child he didn’t know existed.  

Chris played by Ashley Gilmour, was incredible and gave the views an understanding of the darkness the situation left the veterans in. His heartbreak for leaving his love, Kim and the difficulty of moving on with his life. The nightmares left behind would never leave him, but finding love with Ellen made a brighter future possible. Until he had news that Kim was still alive and also had his son. He was torn between his love for two women.

Even though the production was very serious, the extremely humorous engineer played by Red Concepcion brought light to the situation. His singing, dancing and all around smile breaking made me want to see him make it to America and find his riches.

Being a child of the 80s I don’t think I understood the sheer enormity of the effect of The Vietnam War. My parents obviously sheltered me from it. So it was gripping to see Cameron Mackintosh’s portrayal of it through this play. Miss Saigon originally opened in  1989 in Drury Lane at the time The Vietnam War had only been over 14 years, so the effects were still pretty fresh in peoples minds. Miss Saigon is an adaption of the 1903 opera Madame Butterfly. Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon have many similarities, including the clashes and misunderstanding of each other’s cultures. Including the way that they both have a wedding and these are discounted by the western men. Stories of rejected children and heartbreakingly the mothers die at the end.

Miss Saigon was an adrenalin filled, highly emotional unmissable story. It runs at Bristol Hippodrome until 23rd June and then will continue to tour the UK.

Disclaimer  : I was offered press tickets in return for an honest review, all words are my own.