Musicals Blog

Miss Saigon (1991)

by Claire J Rottenberg


Almost 10 years after the London premiere of their first hit, "Les Miserables," Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil saw their second major play open in London. Like its predecessor, "Miss Saigon" became a huge success, first in London, and then several years later on Broadway.

"Miss Saigon" opened on Broadway on April 11, 1991 and it closed almost 10 years later, after 4,092 performances. The Broadway production was followed by productions in at least 15 other countries in many different languages, including German, Polish, Swedish, and Japanese.

Although "Miss Saigon" was nominated for 11 Tony awards, it won only 3, all of which were won by the show's performers (Lea Salonga for Best Actress in a Musical, Jonathan Pryce for Best Actor in a Musical and Hinton Battle for Best Featured Actor in a Musical). Most of the other Tony awards in 1991 went to the American musical, "The Will Rogers Follies."

"Miss Saigon," even though it was not a Tony winner, was a huge financial success. In less than 10 months on Broadway, its investors recouped their funds due to the enormous advance sales of high-priced tickets (up to $100 per seat).

"Miss Saigon," based on Puccini's tragic opera, Madame Butterfly, takes place in Saigon during the 1970s Vietnam War. Schönberg and Boublil wrote the book and the beautiful score that includes the songs, "The Movie in My Mind" and "Last Night of the World." The play was directed by Nicholas Hytner with choreography by Bob Avian.

Despite its enormous popularity and storyline conducive to film, surprisingly, "Miss Saigon" has never been made into a movie.