REVIEW: MISS SAIGON AT THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE, BELFAST
REVIEW: MISS SAIGON AT THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE, BELFAST
Walking into the Grand Opera House for Miss Saigon, I wondered whether this new touring production could possibly live up to the memory of the show I first saw in the 1990s on Broadway. That original production has become the stuff of musical theatre legend in my mind.
This touring production, billed as The Legend Reborn, is nothing short of sensational and, quite simply, the best touring production I have seen at the Grand Opera House in many a year.
From the opening moments, this Miss Saigon feels fresh. It has all the scale you want from this iconic musical, but this is not a museum piece from the 90s – it is a revival with a real pulse.
At the centre of it all is Julianne Pundan as 17 year old Kim, and she is extraordinary. She brings exactly the innocence the role needs, which makes Kim’s journey all the more heartbreaking. Vocally, she is stunning, with a clear, haunting quality that gives the performance real emotional truth.
Jack Kane is excellent as Chris, bringing the right blend of charm and uncertainty to the role. He looks every inch the classic romantic lead, but there is enough vulnerability in his performance to make Chris feel believable rather than simply heroic.
But let’s be honest, the show is stolen, gloriously and unapologetically, by Seann Miley Moore as The Engineer. What a performance. I have seen Miss Saigon before, and I have never seen The Engineer played quite like this. Moore is no ordinary villain. He’s crass, vulgar and often cruel, deeply unlikeable one moment and somehow wildly likeable the next. He leans fully into the character’s campness and flamboyance, but never lets it tip into caricature. The result is a performance that is chaotic, magnetic and, somehow, undeniably sexy. Vocally, it is extraordinary, shifting from rich, powerful masculinity to high-energy camp in a matter of seconds. Every entrance feels like an event. And then comes The American Dream.
Honestly, you could go to this musical for The American Dream alone. It is an absolute showstopper, the kind of number that makes you sit forward in your seat and grin in disbelief at the sheer audacity of it. By the time Moore is finished, resplendent in a Stars and Stripes ballgown, the audience is essentially his.
There is not a weak link in this cast. Emily Langham is wonderful as Ellen, a role that can sometimes feel overshadowed, but not here. Her singing is beautiful, and the scenes between Ellen and Kim are some of the most affecting in the show. Their duet was genuinely stunning. Later when the big, devastating reveal takes place in the Bangkok hotel room, my eyes filled with tears at the sheer emotion on stage.
What impressed me most was how successfully this production reimagines the scale of Miss Saigon for a touring house. Anyone who knows the show knows there is one legendary moment everyone talks about. Without spoiling anything, no, you do not get the full original version of that famous effect, but what this production does instead is incredibly clever. The helicopter sequence remains thrilling and every bit as emotionally overwhelming as I remembered.
And remarkably, it does not overshadow the rest of the show, because there are several moments here that feel just as inventive. One puppet-like dance sequence was genuinely mesmerising.
I have seen Miss Saigon twice before, including that unforgettable Broadway production in the 90s, and I genuinely did not expect a touring version in Belfast to hit me quite this hard.
But it did. This is a stunning, emotionally devastating revival of one of musical theatre’s great epics and, if you get the chance to see it at the Grand Opera House, grab it. It is absolutely sensational. (Review by Kim Kelly)
