★★★☆☆
Miss Saigon, the musical set during the Vietnam War and based on Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, is proof that theatrical lightning can strike twice. Before its premiere in the West End in 1989 few expected Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil to come close to the success of Les Misérables, their previous smash. Yet the story of a doomed love affair between a young Vietnamese woman and an American GI has proved every bit as durable as its predecessor.
In terms of spectacle, production values and performance, this UK touring show, which is based on the 2014 London revival and directed by Laurence Connor, is little short of impeccable. The set pieces, including the famous sequence dramatising the fall of Saigon, in which a life-size helicopter is seen hovering over the stage, remain as thrilling as ever. The more intimate scenes have the same attention to detail and the whole package is elevated by Bob Avian’s diverse musical staging, shimmering orchestral playing and beautiful lighting designed by Bruno Poet.
There are a couple of bona fide star turns: Red Concepción plays the linchpin role of the Engineer, the wily Saigon pimp who dreams of a life of excess in America, and Sooha Kim stars as Kim, the 17-year-old bargirl who falls in love with the young American sergeant Chris (Ashley Gilmour). Concepción’s depiction of the Engineer as a mix of rapaciousness, casual cruelty and tragic delusion is shown off to the full in The American Dream, the brilliantly staged final act showstopper, and Kim captures an appealing blend of innocence, anger and resolve.
For all of this production’s sheen, reservations remain about its content. The dramatis personae rarely break free from their archetypal limits: as in Les Mis the characters begin and end the story as either good or bad. The show’s exhausting emotional pitch could use some leavening irony. Some musical numbers walk a fine line between sincerity and schmaltz.
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All of this leads to an exasperating imbalance: a triumph of spectacle over substance. The ensemble works hard, the principals are strong and the story is, at times, affecting. Nonetheless it is not so much the star-crossed lovers that stay in the mind but the iconic feat of the helicopter, roaring and whirring above the stage.
Box office: 0131 529 6000, to February 17. Touring UK to November 17