Post by rcolemanuk on Feb 14, 2008 19:54:04 GMT 1
Here is my brief synopsis of the show taken from my website. ( uk.geocities.com/rcoleman_uk )
The show starts off in a 1975 war torn Saigon. A girl (Kim) on the streets alone and afraid is picked up by the 'Engineer'. He offers her a job in a prostitution bar. Backstage the girls are getting ready for the nights 'work' before the 'guests' turn up and we enter 'Dreamland' the Engineers club.
The American GI's are all relaxing in the bar where John wants to cheer his mate Chris up. Also going on is the competition to crown 'Miss Saigon' who will be won for the night by the lucky raffle ticket holder. Gigi is crowned Miss Saigon and ticket '66' wins the raffle. A random GI appears clutching the ticket and he leads her off. She asks him to take her to America and he tells her to shut up before getting a Beer.
Gigi sings of how the GI's act and what she thinks it would be like to have a life in America. Kim joins in singing about what she is going to do while at the club. And if they hurt her she'll close her eyes and it wont be her. Before long the Engineer returns and tells the girls to get back to work.
John a GI, talks to the Engineer who tells him he wants a visa to get into America. John tells him there is no chance as he's too well known. John buys Kim for Chris for the night for 50 bucks. Chris and Kim dance and Chris can tell she's not comfortable and tells her to go and says that she shouldn't be here. The Engineer sees and asks if he doesn't like her. Chris tells him he does and she leads him to a private room.
After spending time together and after Kim's fallen asleep Chris gets up to leave singing that he cant understand why Saigon is like this and how he can't help Kim. When he gets to the street there is an air raid and the townsfolk turn to him, he tells them he can't do anything for them. He goes back to Kim to look at her for the last time and thinks she will be his best memory of Saigon.
She wakes and he tries to pay her some money but she seems disappointed. He asks her if she wants more and she replies she doesn't want anything. He asks her what's wrong and she tells him she's not done this before. She explains of what happened before she came to Saigon, the demise of her parents and that she would rather die than go through that again. He realises she is genuine and asks if she would like to go back to America with him. They are both in love and sing about how the Gods have joined them together. Kim asks him if they can hold a ceremony to bless their relationship, he agrees.
Chris phones back to the Embassy and asks to take all of his leave because he and Kim are going to be spending time together. John explains that they can't allow it because lots of things have happened. Cities have been falling to the northern army (the Viet Cong), The 'minister' has resigned, and people will be shipping out soon. Chris asks John to cover for him and John says he has one day!
Chris then goes and bargains with the Engineer to release Kim. The engineer says that only a Visa will do but Chris threatens him with a gun and he accepts cash.
We then go back to Kim's place where the girls hold the ceremony to bless the relationship. The girls sing Vietnamese words used at weddings. During the ceremony, Kim's cousin, Thuy turns up to reclaim his 'bride'. She tells him they were promised at thirteen but she has moved on and she is Chris' now. There is a confrontation between Chris and Thuy. Kim tells Thuy to shoot, she won't change her mind. Thuy leaves telling her she broke her fathers word, and this is her curse. Kim thinks that Chris will leave her, he tells her he's leaving but taking her with him. He takes her in his arms and vows to take her to America.
We then skip forward three years to 1978, it is the third reunification ceremony of the newly named Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City after the takeover from the north. There is a street parade. The peoples commissar, Thuy, ordered the finding of the engineer who is brought to him from a re-education camp during the parade. He tells the Engineer that he wants him to find his cousin (Kim) and he will give him 48 hours to do so, and he will release him.
We then go to Kim who is in hiding with a number of other Vietnamese people. She talks about how she still believes Chris will come back and get her. Chris back in America believes she is dead. He is haunted by nightmares. Next to him Ellen, Chris' wife also sings that she hopes he'll finally forget what is troubling him, she comforts him when he wakes from a nightmare.
The engineer has found Kim's hideout and leads Thuy to her. He asks her again to go with him but she still refuses because of her love for Chris and her belief that he will come back and take her. Thuy then tells her that he can make her change her mind and calls in soldiers in from the street. Thuy tells them that he has just found this 'Me-my' and she hid when they closed the bars. They teach her a lesson by beating her and the engineer. Thuy calls them off just as they are about to shoot her and sends them out along with the engineer. She still refuses and tells him that there is a secret that no one knows of, that is the reason they can't be together. She tells him she will show him and calls out 'Tam'. A small boy, 3 years old appears from behind a curtain. When Thuy sees Tam, Chris' son, he says that this is the reason that she won't be with him, so there is no alternative, the child must die. Thuy goes to stab Tam before Kim pulls out a gun. She warns Thuy but he doesn't listen so she shoots and kills Thuy. She takes Tam and runs away. The soldiers discover that Thuy has been killed and they start a search for the killer.
Kim finds the engineer and tells him that she and Tam must set off for America tonight because she killed Thuy. He asks how and why. She tells him that Tam is Chris' son. The engineer says that because Tam is an American boy they will let them in. He tells Kim to stay in hiding while he books them a place on a boat to Bangkok. While the engineer is away Kim sings to Tam telling him that she would give her life for him. The engineer returns. Leaving Ho Chi Minh City behind forever they set off into the sunset to join the 'Boat people'.
Interval
Act 2
We start off back in America. John is giving a presentation on the orphaned children left behind after the US marines pulled out. He protests that the 'Bui Doi' or 'The dust of life' as they are known need help to live. After the conference, which Chris was invited to, he speaks to John about a telephone conversation that they had. He asks him what was the news that he could only tell him. John tells him that his Bangkok staff has found Kim - alive, that she has a son - his son and she is working as a bar girl in Bangkok. John tells Chris that the best solution is for him and his wife Ellen to go to Bangkok and see Kim and his Son.
We then move to Bangkok where the engineer is working trying to entice people into the club where he works. John arrives and asks for Kim. The Engineer recognises John and leads him to Kim. John asks Kim if there is somewhere private they can go. The Engineer gets excited and thinks he has finally found a way into America! Kim and John go into privacy. She tells John how she has kept faithful and always believed he'd return. John explains that Chris is here and she'll see him tonight. John also tries to explain about Chris' wife but she is too excited to listen and believes everything will be alright and they will all go back to America and live. John hasn't the heart to break the news to her about Ellen and says Chris must see his son first. The Club owner then comes in. He says that he told them no kids around and that he's watching Kim and the Engineer. He offers John a massage before John and he leave. The Engineer arrives back and asks where John went. Kim says that John has gone to get Chris. The Engineer says that when Chris learns of his son (not knowing he already knows) he will run so she had better get to him first. He will go and find out where Chris is staying and she can go to him. Kim turns to her shrine to her parents and talks about them finally forgiving her.
The Engineer leaves to find Chris. Kim then gets an appearance of 'Thuy's ghost'. It portrays what she is thinking about. The ghost reminds her of her past and how she killed and she wants to forget but he's always going to be there haunting her. He says that she thinks Chris is not like other men but he betrayed her once and he will again (meaning when he left her in Saigon). The scene disappears into the dark and we are back in Saigon in 1975 at the American embassy on the night that the US marines pulled out. Chris is talking to the other marines who bend a couple of rules to get her a Visa. They return to their flat. Chris says he has to get back to the Embassy. Kim says she wants to go with him but he tells her there is time and to stay and pack. When he gets back to the embassy there is chaos outside the gates and John says no one can leave the embassy now as they are pulling out. Chris protests that he has to get his wife but John won't let him leave so Chris tries to phone Kim. Kim arrives at the gate to meet Chris, only the ambassador has said no more Vietnamese can get on the planes. Kim frantically tries to get in along with all the other civilians, while Chris fights to try and get out to her. The last helicopter arrives and Chris is dragged kicking and screaming for Kim into the helicopter before it takes off leaving the embassy empty and the Vietnamese behind. The scene fades and we go back into Kim's room. She remembers she is going to see Chris tonight and says about their love being reborn. The Engineer returns with the address of Chris' room and tells her to go quickly!
Kim arrives at Chris' hotel room where she meets Ellen. She says she must have the wrong room before surmising that Ellen is Johns wife. Ellen realises that it is Kim and tells her she is Chris' wife. Kim becomes distraught and says 'tell me you are lying'. Ellen explains that Chris tried to reach her. The conversation then moves on to Tam. Kim tells Ellen that Tam must go to America with Chris but she insists that Tam needs Kim. Kim screams at her if she's done that to make him change his mind, he must come and tell her himself. She leaves and Ellen talks about how now that she's met Kim it's a reality and she can't just block it out, and that she'll fight for Chris.
Chris and John arrive back saying they couldn't find Kim. Ellen explains that Kim came to their room and that Kim believes she is married to him. And he must go and tell her she isn't, unless of course he still loves her. Chris explains that it was three years ago, he didn't know who he was and he's now with her. The conversation moves on to Tam. They decide it will be best for Tam to stay in Bangkok where they will support him. They become certain of it while John tries to explain that that is not how Kim feels and they don't realise what they have just said. They go off to find Kim and Tam.
Kim appears. Thinking about the conversation, she says that she won't break her promise to her son, Chris will come back for Tam tonight and he will go to America. The Engineer arrives to ask how it went. Kim gets him excited by telling him they are going to come and get them tonight! The engineer sings of his dreams and what it is like living in America. When the Dream fades the Engineer meets with Chris and John and they go up to meet Tam.
Inside Kim's flat, Kim is talking to Tam. She tells him to smile because his father is here to take him to a better life and not to be sad because although she can't go along she'll be watching over him always. She says that they think they will decide his life but no, it will be her. She gives Tam a final hug and kiss. The Engineer comes in and takes Tam out to Chris. Kim battles with her emotions before disappearing behind a curtain. A gunshot rings out and Kim falls out from behind the curtain. Chris hears this and runs in, seeing her for the first time since that night three years ago. He says 'what have you done' and 'Please don't die' and she asks to be held one last time. Chris holds her in his arms and they have a final kiss before she fades away saying 'How in one night have we come so far?'. She becomes lifeless and Chris still holding her screams 'NO!'
Curtain Falls
The show starts off in a 1975 war torn Saigon. A girl (Kim) on the streets alone and afraid is picked up by the 'Engineer'. He offers her a job in a prostitution bar. Backstage the girls are getting ready for the nights 'work' before the 'guests' turn up and we enter 'Dreamland' the Engineers club.
The American GI's are all relaxing in the bar where John wants to cheer his mate Chris up. Also going on is the competition to crown 'Miss Saigon' who will be won for the night by the lucky raffle ticket holder. Gigi is crowned Miss Saigon and ticket '66' wins the raffle. A random GI appears clutching the ticket and he leads her off. She asks him to take her to America and he tells her to shut up before getting a Beer.
Gigi sings of how the GI's act and what she thinks it would be like to have a life in America. Kim joins in singing about what she is going to do while at the club. And if they hurt her she'll close her eyes and it wont be her. Before long the Engineer returns and tells the girls to get back to work.
John a GI, talks to the Engineer who tells him he wants a visa to get into America. John tells him there is no chance as he's too well known. John buys Kim for Chris for the night for 50 bucks. Chris and Kim dance and Chris can tell she's not comfortable and tells her to go and says that she shouldn't be here. The Engineer sees and asks if he doesn't like her. Chris tells him he does and she leads him to a private room.
After spending time together and after Kim's fallen asleep Chris gets up to leave singing that he cant understand why Saigon is like this and how he can't help Kim. When he gets to the street there is an air raid and the townsfolk turn to him, he tells them he can't do anything for them. He goes back to Kim to look at her for the last time and thinks she will be his best memory of Saigon.
She wakes and he tries to pay her some money but she seems disappointed. He asks her if she wants more and she replies she doesn't want anything. He asks her what's wrong and she tells him she's not done this before. She explains of what happened before she came to Saigon, the demise of her parents and that she would rather die than go through that again. He realises she is genuine and asks if she would like to go back to America with him. They are both in love and sing about how the Gods have joined them together. Kim asks him if they can hold a ceremony to bless their relationship, he agrees.
Chris phones back to the Embassy and asks to take all of his leave because he and Kim are going to be spending time together. John explains that they can't allow it because lots of things have happened. Cities have been falling to the northern army (the Viet Cong), The 'minister' has resigned, and people will be shipping out soon. Chris asks John to cover for him and John says he has one day!
Chris then goes and bargains with the Engineer to release Kim. The engineer says that only a Visa will do but Chris threatens him with a gun and he accepts cash.
We then go back to Kim's place where the girls hold the ceremony to bless the relationship. The girls sing Vietnamese words used at weddings. During the ceremony, Kim's cousin, Thuy turns up to reclaim his 'bride'. She tells him they were promised at thirteen but she has moved on and she is Chris' now. There is a confrontation between Chris and Thuy. Kim tells Thuy to shoot, she won't change her mind. Thuy leaves telling her she broke her fathers word, and this is her curse. Kim thinks that Chris will leave her, he tells her he's leaving but taking her with him. He takes her in his arms and vows to take her to America.
We then skip forward three years to 1978, it is the third reunification ceremony of the newly named Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City after the takeover from the north. There is a street parade. The peoples commissar, Thuy, ordered the finding of the engineer who is brought to him from a re-education camp during the parade. He tells the Engineer that he wants him to find his cousin (Kim) and he will give him 48 hours to do so, and he will release him.
We then go to Kim who is in hiding with a number of other Vietnamese people. She talks about how she still believes Chris will come back and get her. Chris back in America believes she is dead. He is haunted by nightmares. Next to him Ellen, Chris' wife also sings that she hopes he'll finally forget what is troubling him, she comforts him when he wakes from a nightmare.
The engineer has found Kim's hideout and leads Thuy to her. He asks her again to go with him but she still refuses because of her love for Chris and her belief that he will come back and take her. Thuy then tells her that he can make her change her mind and calls in soldiers in from the street. Thuy tells them that he has just found this 'Me-my' and she hid when they closed the bars. They teach her a lesson by beating her and the engineer. Thuy calls them off just as they are about to shoot her and sends them out along with the engineer. She still refuses and tells him that there is a secret that no one knows of, that is the reason they can't be together. She tells him she will show him and calls out 'Tam'. A small boy, 3 years old appears from behind a curtain. When Thuy sees Tam, Chris' son, he says that this is the reason that she won't be with him, so there is no alternative, the child must die. Thuy goes to stab Tam before Kim pulls out a gun. She warns Thuy but he doesn't listen so she shoots and kills Thuy. She takes Tam and runs away. The soldiers discover that Thuy has been killed and they start a search for the killer.
Kim finds the engineer and tells him that she and Tam must set off for America tonight because she killed Thuy. He asks how and why. She tells him that Tam is Chris' son. The engineer says that because Tam is an American boy they will let them in. He tells Kim to stay in hiding while he books them a place on a boat to Bangkok. While the engineer is away Kim sings to Tam telling him that she would give her life for him. The engineer returns. Leaving Ho Chi Minh City behind forever they set off into the sunset to join the 'Boat people'.
Interval
Act 2
We start off back in America. John is giving a presentation on the orphaned children left behind after the US marines pulled out. He protests that the 'Bui Doi' or 'The dust of life' as they are known need help to live. After the conference, which Chris was invited to, he speaks to John about a telephone conversation that they had. He asks him what was the news that he could only tell him. John tells him that his Bangkok staff has found Kim - alive, that she has a son - his son and she is working as a bar girl in Bangkok. John tells Chris that the best solution is for him and his wife Ellen to go to Bangkok and see Kim and his Son.
We then move to Bangkok where the engineer is working trying to entice people into the club where he works. John arrives and asks for Kim. The Engineer recognises John and leads him to Kim. John asks Kim if there is somewhere private they can go. The Engineer gets excited and thinks he has finally found a way into America! Kim and John go into privacy. She tells John how she has kept faithful and always believed he'd return. John explains that Chris is here and she'll see him tonight. John also tries to explain about Chris' wife but she is too excited to listen and believes everything will be alright and they will all go back to America and live. John hasn't the heart to break the news to her about Ellen and says Chris must see his son first. The Club owner then comes in. He says that he told them no kids around and that he's watching Kim and the Engineer. He offers John a massage before John and he leave. The Engineer arrives back and asks where John went. Kim says that John has gone to get Chris. The Engineer says that when Chris learns of his son (not knowing he already knows) he will run so she had better get to him first. He will go and find out where Chris is staying and she can go to him. Kim turns to her shrine to her parents and talks about them finally forgiving her.
The Engineer leaves to find Chris. Kim then gets an appearance of 'Thuy's ghost'. It portrays what she is thinking about. The ghost reminds her of her past and how she killed and she wants to forget but he's always going to be there haunting her. He says that she thinks Chris is not like other men but he betrayed her once and he will again (meaning when he left her in Saigon). The scene disappears into the dark and we are back in Saigon in 1975 at the American embassy on the night that the US marines pulled out. Chris is talking to the other marines who bend a couple of rules to get her a Visa. They return to their flat. Chris says he has to get back to the Embassy. Kim says she wants to go with him but he tells her there is time and to stay and pack. When he gets back to the embassy there is chaos outside the gates and John says no one can leave the embassy now as they are pulling out. Chris protests that he has to get his wife but John won't let him leave so Chris tries to phone Kim. Kim arrives at the gate to meet Chris, only the ambassador has said no more Vietnamese can get on the planes. Kim frantically tries to get in along with all the other civilians, while Chris fights to try and get out to her. The last helicopter arrives and Chris is dragged kicking and screaming for Kim into the helicopter before it takes off leaving the embassy empty and the Vietnamese behind. The scene fades and we go back into Kim's room. She remembers she is going to see Chris tonight and says about their love being reborn. The Engineer returns with the address of Chris' room and tells her to go quickly!
Kim arrives at Chris' hotel room where she meets Ellen. She says she must have the wrong room before surmising that Ellen is Johns wife. Ellen realises that it is Kim and tells her she is Chris' wife. Kim becomes distraught and says 'tell me you are lying'. Ellen explains that Chris tried to reach her. The conversation then moves on to Tam. Kim tells Ellen that Tam must go to America with Chris but she insists that Tam needs Kim. Kim screams at her if she's done that to make him change his mind, he must come and tell her himself. She leaves and Ellen talks about how now that she's met Kim it's a reality and she can't just block it out, and that she'll fight for Chris.
Chris and John arrive back saying they couldn't find Kim. Ellen explains that Kim came to their room and that Kim believes she is married to him. And he must go and tell her she isn't, unless of course he still loves her. Chris explains that it was three years ago, he didn't know who he was and he's now with her. The conversation moves on to Tam. They decide it will be best for Tam to stay in Bangkok where they will support him. They become certain of it while John tries to explain that that is not how Kim feels and they don't realise what they have just said. They go off to find Kim and Tam.
Kim appears. Thinking about the conversation, she says that she won't break her promise to her son, Chris will come back for Tam tonight and he will go to America. The Engineer arrives to ask how it went. Kim gets him excited by telling him they are going to come and get them tonight! The engineer sings of his dreams and what it is like living in America. When the Dream fades the Engineer meets with Chris and John and they go up to meet Tam.
Inside Kim's flat, Kim is talking to Tam. She tells him to smile because his father is here to take him to a better life and not to be sad because although she can't go along she'll be watching over him always. She says that they think they will decide his life but no, it will be her. She gives Tam a final hug and kiss. The Engineer comes in and takes Tam out to Chris. Kim battles with her emotions before disappearing behind a curtain. A gunshot rings out and Kim falls out from behind the curtain. Chris hears this and runs in, seeing her for the first time since that night three years ago. He says 'what have you done' and 'Please don't die' and she asks to be held one last time. Chris holds her in his arms and they have a final kiss before she fades away saying 'How in one night have we come so far?'. She becomes lifeless and Chris still holding her screams 'NO!'
Curtain Falls