promptly auctioned off to a G.I. When she asks him if he will marry her and take her to America, however, he leaves. As a result, Kim is brutally punished by the Engineer. Gigi and the other girls dream of leaving this life and finding something better (“The Movie in My Mind”). Sensing that Chris is interested in Kim, John bargains with the Engineer to secure her for his friend (“Bartering for Kim”). Kim and Chris dance, and Chris remarks on how she shouldn’t be in a place like this. She leads him away to her room (“Kim & Chris Dance”). Chris, deeply touched by what he has shared with Kim, quietly leaves the room while she is sleeping. Walking through the street, he questions why he has had this profound experience just as he is about to leave Saigon. He is drawn back to the room (“Why God, Why?”). He tries to give Kim money, but Kim refuses to take it and tells him that she has seen her parents die in flames. She was betrothed to a man whom she didn’t love before her village was destroyed. Now, she has no future except to sell herself at Dreamland (“This Money’s Yours”). Chris asks her to live with him, and they express their love for each other (“Sun and Moon”). As they part ways, she says that she will bring friends to bless their room with paper unicorns and perfume in keeping with her traditions (“Unicorn”). Chris calls John at the Embassy where they both work to tell him that he needs time to spend with Kim. John says that Saigon is falling apart and urges him to come to the Embassy right away, or he could get left behind (“Telephone Sequence”). Chris then goes to the Engineer and bargains with him for another night with Kim. The Engineer insists that he will only trade Kim for a visa from the American Embassy, but Chris refuses and will only pay him money (“The Deal”). Gigi and the other bar girls are helping Kim move in with Chris. They sing a song that is traditionally sung at weddings and all toast to the couple, calling Kim the new Miss Saigon (“The Wedding”). Amid their celebration, the door flies open, and Thuy, Kim’s fiancé, appears. He has come to claim Kim and save her from the shame of being a bar girl. When he sees Chris, he becomes outraged. Kim tells him that her parents’ promises died with them, and she will not abide by their arranged marriage. He leaves (“Thuy’s Intervention”). Chris reveals to Kim that he has decided to bring her with him to America. They promise each other that everything will be different now that they will be together in America (“Last Night of the World”). Three years pass. The Viet Cong have taken over Saigon. The Engineer is brought in by two soldiers. We learn that he was taken prisoner by the Viet Cong and has been forced to work in the rice fields. Although his captors attempted to brainwash him, they have been unsuccessful. He is led before Thuy, who is now a Commissar. Thuy demands the Engineer’s assistance in finding Kim and gives him 48 hours to accomplish this deed (“The Morning of the Dragon”). Kim is living in a small room, which she shares with a group of other Vietnamese. She remembers her moments with Chris and fiercely believes that he will come back to her. Meanwhile, in America, Ellen, who is now married to Chris, sits beside her sleeping husband on their bed, watching her husband have a nightmare and cry out names that she doesn’t know. She knows that he has secrets and a dark past, but she vows to remain his wife and help him through his troubles. A world away, Kim — alone in a room full of strangers — makes the same vow (“I Still Believe”). The Engineer appears with Thuy. Thuy wants to forget Kim’s transgression and marry her, as their parents decreed. She says that she is still bound to Chris. Thuy calls her a fool and summons his men into the room, where they threaten Kim and the Engineer. Thuy again demands that Kim agree to his wishes. The Engineer is sent out of the room, and Kim reveals her secret to Thuy: her two-year-old son, Tam (“Coo-Coo Princess”). Thuy says that she can’t keep the child, since he intends to marry her. He calls the child his enemy and draws out his knife to kill the little boy. Kim pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot him. He will not relent, so she kills him (“Thuy’s Death”). Kim is horrified but decides that she and Tam must find a way to reach Chris in America. The Engineer is making his way through the city. He finds his way to the remains of Dreamland and opens a trap door. There, he finds a box of counterfeit watches that he had hidden. Planning to sell them in Bangkok and then travel to the United States, he is about to leave when Kim appears (“If You Want to Die in Bed”). She begs for his help, and he realizes that the baby is their passport to America. (“Kim & Engineer”). He leaves to buy their passage on a boat to Bangkok. Kim consoles Tam and promises him that she will risk anything for him. The Engineer, Kim and Tam join a group of Vietnamese refugees (“Finale Act I”).
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