| miss_saigon_prog_notes.docx |
Miss Saigon
Audio Description Notes
Welcome to The Grand Opera House Belfast for this performance of Miss Saigon. A new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s legendary musical. In the last days of the Vietnam War, 17 year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as The Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For 3 years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he's fathered a son. This production contains scenes of a sexual and violent nature, wartime themes, firearms, derogatory and coarse language, drug use and the simulated smoking of cigarettes. The production also contains strobe lighting, gun shots, loud sound effects, theatrical haze, and pyrotechnics.
Sets
The large mesh drop screen that hangs down at the front of the stage is used as a projector screen. At the beginning the screen portrays silhouettes of birds flying, a person on a bicycle and people farming. Then the images change with an explosion and then soldiers running with guns, a helicopter flying, soldiers marching and finally images of land burning. The images are all in black and white.
After the intermission there’s a projection of children’s faces on the screen.
In Saigon the bar that Kim works in is portrayed by three rolled in platform door frames. The frames are like cages that are only a meter deep. Each frame is about 4 meters wide and 3 meters tall. There is a door in the centre of each and windows on either side of the doors. The frames are a single step up from the floor. By the doorways there are crates and bottles sitting on either side and there are red paper lanterns hanging from the wooden frame that surrounds the door. There are coats and jackets hanging by the doors too. These doorways and their frames are moved often throughout the performance and are simply turned around or turned at an angle to suggest the character is somewhere new. The bar patrons use the upturned crates as seats.
The lighting in Saigon is in shades of red and the bar is dark.
There are two staircases that flank either side of the space. The undersides of them are used as storage for coats, clothing and bags but when they are wheeled out the characters can go up and down them. They are brought into the centre of the space when characters need to be portrayed on different levels.
Kim’s bedroom is similar to the door frame, a wooden structure with trellis this time and the room is a square on a single step up platform in the centre of the space. There is a single bed on the left with a bare light bulb hanging above it and there are some crates and a small barrel on the floor on the right. The door is at the back and the front of the room is open to the audience.
When the girls come to Kim's room they place red paper lanterns on the floor. They are lit up and are about the size of footballs. They're shaped like lotus flowers.
There’s a mezzanine level around the top left, back and right of the space. Throughout the scene in Saigon there are silhouettes of buildings and telegraph cables in the city extending back to the horizon.
Later, this space also has dramatic clouds projected onto it depicting the sky above a rough sea, it is very dark and bleak.
The centre of the stage floor has an inset circle that spins around with performers and sets on it. There are four long metal grilles on the floor that are in a square shape and smoke comes up out of these. Smoke and light is used throughout to suggest there are vents where steam is escaping. There is also smoke used on the mezzanine level when the army is present to suggest that they are in a war zone.
When the refugees take to the sea to escape Saigon, they are inside the square on the floor. The grilles are lit up and smoke rises from them. The mesh screen drops and has images of rough waves projected onto it suggesting that the refugees are in a very rough sea.
The embassy office is a simple door of a building in Saigon. The door is red and the phone is on the wall. When Chris uses the phone to talk to John, John is spotlit at the top of the stairs on the right suggesting that he is in another part of the building. Later the back of the mezzanine floor comes right forward and becomes the roof of the embassy building. A helicopter comes to the top of the building, the legs of the helicopter hang down from the ceiling and soldiers are lifted up into it by ropes.
The centre of the stage is used as a courtyard for the soldiers on parade. Thuy is on the mezzanine in the back centre and this part of it moves out and protrudes like a balcony overlooking the troops.
In the war veterans office there is a large american flag hanging vertically at the back of the space. It’s hung with the stars at the top and the stripes below. There are some chairs laid out in a circle in front of the flag.
In Bangkok, the telegraph pole and cable silhouette is still present but there are various neon signs hanging from the ceiling. Most of the text is Thai but one of the signs says ‘sweethearts a go-go’ in English. The doorways and bars are in contrast to those in Saigon as they are lit more brightly. The additional lighting in this scene pluses in green and pink hues suggesting a more vibrant space. There are girls dancing under the red lights in the windows next to the bar doorways.
The hotel bedroom has a double bed on the left, two tables with lamps on them. There is an open suitcase on the bed. Either side of the bed and there is an ornate wooden frame that surrounds the back of the bed. There is a wicker chair and a wicker room divider on the right.
In the final number a silhouette of the stature of liberty is projected onto the back wall of the mezzanine. The statue silhouette gives way to the outline of tall buildings and then four American flags hang down in the space. The lighting used here is red white and blue. Lights project dollars onto the floor. Two staircases that were flanking the stage are now brought closer into the centre of the space and each rung has lights on it. The stairs are brought together in the centre of the stage to form a double staircase. There’s a giant dollar sign that’s lowered in from the ceiling. The dollar is about 5 meters tall and 2 and a half meters wide. It’s big enough for the Engineer to sit in the middle of it.
Costumes
The Engineer wears a silk robe and under it an open floral silk shirt. He wears black trousers and a loose rope type tie with a couple of necklaces. Later he wears a bright red suit and then a long American flag dress coat. Under this he has an American flag leotard that has fringing down each side.
Gigi wears a denim dress that’s very short and low cut at the front, revealing her leopard print bra. She has shocking short blonde hair and wears brown leather boots that come up to her knees.
Kim wears a long pink silk overcoat over a flowing white dress when she arrives at the bar, later she wears a red pinafore dress that’s slit at the sides with white baggy trousers underneath. Kim also wears a baggy pink shirt with matching trousers over a white t-shirt.
Chris wears army clothes. Kakhi green baggy trousers and a jacket to match with a pale t-shirt underneath. Later he wears a casual polo shirt and chino trousers.
There is a sparkling tiara that the girls of Dreamland have the opportunity to wear if they become ‘Miss Saigon’.
John wears army apparel the same as Chris and later wears casual chino trousers and a shirt.
Thom wears a shirt and shorts. He is about 5 years old.
Ellen wears a black dress then later, a pale blue shirt with a denim skirt.
Thuy is shabby looking l, he wears baggy clothes and has dirt on his face when we first meet him. Later Thuy is in the army and wears a tan army uniform with a fitted jacket and pleated trousers. He has a black belt round his waist and has a gun holster that’s on a belt across his chest. He has gold epaulettes and some medals on his chest.
The chorus as Vietnamese army soldiers all wear dark green uniforms. Long sleeved shirts and trousers with black belts at the waist. They all wear matching green metal helmets on their heads too. They carry rifles on belts over their chests.
During the depiction of the Viet army take over, some of the soldiers wear theatrical historical costumes with masks and armor. They are being depicted as puppets and there is a puppet master who joins them at the side and controls their movements. They use long pieces of white fabric held across the stage that they project a shadow puppetry scene onto. This depicts the 1975 fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army. A dragon breathes fire onto a couple of tigers and the tiger runs away.
The chorus wear clothing appropriate to the time in Saigon. The female chorus are scantily clad when they are working in the bar in Saigon and then again in Vietnam. Their costumes range from short dresses to high cut shorts, low cut tops and some of them are wrapped in short silky dressing gowns. They wear high heels, platform sandals or knee high boots.
When the girls aren’t working they wear casual shirts and high wasted trousers or long dresses.
In Thailand, the female chorus wear similar clothing when they work in the bars and the men are typically wearing suit trousers with shirts. Many of them have their shirts open down their chest a few buttons.
The male chorus wear US army uniforms, they are casual with khaki coloured combat trousers and t-shirts. Some have jackets over their t-shirts and most are wearing dog tags.
When they are depicted in America, the male chorus are all wearing clothing of the 1970s, boot cut jeans or flared trousers and shirts with long pointy collars.
When the chorus join the engineer in his final scene they are wearing long rain coats and trilby hats which they then remove to show they are in white marching band outfits. They all wear shorts with trainers and socks pulled up to their knees. On their tops they are wearing white long sleeved shirts with red and blue tassels on the sleeves and back. On their heads they are wearing white baseball caps. They are all carrying huge fans that are about a meter wide. On one side the American flag and on the other dollar symbols.
Cast
Seann Miley More The Engineer
Julianne Pundan Kim
Jack Kane Chris
Dom Hartley-Harris John
Emily Langham Ellen
Mikko Juan Thuy
Various children play Thom (tam) There is a large ensemble cast of 18 or so male and female performers
Audio Description Notes
Welcome to The Grand Opera House Belfast for this performance of Miss Saigon. A new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s legendary musical. In the last days of the Vietnam War, 17 year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as The Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For 3 years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he's fathered a son. This production contains scenes of a sexual and violent nature, wartime themes, firearms, derogatory and coarse language, drug use and the simulated smoking of cigarettes. The production also contains strobe lighting, gun shots, loud sound effects, theatrical haze, and pyrotechnics.
Sets
The large mesh drop screen that hangs down at the front of the stage is used as a projector screen. At the beginning the screen portrays silhouettes of birds flying, a person on a bicycle and people farming. Then the images change with an explosion and then soldiers running with guns, a helicopter flying, soldiers marching and finally images of land burning. The images are all in black and white.
After the intermission there’s a projection of children’s faces on the screen.
In Saigon the bar that Kim works in is portrayed by three rolled in platform door frames. The frames are like cages that are only a meter deep. Each frame is about 4 meters wide and 3 meters tall. There is a door in the centre of each and windows on either side of the doors. The frames are a single step up from the floor. By the doorways there are crates and bottles sitting on either side and there are red paper lanterns hanging from the wooden frame that surrounds the door. There are coats and jackets hanging by the doors too. These doorways and their frames are moved often throughout the performance and are simply turned around or turned at an angle to suggest the character is somewhere new. The bar patrons use the upturned crates as seats.
The lighting in Saigon is in shades of red and the bar is dark.
There are two staircases that flank either side of the space. The undersides of them are used as storage for coats, clothing and bags but when they are wheeled out the characters can go up and down them. They are brought into the centre of the space when characters need to be portrayed on different levels.
Kim’s bedroom is similar to the door frame, a wooden structure with trellis this time and the room is a square on a single step up platform in the centre of the space. There is a single bed on the left with a bare light bulb hanging above it and there are some crates and a small barrel on the floor on the right. The door is at the back and the front of the room is open to the audience.
When the girls come to Kim's room they place red paper lanterns on the floor. They are lit up and are about the size of footballs. They're shaped like lotus flowers.
There’s a mezzanine level around the top left, back and right of the space. Throughout the scene in Saigon there are silhouettes of buildings and telegraph cables in the city extending back to the horizon.
Later, this space also has dramatic clouds projected onto it depicting the sky above a rough sea, it is very dark and bleak.
The centre of the stage floor has an inset circle that spins around with performers and sets on it. There are four long metal grilles on the floor that are in a square shape and smoke comes up out of these. Smoke and light is used throughout to suggest there are vents where steam is escaping. There is also smoke used on the mezzanine level when the army is present to suggest that they are in a war zone.
When the refugees take to the sea to escape Saigon, they are inside the square on the floor. The grilles are lit up and smoke rises from them. The mesh screen drops and has images of rough waves projected onto it suggesting that the refugees are in a very rough sea.
The embassy office is a simple door of a building in Saigon. The door is red and the phone is on the wall. When Chris uses the phone to talk to John, John is spotlit at the top of the stairs on the right suggesting that he is in another part of the building. Later the back of the mezzanine floor comes right forward and becomes the roof of the embassy building. A helicopter comes to the top of the building, the legs of the helicopter hang down from the ceiling and soldiers are lifted up into it by ropes.
The centre of the stage is used as a courtyard for the soldiers on parade. Thuy is on the mezzanine in the back centre and this part of it moves out and protrudes like a balcony overlooking the troops.
In the war veterans office there is a large american flag hanging vertically at the back of the space. It’s hung with the stars at the top and the stripes below. There are some chairs laid out in a circle in front of the flag.
In Bangkok, the telegraph pole and cable silhouette is still present but there are various neon signs hanging from the ceiling. Most of the text is Thai but one of the signs says ‘sweethearts a go-go’ in English. The doorways and bars are in contrast to those in Saigon as they are lit more brightly. The additional lighting in this scene pluses in green and pink hues suggesting a more vibrant space. There are girls dancing under the red lights in the windows next to the bar doorways.
The hotel bedroom has a double bed on the left, two tables with lamps on them. There is an open suitcase on the bed. Either side of the bed and there is an ornate wooden frame that surrounds the back of the bed. There is a wicker chair and a wicker room divider on the right.
In the final number a silhouette of the stature of liberty is projected onto the back wall of the mezzanine. The statue silhouette gives way to the outline of tall buildings and then four American flags hang down in the space. The lighting used here is red white and blue. Lights project dollars onto the floor. Two staircases that were flanking the stage are now brought closer into the centre of the space and each rung has lights on it. The stairs are brought together in the centre of the stage to form a double staircase. There’s a giant dollar sign that’s lowered in from the ceiling. The dollar is about 5 meters tall and 2 and a half meters wide. It’s big enough for the Engineer to sit in the middle of it.
Costumes
The Engineer wears a silk robe and under it an open floral silk shirt. He wears black trousers and a loose rope type tie with a couple of necklaces. Later he wears a bright red suit and then a long American flag dress coat. Under this he has an American flag leotard that has fringing down each side.
Gigi wears a denim dress that’s very short and low cut at the front, revealing her leopard print bra. She has shocking short blonde hair and wears brown leather boots that come up to her knees.
Kim wears a long pink silk overcoat over a flowing white dress when she arrives at the bar, later she wears a red pinafore dress that’s slit at the sides with white baggy trousers underneath. Kim also wears a baggy pink shirt with matching trousers over a white t-shirt.
Chris wears army clothes. Kakhi green baggy trousers and a jacket to match with a pale t-shirt underneath. Later he wears a casual polo shirt and chino trousers.
There is a sparkling tiara that the girls of Dreamland have the opportunity to wear if they become ‘Miss Saigon’.
John wears army apparel the same as Chris and later wears casual chino trousers and a shirt.
Thom wears a shirt and shorts. He is about 5 years old.
Ellen wears a black dress then later, a pale blue shirt with a denim skirt.
Thuy is shabby looking l, he wears baggy clothes and has dirt on his face when we first meet him. Later Thuy is in the army and wears a tan army uniform with a fitted jacket and pleated trousers. He has a black belt round his waist and has a gun holster that’s on a belt across his chest. He has gold epaulettes and some medals on his chest.
The chorus as Vietnamese army soldiers all wear dark green uniforms. Long sleeved shirts and trousers with black belts at the waist. They all wear matching green metal helmets on their heads too. They carry rifles on belts over their chests.
During the depiction of the Viet army take over, some of the soldiers wear theatrical historical costumes with masks and armor. They are being depicted as puppets and there is a puppet master who joins them at the side and controls their movements. They use long pieces of white fabric held across the stage that they project a shadow puppetry scene onto. This depicts the 1975 fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army. A dragon breathes fire onto a couple of tigers and the tiger runs away.
The chorus wear clothing appropriate to the time in Saigon. The female chorus are scantily clad when they are working in the bar in Saigon and then again in Vietnam. Their costumes range from short dresses to high cut shorts, low cut tops and some of them are wrapped in short silky dressing gowns. They wear high heels, platform sandals or knee high boots.
When the girls aren’t working they wear casual shirts and high wasted trousers or long dresses.
In Thailand, the female chorus wear similar clothing when they work in the bars and the men are typically wearing suit trousers with shirts. Many of them have their shirts open down their chest a few buttons.
The male chorus wear US army uniforms, they are casual with khaki coloured combat trousers and t-shirts. Some have jackets over their t-shirts and most are wearing dog tags.
When they are depicted in America, the male chorus are all wearing clothing of the 1970s, boot cut jeans or flared trousers and shirts with long pointy collars.
When the chorus join the engineer in his final scene they are wearing long rain coats and trilby hats which they then remove to show they are in white marching band outfits. They all wear shorts with trainers and socks pulled up to their knees. On their tops they are wearing white long sleeved shirts with red and blue tassels on the sleeves and back. On their heads they are wearing white baseball caps. They are all carrying huge fans that are about a meter wide. On one side the American flag and on the other dollar symbols.
Cast
Seann Miley More The Engineer
Julianne Pundan Kim
Jack Kane Chris
Dom Hartley-Harris John
Emily Langham Ellen
Mikko Juan Thuy
Various children play Thom (tam) There is a large ensemble cast of 18 or so male and female performers
