Miss Saigon

So, I just got back from seeing Miss Saigon at the Sunderland Empire. Fantastic show – I can’t say enough good things about it!

Watch this space for a proper review, coming tomorrow (hopefully)…

But first, a few facts to whet your appetite and to emphasise the scale of the production, taken from the official website:

• This new production of Miss Saigon uses cutting-edge visual techniques and a brand new set design to fit varying sized auditoriums around the UK and to move quickly between venues.
• It will be one of the largest touring productions in the UK, with a company of over 50 actors and musicians.
• The set is an entirely new design which vividly recreates the streets of Vietnam and Bangkok, including the memorable final helicopter flight from the roof of the American Embassy.
• Animation is used in two scenes – ‘American Dream’ and the ‘US evacuation of Vietnam’. This 3D computer generated animation is played back through a catalyst media server controlled through the lighting desk.
• The visuals for the animation in the show-stopping ‘American Dream’ number have been created by Gerald Scarfe, the internationally famous political cartoonist, also well known for designing and directing the animation for Pink Floyd’s, The Wall.
• This UK tour production of Miss Saigon is of significant size and scale. It took four months to develop and construct the show, with a further five months design and planning prior to that.
• 36 supplier companies have contributed to the various elements of the set, props, sound and lighting. The range of roles include draftsmen, designers, design engineers, projection designers as well as actual set and costume construction staff.
• There are 46 technical staff on each performance.
• Specially constructed props include unusual items such as street food vending trolleys from Bangkok and a odd pieces of South East Asian set dressing such as packaging on Vietnamese products and lanterns.
• 49 deactivated M16 guns and AK 47 and other hand-guns all authentic to the Vietnam War, are used in the show. They are stored and transported in locked metal cabinets.
• The fibreglass bust of Ho Chi Minh is over 3m high, and has been specially sculpted and covered in gold leaf for this production. It took one month to construct and is transported in its own dedicated box.
• One of the more unusual props required for the production is a ‘Cyclo’ rickshaw which is very specific to Vietnam. During the extensive search across the UK for materials required to construct one from scratch, the Props Department discovered that one already existed in England, in perfect working order.
• The show includes a real Vespa motorcycle, now converted to run on electricity instead of petrol.
• The production uses 450 lights, including for the first time in the UK, 18 revolution moving spot lights.
• The show features a sound triggered pyrotechnics display.

See what you missed, David?