Miss Saigon

This is a difficult piece of theatre even for adults to pull off with its emotional storyline, difficult score and scenes with adult themes. Hey Kids have members from age 8 and did their best to use the younger members appropriately. The sets worked well with the contrasting bedrooms on each of the apron sides. The lighting plot worked well but sometimes as happens with a young cast the actors were not quite positioned under them. The props were in keeping with the 1970’s Vietnam time as were most of the costumes.

The principal cast really rose to the challenge vocally but some looked uncomfortable with the acting required. Anthony J Quimby as MD had clearly worked hard with the cast to produce some lovely vocal performances and Jill McIntosh used some nice choreography with some clever effective touches.

The chorus parts had a number of different roles but played each one with the character they had been given or created. The youngest, little Emily Marshall played Tam and never put a foot wrong.

Will Dawber as Thuy was sinister with good vocals. Joshua Leach put in a very good performance as John and Bui Doi sounded great. Lydia Gillibrand as Ellen sounded fabulous in her solos and duets and had a warmth to her character who is caught between two worlds.

George H Jones put in a commanding performance as the Engineer. This part is really difficult to pull off as it needs comic mixed with sinister but you still need to like him. He is very much the narrator of the show and George had good vocals and clear diction allowing the story to be told.

Lottie Davey did a lovely job as Kim the young girl who falls in love with a GI and dreams of a better life in the USA. The range of vocals needed in this role is vast and Lottie did a fabulous job on the songs.

Chris was played well by Thomas Winstanley in his first lead with the society. He looked at home with the role and his vocals sounded great on all his numbers.

The whole cast and production team should be congratulated on tackling such a difficult piece and doing such a great job. Well done.

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