Miss Saigon is produced by Michael Harrison in association with Cameron Mackintosh.

Claude Michel Schoenberg: Concept, Book and Music.

Alain Boublil: Book and Lyrics

Richard Maltby Jr: Lyrics

Director: Jean-Pierre van der Spuy

Choreographers: Chrissie Cartwright and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille

Musical Direction: Ben Mark Turner

Sound design: Adam Fisher

Projection Design: George Reeve

Set and Costume Designer: Andrew D Edwards

Lighting Designer: Bruno Poet.

In my life as a general theatre goer and latterly as a theatre reviewer I have seen half a dozen actors play The Engineer in Miss Saigon. A role I imagine is a dream role to act out and sing. Firstly it was Jonathan Pryce at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (original 1989 West End production), Red Concepcion (Curve 2017), Jon Jon Briones (seen on cinema screen and DVD) and Joanna Ampil (Crucible Theatre Sheffield). All were great in their individual performances and character conceptions. On this current 2026 UK and Ireland tour we have Seann Miley Moore who from their dynamic performance tonight I would say is the best of them all.

In a cast interview Moore says : “I was blown away by the Hong Kong production. I had songs like “The Movie in My Mind” and “Why, God, Why?” on blast. Miss Saigon is so special to me, especially as my mum is Filipino and the Asian representation is this show is iconic. It’s such an honour to be asked to come to the UK and perform my version of the Engineer – or as I say it, “Engine-queer”. It’s a testament to [producers] Michael Harrison and Cameron Mackintosh that they really champion new people and new visions. I get to play with all the colours of the rainbow. It’s such a scrumptious role: the music is so epic, the lyrics are so meaty and wild. I’m bringing all the flair that is Seann Miley Moore to the table, giving nothing but big Slay-sian energy. I was really interested in connecting with the history of the Vietnam War as well as the gay liberation movement of the 1970s. It’s so important to have Asian stories on our main stages, but also to have queer stories. Using that lens, you could see how the Engineer might want to escape to America because a queer person wouldn’t feel safe in their surroundings – that’s a theme which parallels with the show’s exploration of belonging, community, home and safety, and fighting to be who you are. And my Dad flew all the way from Australia to see our performance in Newcastle!”

This major new production touring the UK and Ireland marks an exciting, fresh chapter: it’s a brand-new invention of Miss Saigon, giving audiences a different experience of the timeless tale, allowing it to come to British venues that it has never been able to visit before. Directed by Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, originally for the Australian Opera, this venue adaptable production still delivers in epic style and tonight’s Nottingham Theatre Royal audience are clearly blown away by this top notch outstanding piece of musical theatre. Many of it’s themes of exploitation, forced migration, human jeopardy and a war torn country desperate to survive against the odds are sadly still relevant in our current times. Like in the recent Sheffield Crucible production some of the lyrics have been altered to bring the show up to date. The additional lyrics are by Michael Mahler who also worked on the lyrical changes in the Sheffield production.

Central to the piece is the tragic love story of American GI Chris Scott ( Daniel J Brian) and Vietnamese bar girl (Julianne Pundan). Brian’s character is seen and felt as very much a person adrift in a world of bullets and corruption and forced to become a man when he meets Pundan’s Kim who is played as a stronger more independent young woman than maybe Lea Salonga’s original Kim was. The combination of fluctuating strengths through love and hope, despite the odds, works well with these interpretations and it goes with saying that their acting and singing are exemplary. The cute child actor playing Tam this evening is Favian Costales and he gets the biggest round of applause at the standing ovation curtain call. All without singing a single note.

Boublil and Schoenberg’s Miss Saigon boasts many of the very best musical theatre songs and soul-stirring music including The Heat is On In Saigon, The Movie in My Mind, Sun and Moon, Why God Why?, The Morning of The Dragon, I Still Believe, You Will Not Touch Him, I’d Give My Life For You, Bui Doi, Bangkok and The American Dream. As Gigi, Thao Therese Nguyen’s powerful rendition of The Movie In My Mind and John’s (Dom Hartley-Harris) and the male chorus interpretation of the heart-breakingly sad Bui Doi are fine examples of acting through song. Mikko Juan gives us a powerful Thuy in Thuy’s Intervention and You Will Not Touch Him, reappearing again in Kim’s nightmare. Emily Langham pulls out all the emotional stops as Chris’s American wife Ellen singing the plaintive Maybe and dealing with the fate deciding confusion of Kim’s past relationship with Chris.

The Miss Saigon tour boasts an unusually large company: a cast of twenty-eight actors and thirteen musicians, as well as a technical team of fifty-two who assemble, run and move this production around the country. It is truly epic in scale as shown in these images below by photographer Danny Kaan. The scenes that involve the military from the US and Ho Chi Mihn’s Communist regime are dynamic and realistic. The famous helicopter scene is brilliantly actualised with some great choreography in place to make the panic struck evacuation of Saigon work without the need for wire fences that featured strongly in previous productions.

This version of Miss Saigon is one unforgettable super slick production with fantastic visuals and even more fantastic performances all around including the live orchestra. And you don’t need a visa to see it even if the Engineer might try to con you into thinking you do.

Miss Saigon runs at Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 4th April.