MISS SAIGON A Musical in 2 Acts, 6 Scenes. Book by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg. Additional material by Richard Maltby, Jr. Music by ClaudeMichel Schönberg. Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., Alain Boublil, adapted from original French lyrics by Alain Boublil. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Musical staging by Bob Avian. Drury Lane Theatre, London - September 20, 1989 Broadway Theatre New York - April 11, 1991 (4,125 perfs) SYNOPSIS Kim is a new recruit to the Saigon brothel run by the Engineer. The American army is soon to leave Saigon but meanwhile the nightclub is full of American soldiers including Chris and his friend John. The Engineer, too, wishes to leave Saigon but needs that all-important American visa so that he can increase his sphere of operations. Perhaps Chris can help him - through Kim? Playbill Miss Saigon Chris and Kim leave for her home where they can be on their own and make love. Chris falls for Kim in a big way and rings John for the latter to arrange for Chris to have his leave so that he can spend it with Kim. Kim's cousin, Thuy, arrives. He is Kim's intended husband - a marriage arranged by the family. Kim, however, does not want to leave Chris and the two are cursed by Thuy. Three years pass and Vietnam is reunified. The people are celebrating but even so, the Engineer has not got his visa and Kim is now living in a shanty village with her two year old son. Thuy has come looking for her threatening her with reprisals for besmirching the family. In her anguish, Kim shoots him with a pistol. Chris, meanwhile, is back in America with his new wife, Ellen. He hasn't told Ellen about his past. He has a Vietnamese baby by Kim who arrives in Bangkok and visits an organisation for the repatriation of halfAmerican babies, the "bui-doi". John contacts Chris who is determined to go and see Kim and his child. He arrives in Bangkok. Kim goes to the hotel where Chris and Ellen are staying and she tells Ellen the precise situation. Ellen tells Kim that there will be help but Chris has a new life - with Ellen, there is no room for Kim or the child. Kim is devastated but won't believe this until Chris tells her himself in person. Chris comes to her room backstage at the club where Kim has dressed her son in his best clothes. She slips behind a curtain and shoots herself. Now Chris will have to take his son to America - and the American Dream! STORY Act One The action begins on a Friday night in Saigon in April 1975. Backstage at Dreamland, an after-hours club that is frequented by American Marines, a group of bar girls are preparing for their performance. The Engineer, who owns the club, introduces them to a new girl, Kim. She is a 17-year-old orphan who has fled the countryside after seeing her family destroyed (“Opening Act I”). Afraid that the enemy forces of the Vietcong will kill them if they are left behind when Saigon falls, the bar girls are eager to connect with an American G.I. who can get them out of the country. The Engineer also wants to get his hands on a visa, so that he can escape when the Americans pull out. He sends the girls onstage for a sham beauty contest to select a “Miss Saigon.” Next, a group of Marines enters the bar; among them are two friends, Chris and John. Although Chris is reluctant, John insists that a night at the club is what they need to escape the increasing sense of danger from the approaching enemy (“The Heat Is on in Saigon”). When the Engineer thrusts her forward to solicit the crowd, Chris is astounded by Kim’s innocence. Meanwhile, one of the girls, Gigi, is crowned Miss Saigon and
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