This new production of "Miss Saigon," imported from London's West End, lands 26 years after the original debuted on Broadway, and boy, has it aged well.
The spectacle still impresses. There's the lush orchestration, which captures the heartbreak of the Vietnam War; a ferocious paean in dance and song to Ho Chi Min, with giant red flags and a looming statue; and, of course, the helicopter — which now comes with wind that seems to puff from the moving rotors.
But there's also the intimate drama of Kim, a Vietnamese woman who is abandoned by her American soldier-lover as Saigon falls (The story is based on Puccini's opera "Madam Butterfly."). He leaves her to fend for herself in a ruined city. While he tries to forget his years at war and build a new life, she faces her life in a shantytown and then a Bangkok brothel with courage, believing he will return.
"Miss Saigon" takes place in the past, of course, but it's a particularly strong moment for the return of this musical from the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (they also created "Les Miserables.) The show talks of America's deserted responsibilities, a discussion that seems particularly resonant now that the current Presidential Administration has turned away from its global obligations.
But at one point, an ad-libbed joke trying too hard to tie the show to the current moment falls flat. In the song "American Dream," the character of the Engineer sings about bringing his special brand of sleaze to America. The Engineer is a fixer, a pimp, the man who compels the innocent Kim into prostitution. Accompanied by Vegas-style dancing girls and a boat of a car rolling onto the stage, he dreams about the money he'll make catering to the depraved tastes of men in the U.S. — and then he says, he'll "make America great again."
It's a cheap joke and not suited to the Engineer's character, especially since the excellent Jon Jon Briones adds a texture of vulnerability and humanity underneath the Engineer's grubby malevolence.
The standout in this show, though, is Eva Noblezada as Kim. She was discovered at age 17 at the 2013 National High School Musical Theater Awards (the "Jimmy's") in Manhattan — four years later, she's a seasoned pro who uses her clear, thrilling voice to convey every nuance of Kim's desperation and anguish with surprising restraint. She isn't matched by the more opaque performance of Alistair Brammer as her lover Chris, though perhaps his part is just underwritten. Yet without a strong idea about what Chris wants and why he has never tried to find Kim, the show's drama falters. Is he just a jerk who used an innocent? Or is he simply in so much pain from the war that he can't revisit even a beloved piece of it?
But one doesn't go to "Miss Saigon" for a tight narrative. It's an evening of big Broadway, with music that will move you and set pieces that will thrill. And then, of course, there's the helicopter — which is astonishing.
At the Broadway Theatre; limited run
Book & lyrics by Alain Boublil, concept, book & music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., additional lyrics by Michael Mahler; directed by Laurence Connor