Theatre preview: Miss Saigon at Sunderland Empire
13th November 2018Words by Nick Thompson
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When I heard Miss Saigon was coming to Sunderland Empire, I had to get tickets, it’s one of my favourite soundtracks, with one of my favourite songs of the show being Bui-Doi.
I’m off to see it tonight and from the reviews, I have heard it is going to be a fantastic night.
If you didn’t know Miss Saigon an adaptation of Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly, by the writers behind Les Miserables. It is set during the Vietnam War and is a powerful and poignant tale of love in a war-torn country. 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. When, years later, Chris is able to return to Vietnam, he 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 and Chris must decide how to move forward. Miss Saigon is a tragedy of massive proportions: passionate, profound, and heart-wrenchingly honest. (full synopsis)
Some interesting facts on the production at Sunderland Empire are:
- It took 16 x 45ft trailers to move Cameron Mackintosh’s epic production to the Sunderland Empire.
- It took 100 production and local crew to put the show into Sunderland, working 24 hours a day for three days, making Miss Saigon one of the biggest productions ever to be seen on the Sunderland Empire stage.
Tickets are still available for this priced between £17.50 and £61 and are available here you only have until Saturday, November 17 to see the show.
