"Miss Saigon" by Claude-Michel Boublil and Alain Schonberg.

Nottingham Theatre Royal

"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. Listen closely and you'll hear whispers of "Les Miserables" in several of the songs, and that's no bad thing!

This production has the explosive thrills of "Mad Max" or "Die Hard" with the romance of "Titanic" mixed with the tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet", all wrapped up in one tear-jerkingly beautiful staging.

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.

The Engineer is played by Seann Miley Moore, whose name may ring a bell with fans of "The X Factor" as he burst upon the UK entertainment scene with his version of Queen's "The Show Must Go On". A decade on and he is ripping up the stage with his version of The Engineer. I have seen several Engineers over the last twenty years or so, but not one comes close to the entertainment value provided by Seann. There's so much sauce in his performance that it makes you want to run out and get a hot dog to slaver that sauce onto. The Engineer is extremely naughty, but very nice, but apart from that and the campness, there's an amazingly versatile voice. "The American Dream" sequence is entertainment at its' very best on stage and Seann rides that wave like a seasoned Aussie surfer. What a performer he is!

Kim is played by Julianne Pundan. The whole story of love and loss is all there with Kim. She is forced into prostitution by the Engineer, is "bought" for Chris by John while in Saigon and she falls head over heels for Chris. She sees Chris as a ticket out of Saigon to America but that was just not on the cards when Chris had to go back home. Three years down the line in 1978 we discover that Chris a little of himself behind in Saigon in the form of Tam, the son borne by Kim that Chris didn't know about. Julianne has the most amazingly expressive and emotive voice and acting ability. The song I always think of when I think of this musical is "The Last Night Of the World"; I have loved that song from the first time I heard it, and sung by Julianne and Daniel it brings to the fore a hunger and sadness in song. It is a song of yearning, reaching out to be mended; it doesn't just pull at the heartstrings, it rips them out and ties you up in knots with them. Another amazing song is "I'd Give My Life For You" which she sings to Tam. The ending scenes with Kim still gets me every single time.

Chris Scott is played by Daniel J Brian, and when you talk about emotional vocals, this man almost cries emotion on stage. I had never really taken that much notice of the song "Why God Why?", but tonight I really took notice due to Daniel's emotional delivery of this song. He is an incredibly emotional actor, for when we see him to start with, compared with his final scenes, through the scenes with his wife in the hotel room, Daniel must come off the stage absolutely spent of emotion as he leaves everything on stage - and this he does at every performance he does.

Dominic Hartley-Harris plays John Thomas, an American GI stationed in Saigon during the Vietnam War alongside Chris. As Chris' best friend, John becomes instrumental in the development of Kim and Chris' relationship as well as their reunion later. Another expressive set of vocals throughout but you really get to her the quality of Dominic's voice in another one of my favourites from the "Miss Saigon" score, which comes at the start of Act Two "Bui Doi", which heralds the search for Kim and her child.

Ellen who, after Chris has left the Vietnam conflict, becomes his wife, and is played by Emily Langham. Chris has not told Ellen about Kim, but when Chris finds out that he has a son with Kim, he has to bring Ellen up to date. There's a most beautiful song that Emily gets to sing after the hotel room confrontation called "Maybe", again one that I hadn't paid that much attention to in the past, but with vocals like Emily's, who could fail not to notice yet another emotion packed song?

Thuy, a Vietnamese man who is Kim's cousin and betrothed and is played by Mikko Juan. After learning of Kim's wedding to Chris, he gatecrashes the ceremony, verbally abusing her and warns her that she will be cursed for it. Years later he finds her again, but is not aware that she now has Tam, which doesn't make Thuy a happy chappie, forcing Kim to make a rash decision that comes back to haunt her later in life.

Gigi Van Tranh is played by Thao Therese Nguyen. Gigi is perhaps the most prolific show girl in Dreamland working for The Engineer prior to the arrival of Kim. Gigi, like all the other girls in the bar, dreams of having a better life away from the war in Vietnam through the American soldiers who come to the club, hoping one of them would take her as his wife. On the outside Gigi is a tough, streetwise woman, but you see the more mellow side of her when she is around Kim.

At Wednesday night's performance the role of Tam was played by Favian Costales. There are eight young actors between the ages of five and six sharing this role, and Favian is the cutest little thing ever.

The cast is completed by Aaron Teoh, Jamil Abbasi, Aaron Aisoni, Ann-Marie Craine, Luoran Ding, Ben Fenwick, Aaron Gonzales, Owen Johnston, Evita Khrime, Caleb Lagayan, Rayhan Lee, Zina Lin, James Mateo-Salt, Shania Montevalde, Riko Nakazono, Ryan Ocampo, Julius Sahr, Tonny Shim, Kerry Spark, Aimee Yue and Carmen Zhu.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy. This is the best production of this incredible musical that I have seen; it even has the helicopter that rescues Chris and John from Vietnam hovering and lifting the pair into the Vietnamese skies, something that this musical is well known for, but sadly something that isn't always seen in the productions.

Choreographed by Chrissie Cartwright and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. This show has such a large cast and the choreography is stylish and smooth, also incorporating at times the moving on and off of the scenery and props into the routines. The show is exciting and full of thrills and that is also highlighted in the choreographical side of the show.

The orchestra was under the baton of Ben Mark Turner, who is also the Musical Director. It was lovely to hear the subtle changes in the musical arrangements in the score, which keeps everything fresh, but this score is so gorgeous I could listen to it for hours on end.

The Set and Costume Design is by Andrew D Edwards. Both areas are absolutely breath-taking. The Costumes range from plain working girl costumes through to the army apparel and on to the eye boggling costume worn by The Engineer in the "American Dream" scenes. That set design is as mind boggling as the costumes for everyone involved in that scene. The rest of the set design one of the best designs for this musical I have had the pleasure to see. Parts of the set are on a revolving circular section of the stage with parts of the scenery gently sliding towards the back of the stage. There is so much to take in when it comes to the set design as well, but everything in this part of the production only seems to make the stage seem even bigger than it is. 

Sound Design is by Adam Fisher. The orchestra bring the intensity of the war to life but there's also sound effects that also drive home the horrors of war, combining to deliver a sensory experience that will make your jaw drop. I did hear a couple of people saying that it was at times too loud, but not for me as I love to feel the power of a big orchestra and a soundscape that makes you tremble.

Lighting designer is by Bruno Poet. I don't think I could cover this area fully if I stayed up all night and morning because there is so much to describe lighting wise. Needless to say, it matches every single section of the production team by being the best design for this musical ever. It draws you in closer at the darker parts and creates a celebratory atmosphere in the big dance numbers.

The cast are exceptional, and while I have seen this show several times over the years, they made it feel as if I was watching it for the first time again. The standing ovation at the final bows was always going to be a given due to the quality of this production. It really did seem as if the West End had uprooted itself and found a new resting place in Nottingham.

If I were one of those people who gave stars to show the quality of the show, I'd give this one six stars out of five. Grab your tickets and don't forget your hankies as well!

"Miss Saigon" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 4 April.