Miss Saigon

Staging Miss Saigon is a challenge for any community theatre company but Queensland Musical Theatre came through with flying colours. The big set-pieces of the show worked remarkable well; the steamy raunch of Saigon’s bar scene with the bar girls looking like bar girls and the men as horny G.I’s, the colourful but chilling “Morning of the Dragon”, “Bu-Doi” with outstanding vocal work by the men’s chorus, the famous helicopter evacuation, and the splashy “American Dream” with Mike Zarate as The Engineer giving the best performance in the show, there was a lot to like.

The story of course, based on Madam Butterfly, hinges on the love triangle between Kim, Chris and Helen. Young Danielle Remulta was a waif-like Kim with an appealing and note-perfect delivery. She captured the pathos of the character’s journey with zealous conviction. Opposite her as Chris was Chris Simpson who looked the part but had problems with pitch for most of the night. Jessica Ham brought strength to Ellen which was never more apparent than when she sang “Now That I’ve Seen Her”.

Tristan Ham was an excellent John, sang well, and made the most of his centre-stage-time leading the men in “Bui-Doi,” stage virgin Rex Cho showed promise as the hated but strictly-disciplined Viet Cong soldier Thuy, but it was Zarate’s sleazy opportunistic Engineer who walked away with the show. His “If You Want to Die in Bed” was good, but “The American Dream” was top-shelf better.

Video projections on a huge upstage scrim helped establish locale and added immeasurably to the look of the production. The orchestra under Julie Whiting’s hand did well, the costumes were particularly authentic, and the lighting was alive with atmosphere.

Only problem with the production was the sound, a bug-bear of community theatre these days, which continually crackled and dropped in and out during the performance. It irritated but didn’t diminish the enjoyment as a whole.

Oh, and Matia Godbold was a cute and huggable Tam!

Peter Pinne