I don’t know how I missed this musical when it first appeared all those years ago in the West but I am surely glad that I have been to see this production at The Prince Edward theatre in Soho. Madam Butterfly is my favourite opera and I was keen to see this reworking of the story with Vietnam as a backdrop.
It was a bit of a shock to the system to start the show with a number of loud explosions and panicked, scattered cyclists. This was followed by the in-your-face sexually charged scenes with scantily clad girls of Asian origin within the Saigon nightclub. The dancers and singers were fabulous – all you could want from a show.
The loud, brash atmosphere made a sharp contrast to the young innocence of Kim (played by Eva Noblezada), the heroine of the story with an extraordinarily versatile voice. Throughout the show the singing was powerful and there were a number of strong duets – although none were so memorable that I found myself singing them afterwards. The lighting and sound effects made it feel as if you really were in a city in the midst of a jungle. The dawn lighting effects were stunning.
My companion remembered seeing Jonathan Pryce as The Engineer in the original version but Jon Jon Briones managed to capture the intoxicating blend of the character’s charm and menace. Alistair Brammer was convincing as Chris – as a disillusioned solider at the outset, through the passionate whirlwind romance with Kim and then wracked with guilt when back in America.
At the start of the second half, the movie clips and photos of the Bui Doi (the children who are the “dust of love” as the product of unions between American soldiers and Asian women) accompanied by a male choir almost bought a tear to my eye. And the touching scenes between Kim and her son Tam (such a fragile little boy) felt authentic. It was good to see a cast that spanned so many nationalities too – it added a dimension of reality to the melting pot cities depicted.
The set was immense and even the scattered red torch lights across the wooden screen at the start were evocative. Throughout the production, the scenery and sets are breath-taking – particularly the thumping (and down drafts) of the helicopters as they come and go and the explosions. Seedy changing rooms transformed into dark streets and humble stilted huts and then into the shiny opulence of the American dream. The (hidden) orchestra did good.
The nightclub scenes in Saigon and Bangkok were impressive – huge banks of neon signs, pole dancers and busy bars. The scenes of panic at the Embassy gates were dramatic. The juxtaposition of the Vietnamese president at reunification (excellent military and fighting scenes and an amazing fire-breathing dragon) with the statue of liberty during the American dream sequence was inspired.
It’s a long production – an hour and a half for the first half and an hour for the second. I admit that my attention wandered a bit at times but the second half definitely moved at a faster pace towards its dramatic conclusion.
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