Carmarthen Journal Articles - Miss Saigon

THIS week I went to see Miss Saigon the school edition, performed by the wonderful Carmarthen Youth Opera. It had promised to be a spectacular piece of theatre and it certainly did not disappoint its large opening night audience. Miss Saigon opens on a Friday night in Saigon April 1975, and tells the dramatic tale of a doomed love between an American marine and an orphaned Vietnamese girl who has no other chance in life but to work as a bar girl in the ironically named "Dreamland" ran by the money orientated Engineer played by the comically genius Gavyn Brewster who throughout kept the audience laughing. Upon her first night of working Kim (Miss Saigon) played by the mind blowing Megan Thomas (I really predict great things for her) falls in love with Chris played by the multi talented Cuan Rowlands who is in Saigon working as a marine. They suffer a whirl wind romance and soon find themselves separated and the promises made are all they have to cling on too. After three long years apart Saigon has been taken over by the Viet Cong and Kim is living in hiding. Across the Atlantic Chris has moved on and is now married to Ellen (Sioned-Mair Rees) Their stories couldn't be any more different. We now meet Thuy (Brandon Jones) Kim's cousin who since the age of thirteen has been bound to marry her. Kim stands her ground stating her love for her American husband and revealing out of this love their son Tam was born. In horror Thuy threatens to kill her only child and with this Kim too pulls out her gun. The Lyric sat in silence as if everyone held their breath for that little bit longer and in this silence Kim shoots him, he lays motionless as the curtain on Act one falls.

A roar of applause is all that can be heard and then the hustle and bustle continues, everyone has something highly complimentary to say on such a captivating performance created by an incredibly young cast with one member being just eleven months old!

The second half continues and I have already been warned to get my tissues out. We start at a conference in Atlanta John a fellow American marine and Chris's best friend now works for the Bui Doi children and whilst dong so learns that Kim and son Tam have found their way into Bangkok. John played by the outstanding Robert Parker convinces Chris and Ellen to go together to the city and face this situation. Whilst their its clear to see this won't be an easy task. Upon hearing the news Kim is overwhelmed and sets off to find her husband, however all she does find is his new wife Ellen. The story unravels further and only ends in heartbreak as Kim comes to the realisation for her son to have the life she craves for him she must be left behind. I look around the theatre and all I see are mouths agape and tears streaming down the audience's faces. The perfect atmosphere is set by the unbelievable Orchestra directed by true talent Gareth Kirby, and then silence, followed by a single gun shot. As the lights fade so does Kim's life as she is cradled by her one true love Chris, and with that more than powerful final scene the curtain falls.

There is so much that I can say about this performance. Too much in fact! The dedication of a cast all under the age of 19 is incredible and is what really made this a stand out piece of theatre, that amount of talented individuals all in one room could only make a truly memorable evening of entertainment. The whole thing was faultless. The set was mind blowing the use of a Chinook helicopter landing and taking off really has to be seen to be believed. The thought that has gone into this whole production really is fantastic; the music, costume, set design and the amount of on stage changes of such elaborate sets was more than impressive. Carmarthen Youth Opera once again have produce spell binding work and created a performance that they should be more than proud of. I definitely see the bright lights of the West End shining down on a lot of these performers who are only just getting started.