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An American soldier named Chris marries Kim before departing for the US, and three years later, has married an American named Ellen and nearly forgotten her. When he discovers Kim is still alive and raising Thuy, a boy he fathered, he returns to Saigon to find her, but with the Viet Cong closing in on the city and two women wanting the only place in his heart, Chris has to make some large decisions before it's all over. (Based on Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly.)

Acte I
In April 1975 at "Dreamland", a sleazy Vietnamese club, shortly before the Fall of Saigon, it is Kim's first day as a bargirl. The seventeen-year-old orphan is greeted by the Engineer, a French-Vietnamese man who owns the club. Backstage, the girls get ready for the night's show, jeering at Kim's naïveté Overture. The U.S. Marines, aware that they will be leaving Vietnam soon, party with the Vietnamese prostitutes at the club The Heat Is On In Saigon. Chris Scott, a sergeant disenchanted by the club scene, is encouraged by his friend John Thomas to go with a girl. The girls compete for the title of "Miss Saigon", and the winner is raffled to a Marine. Kim's innocence strikes Chris. Gigi Van Trahn wins the crown for the evening and begs the marine who won the raffle to take her back to America, annoying him. The showgirls reflect on their dreams of a better life Movie In My Mind. John buys a room from the Engineer for the virgin Kim and Chris The Transaction. Kim is reluctant and shy but dances with Chris. Chris tries to pay her to leave the nightclub. When the Engineer interferes, thinking that Chris does not like Kim, Chris allows himself to be led to her room The Dance.

Chris, watching Kim sleep, asks God why he met her just as he was about to leave Vietnam Why God Why?. When Kim wakes up, Chris tries to give her money, but she refuses, saying that it is her first time sleeping with a man This Money's Yours. Touched to learn that Kim is an orphan, Chris tells her that she need not sell herself at the club, because he wants her to stay with him. The two pledge their love for each other Sun and Moon. Chris tells John that he is taking leave to spend time with Kim. John warns him that the Viet Cong will soon take Saigon, but then reluctantly agrees to cover for Chris The Telephone Song. Chris meets with the Engineer to trade for Kim, but the Engineer tries to include an America visa in the deal. Chris forces the Engineer at gunpoint to honour the original arrangement for Kim The Deal.

The bargirls hold a "wedding ceremony" for Chris and Kim Dju Vui Vai, with Gigi toasting Kim as the "real" Miss Saigon. Thuy, Kim's cousin, to whom she was betrothed at thirteen, arrives to take her home. He has become an officer in the North Vietnamese Army and is angered to find her with Chris Thuy's Arrival. The two men confront each other, drawing their guns. Kim tells Thuy that their arranged marriage is now null because her parents are dead, and she no longer harbours any feelings for him because of his betrayal. Thuy curses them all and storms out What's This I Find. Chris promises to take Kim with him when he leaves Vietnam. Chris and Kim dance to the same song as on their first night Last Night of The World.

Three years pass, and in Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City), a street parade is taking place to celebrate the third anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam and the defeat of the Americans Morning of The Dragon," also called "The Fall of Saigon. Thuy, a commissar in the new government, has ordered his soldiers to find the still-corrupt Engineer. Thuy orders the Engineer to find Kim and bring her to him. Kim is still in love with Chris and has been hiding in an impoverished area believing that Chris will come back to Vietnam to rescue her. Meanwhile, Chris is in bed with his new American wife, Ellen, when he awakens from a dream shouting Kim's name. Ellen and Kim both swear their devotion to Chris from opposite ends of the world I Still Believe.

The Engineer finds Kim and brings Thuy to her. Kim refuses Thuy's renewed offer of marriage and introduces him to Tam, her three-year-old son fathered by Chris. Thuy calls Kim a traitor and Tam an enemy, and moves to kill Tam with a knife. Kim pulls out Chris's gun and kills Thuy You Will Not Touch Him. Kim flees with Tam This Is The Hour and tells the Engineer what she has done If You Want to Die in Bed. The Engineer refuses to help her until he learns that Tam's father is American Let Me See His Western Nose – thinking this is his passport to the United States. He tells Kim that now he is the boy's uncle, and he will lead them to Bangkok. The three set out on a ship with other refugees I'd Give My Life for You.

Acte II
In Atlanta, Georgia, John now works for an aide organisation whose mission is to connect Bui-Doi (children conceived during the war) with their American fathers Bui Doi. John tells Chris that Kim is still alive, which Chris is relieved to hear after years of having nightmares of her dying. He also tells Chris about Tam and urges Chris to go to Bangkok with Ellen. Chris finally tells Ellen about Kim and Tam The Revelation. In Bangkok, the Engineer is hawking a sleazy club where Kim works as a dancer What A Waste. Chris, Ellen and John arrive in search of Kim. John finds Kim dancing at the club, and tells her that Chris is also in Bangkok. He then tries to tell her that Chris is remarried, but Kim interrupts. She is thrilled about the news and tells Tam that his father has arrived, believing that they are to go to America with Chris. Seeing Kim happy, John cannot bring himself to break the news to her, but promises to bring Chris to her Please.

The Engineer tells Kim to find Chris herself, because he doubts that Chris will come Chris Is Here. Kim is haunted by the ghost of Thuy, who taunts Kim, claiming that Chris will betray her as he did the night Saigon fell. Kim suffers a horrible flashback to that night Kim's Nightmare.

As the Viet Cong approach and Saigon becomes increasingly chaotic, Chris is called to the embassy and leaves his gun with Kim, telling her to pack. When Chris enters the embassy, the gates close, as orders arrive from Washington for an immediate evacuation of the remaining Americans. The Ambassador orders that no more Vietnamese are allowed into the Embassy. Kim reaches the gates of the Embassy, one of a mob of terrified Vietnamese trying to get in. Chris calls to Kim and is about to go into the crowd to look for her, but John is eventually forced to punch Chris in the face to stop him from leaving. Chris is put into the last helicopter leaving Saigon as Kim watches from outside, still pledging her love to him The Fall of Saigon.

Back in 1978 Bangkok, Kim joyfully dresses in her wedding clothes Sun and Moon: Reprise and leaves the Engineer to watch Tam while she is gone. She goes to Chris' hotel room, where she finds Ellen. Kim mistakenly thinks she is John's wife, but Ellen reveals that she is Chris' wife. Kim is heartbroken and refuses to believe Ellen. Ellen asks Kim if Chris really is the father of Tam, and Kim says he is. Kim says she does not want her son living on the streets like a rat, but Ellen tells Kim that they will do what they can to support him. Kim pleads to Ellen that they take Tam with them to America, but Ellen refuses, saying that Tam needs his real mother, and Ellen wants her own children with Chris. Kim angrily demands that Chris tell her these things in person, and runs out of the room Room 317. Ellen feels badly for Kim, but is determined to keep Chris It's Her or Me"/"Now That I've Seen Her. Chris and John return, having failed to find Kim. Ellen tells them both that Kim arrived just now and that she was the one who had to tell Kim everything. Chris and John blame themselves, realizing they were gone too long. Ellen also tells them that Kim wants to see Chris at her place, and that she tried to give away her son to them. John realizes Kim wants Tam to be "an American boy." Ellen then issues an ultimatum to Chris: Kim or her. Chris reassures Ellen, and they pledge their love for each other. Chris will leave Tam and Kim in Bangkok but offer them monetary support from America. John warns that Kim will not find it acceptable to have Tam stay in Thailand The Confrontation. Back at the club, Kim lies to the Engineer that they are still going to America Paper Dragons. The Engineer imagines the extravagant new life he will lead in America The American Dream. Chris, John and Ellen find the Engineer and he takes them to see Kim and Tam.

In her room, Kim tells Tam that he should be happy because he now has a father. She tells him that she cannot go with him but will be watching over him The Sacred Bird"/"Little God Of My Heart"/"This Is The Hour (reprise). Chris, Ellen, John, and the Engineer arrive just outside her room. The Engineer comes in to take Tam outside to introduce Tam to his father. While this is happening, Kim steps behind a curtain and shoots herself. As she falls to the floor, everyone rushes into the room at the sound of the gunshot and find Kim mortally wounded. Chris holds Kim in his arms and asks what she has done and why she did this, as she explains that the gods have guided him to his son. Chris begs her not to die, as she asks him to hold her one last time. After sharing one final kiss, Kim says her final words to Chris, echoing what he said to her from the song "Sun and Moon" How in one night have we come so far? and she dies in his arms Finale.

1 Miss Saigon peut-être considéré comme un Top musical

2 Miss Saigon peut-être considéré comme un mega-musical.

3 Miss Saigon s'intéresse à un événement historique important: Guerre du Vietnam.

By the time of the transfer of Les Misérables to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 Alain and Claude-Michel were already working on an idea for a new musical. The idea stemmed from a news photograph that Claude-Michel had come across during a coffee break one autumn afternoon in Paris. It showed a Vietnamese woman parting with her child at Tan Son Nhut airport, so that child could have a better life with her G.I. father in America. It reminded him of Cio-Cio-San’s ultimate sacrifice in Madame Butterfly.

But Miss Saigon is not simply a re-telling of the Butterfly story. That was just a starting point from which to construct their own narrative, merging only some aspects of the story with their own original contemporary subject matter and contemporary characters. There was a sense of freedom in writing an original creation as compared to writing an adaptation. With Les Misérables they were tied to a fixed narrative, which was not only a great classic but a huge epic story and one which required the skilful compression of large chunks of narrative. With Miss Saigon, however, the technique was the reverse of compression, it was one of expansion. The Butterfly plot of a misunderstanding between two individuals of highly different cultures was retained but the story was projected into a tragic period of modern history when that basic misunderstanding between two people could reflect the deeper misunderstanding between their respective countries at war.

In many ways it was a very risky thing for two Frenchmen to be writing an English-produced musical of an American story about Vietnam. But Alain and Claude-Michel thrive on writing to the edge and taking risks – doing something completely new with each musical. Richard Maltby Jr. worked on the story and lyrics with Alain, and it was essential to have an American on board to inject a real understanding of American sensibility into the story. This was the first time that Alain was co-writing the lyrics in English and he found Richard an immensely sympathetic writing partner. As director, Nicholas Hytner found ways of staging seemingly impossible scenes, such as the evacuation from the American Embassy, with great imagination and visual flair.

Miss Saigon opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 20 September 1989. This is London’s oldest and most historically important theatre with a huge stage and a seating capacity of over 2,200. It was definitely the show of the moment and received mostly great reviews. Even the Guardian’s Michael Billington, normally known for his disdain of musicals, wrote that it was a first rate piece of popular theatre which proved that a musical could address a serious theme with sincerity, emotion and integrity. The show proved enormously popular with the public, becoming the longest running musical at that theatre closing only in October 1999 after a ten year run.

West End
Miss Saigon premiered in the West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 20 September 1989 and closed after 4,264 performances on 30 October 1999. The director was Nicholas Hytner with musical staging by Bob Avian and scenic design by John Napier. In December 1994 the London production became the Theatre Royal's Drury Lane longest running musical, eclipsing the record set by My Fair Lady.

The original Kim was played by Lea Salonga, who became famous because of this role and won the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award. The original Engineer was portrayed by Jonathan Pryce who won a Tony Award for the role.

Broadway
The musical debuted on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre on 11 April 1991 and closed on 28 January 2001 after 4.092 performances. Directed again by Nicholas Hytner with musical staging by Bob Avian, scenic design was by John Napier, costume design was by Andreane Neofitou and Suzy Benzinger and lighting design was by David Hersey. As of September 2011, Miss Saigon is still the 11th longest-running Broadway musical in musical theatre history.

Other productions
Since its opening in London Miss Saigon was produced in many cities around the world including Stuttgart from 2 December 1994 till 19 December 1999 and Toronto, where new theatres were designed specifically to house the show. In the small island community of Bømlo, Norway with only around eleven thousand inhabitants, the show was set up in the outdoor amphitheater by the local musical fellowship and ran from 5 August to 16 August 2009. The local musical fellowship brought in a Bell Helicopter for the show. According to the Miss Saigon Official Site, Miss Saigon has been performed by twenty-seven companies in twenty-five countries and 246 cities, and it has been translated into twelve different languages.

The new production of Miss Saigon at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne Tours
After the London production closed in 1999 and also following the closure of the Broadway production in 2001 the show in its original London staging embarked on a long tour of the six largest venues in Britain and Ireland stopping off in each city for several months. The tour opened at the Palace Theatre, Manchester and also played in the Birmingham Hippodrome, the Mayflower Theatre Southampton, the Edinburgh Playhouse, the Bristol Hippodrome and The Point Theatre in Dublin. This successful tour drew to a close in 2003 and a brand new production was developed by original producer Cameron Mackintosh on a smaller scale so that the show could be accommodated in smaller theatres. This new tour started in July 2004 and ended in June 2006.

The first US tour started in Chicago, Illinois in October 1992 and was then expected to travel to those cities which could accommodate the large production. The tour also played venues such as the Wang Center in Boston from 14 July to 12 September 1993, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Florida in the Spring 1994, and the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC in June 1994. Cameron Mackintosh said: "Corners haven't been cut. They've been added. There are only a dozen theaters in America where we can do this."

A second North American tour was in Summer 2002 – Spring 2005, playing such venues as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, New Jersey in November 2003, Raleigh, North Carolina in February 2005, and Gainesville, Florida in November 2003.

Acte I
Overture / Backstage Dreamland – Gigi, Kim, The Engineer and Bar Girls
"The Heat is On in Saigon" – Soldiers, Bar Girls, The Engineer, Kim, John, Chris and Gigi
"The Movie in My Mind" – Gigi, Kim and Bar Girls
"The Transaction" – The Engineer, John, Soldiers, Chris and Kim
"The Dance" – Kim, Chris and The Engineer
"Why, God, Why?" – Chris
"This Money's Yours" – Chris and Kim
"Sun and Moon" – Kim and Chris
"The Telephone Song" – Chris and John
"The Deal" – The Engineer and Chris
"The Wedding Ceremony" – Gigi, Kim, Bar Girls and Chris
"Thuy's Arrival" – Thuy, Chris and Kim
"Last Night of the World" – Chris and Kim
"The Morning of the Dragon" – Soldiers, The Engineer, Two Guards and Thuy
"I Still Believe" – Kim and Ellen
"Back in Town" – The Engineer, Kim, Thuy and Soldiers
"Thuy's Death" / "You Will Not Touch Him" – Thuy and Kim
"This is the Hour" – Chorus
"If You Want to Die in Bed" – The Engineer
"Let Me See His Western Nose" – Kim and The Engineer
"I'd Give My Life for You" – Kim

Acte II
"Bui Doi" – Chorus and John
"The Revelation" – Chris, John and Ellen
"What a Waste" – The Engineer, Hustlers, Tourists, John and Kim
"Please" – John and Kim
"Chris is Here" – The Engineer, Kim, Club Owner and John
"Kim's Nightmare" – Thuy
"Fall of Saigon" – Soldiers, Chris, Kim, John and Citizens
"Sun and Moon" (Reprise) – Kim
"Room 317" – Kim and Ellen
"It's Her or Me" – Ellen (recent productions have replaced this with "Now That I've Seen Her")
"The Confrontation" – Chris, Ellen and John
"Paper Dragons" – The Engineer and Kim
"The American Dream" – The Engineer
"This is the Hour" (Reprise) – Kim
Finale – Chris and Kim

Kim – A seventeen-year-old girl, recently orphaned and forced to work at "Dreamland." She corresponds to Butterfly in the original opera.
The Engineer, aka Tran Van Dinh – The slightly sleazy but likable owner of "Dreamland." He is half-Vietnamese and half-French. He corresponds to Goro.
Christopher Scott, aka "Chris" – An American G.I. sergeant about to leave Saigon to return to America. He corresponds to Pinkerton.
John Thomas – Chris' friend, also a G.I. He corresponds to Sharpless.
Thuy – Kim's cousin and betrothed, to whom Kim was promised by her parents when the two were thirteen. Has since become an officer in the Communist Vietnamese government. He is a composite character, corresponding in part to both The Bonze and Prince Yamadori.
Ellen – Chris' American wife. She corresponds to Kate.
Gigi Van Tranh – A hardened Saigon stripper; initially voted as "Miss Saigon".
Tam – Kim and Chris' three-year old son. He corresponds to Dolore, or "Sorrow".

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Miss Saigon

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Miss Saigon

Controversy
In the London production of Miss Saigon, Lea Salonga originally starred as Kim, with Jonathan Pryce as the Engineer. When the production transferred from London to New York City, the Actors' Equity Association refused to allow Jonathan Pryce, a white British actor who had played the Engineer, to recreate the role in America. As Alan Eisenberg, executive secretary of Actors' Equity explained, "The casting of a Caucasian actor made up to appear Asian is an affront to the Asian community. The casting choice is especially disturbing when the casting of an Asian actor, in the role, would be an important and significant opportunity to break the usual pattern of casting Asians in minor roles."[6] This ruling led to criticism from many including British Equity, and caused producer Cameron Mackintosh to cancel the show despite massive advanced ticket sales. Actors' Equity was concerned about casting discrimination because despite a large, well-publicized international search among Asian actresses to play Kim, there was no equivalent search for Asian actors to play the major Asian male roles (namely Engineer and Thuy) in Miss Saigon. To add to the controversy, Pryce was considered by many to have "star status", a clause that allows a well-known foreign actor to recreate a role on Broadway without an American casting call.[6] However, after pressure from Mackintosh, the general public, and many of its own members, Actors' Equity was forced to reverse its decision, and Pryce starred alongside Salonga and Willy Falk (as Chris) when the show opened on Broadway.

Miss Saigon has experienced criticism from the Asian American community for various racial issues.[7] Originally, Pryce and Burns, white actors playing Eurasian/Asian characters, wore eye prostheses and bronzing cream to make themselves look more Asian,[8] which outraged some who drew comparisons to a "minstrel show."[6] The libretto of Miss Saigon also contains lyrics that many Asians might consider offensive, such as the Engineer's lines: "Greasy chinks make life so sleazy/ in the States I'll have a club that's four-starred" (American Dream) and "Why was I born of a race that thinks only of rice and hates entrepeneurs?" (If You Want to Die in Bed).[8] Furthermore, Miss Saigon contains simplistic portrayals of Asians that perpetuate various stereotypes of Asian women, such as the sexually available vixen, or the submissive China Doll. Miss Saigon, like its predecessor Madame Butterfly, is also a prime example of orientalism in Western arts.


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