"Miss Saigon"

The Crucible, Sheffield.

"Miss Saigon" is an epic, stunning adaptation of Puccini’s opera, "Madame Butterfly", by the writers behind "Les Miserables", Boublil and Schonberg. In the dangerous days before Saigon’s fall in 1975, Chris, an American GI, and Kim, a destitute Vietnamese orphan working her first night as a prostitute, fall in love.

When the city falls, the lovers are forced apart, and each must find their own way, alone. Three years later Chris is able to return to Vietnam and brings with him an American wife. Kim, who has waited for Chris, has raised their son, Tam, who is “bui-doi”- a term for a child conceived during the horrors of war. With so much devastation behind them, Kim, Chris and his new wife must decide how to move forward.

The musical has a sung-through score and tour-de-force roles for actors. It's set in the round on three sides so the view from all seats is quite spectacular. This is the first time that I've visited The Crucible and I can see why theatre goers rave about this venue.

As far as I can remember, I've only seen "Miss Saigon" once before, a long time ago at The Leicester Haymarket - that in itself shows how long ago it was - and the technical side of stage performance has moved on massively, and is obvious in this production. The scene when Chris is being airlifted out of Vietnam by helicopter is a wonderful scene as he disappears into the roof of the theatre.

The other highlight, among so many, was the "American Dream" section. The costume department really go to town with this section and depicts really well how the dream can turn into a nightmare.

The Direction by Robert Hastie and Anthony Lau is just spectacularly reimagined.

The minimal set, which is operated by the cast, is designed by Ben Stones, works perfectly as the settings move from one to the next; the simplicity of the set means that the full concentration is given to the actors, but adding just the right amount of fabric to the story. There's also excellent use of the revolving section of the stage.

The Lighting Design is a star in itself and needs to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing I can say here will describe the magic and beauty of this specific area of excellence. Jessica Hung Han Yun created the magic.

Likewise with the video and animation design by Andrzej Goulding. It was like adding sprinkles to your favourite flavour of ice cream; it topped everything off deliciously.

The choreography, by Jade Hackett, ranged from exciting and rapid to sensual and soft.

Needless to state that the singing was of the highest calibre from all. This is basically an opera so the range from the actors was top notch; they definitely provided tingles, especially in a couple of my favourites from the soundtrack "Last Night Of The World" and "I Would Give My Life For You".

Mike Walker's sound design was as clear as a bell; you could hear every word that was sung, and no missed mic cues.

Chris Poon is the Musical Director for the show. Obviously with the pace of the show and it being sung through from start to finish, this man only got a break in the interval. The score is absolutely lush, as anyone who knows the soundtrack will confirm, but when you hear it sung with such passion and feeling, it takes on a whole new emotional feel.

The costumes, especially in "The American Dream", are wonderful, as are the wigs, hair and make up by Sam Cox.

There's no way that I can pick out any one actor for special mentions in this gorgeous musical because they all give their absolute everything in all areas of acting, dance and vocals.

Joanna Ampil (The Engineer), what a massive role and so wonderfully presented.

Jessica Lee (Kim) - oh my the emotions projected in the scenes with her son Tam, who last night I think was played by seven year old Anaya Awoko-Bennett. There are four young actors playing this role throughout the run; four year old Ikayan-Ray Mulumo, seven year old Deacon Pinder and four year old Hirak Singla. What a way to start your stage career in a musical of this size.

Christian Maynard (Chris) has a powerful, soul voice which worked so well with these songs.

Shane O Riordan (John), Ethan Le Phong (Thuy), Desmonda Cathabel (Mimi), Aynrand Ferrer (Gigi), Shanay Holmes (Ellen), Emily Ooi (Yvonne), Ericka Posadas (Fifi), Adam Colbeck-Dunn, Andrew Davison, Aharon Raynor, Callum Tempest, Danny Whelan and Riley Woodford play G.I.s.

The ensemble are Iverson Yabut, Riley Woodford, Rumi Sutton, Ernest Stroud, Rachel Jayne Picar, Patrick Munday, Lavinia Mai, Abel Law and Oscar Kong. Such a hard working ensemble and richly deserving of a mention in any review.

Absolutely everything about this production is superb, and most possibly one of the best professional productions that I have seen, as well as one of the most enjoyable. You can see why this musical is not produced that often due to the scale of the musical, which is why, if you can get to see this one, go see it before it moves on Saturday 19 August. It is worth every penny, and the programmes are only £4.00 which came as a nice surprise as I was expecting the cost to be higher.