User reviews

Perfectly shot adaptation of the stage show with a great cast. My only complaint is the unnecessary lyric changes and the songs that were omitted.

Miss Saigon. I've seen it in the theater numerous times, in Dutch, German and English. I knew cast members who could sneak me in and seat me next to the engineers. I even auditioned for it. I know this show front stage and backstage. You might say, I'm a fan.

Talks about a movie being made made from it made me excited and worried at the same time (see what they did to Les Mis, the show is good, but the movie sucked in so many ways). Probably their decision (for now) to do the theater registration as a movie was really smart. This way you could not lose the pace of the story, the whole drama is already finished and the only thing you need to do is put a camera on it.

Sometimes I'd forget that they were on stage, you would hear the audience react sometimes and even than it was not completely clear if it was inside the cinema or inside the movie (I was seated last row). It could easily have been inside the cinema, the rest of the people clearly enjoyed it as much as I did, also for them it was a great night.

The acting was great, the singing was great and of course the story, based on the Opera Madame Butterfly, is a solid drama. It was filmed pretty up close, there were not so many wide shots, which made you get deeply involved in the drama even more than in the theater. At several moments, because of the music, the story, the acting, I just burst out in tears. Oh how I love me some musical drama.

And when the story was over, the show went on and featured a grand finale with (some of) the original cast members returning to the parts that made them famous or won them Tony's. And they were funny, really funny.

So this movie or registration or whatever you like to call it, did for me what so many movies can't seem to be able to do these days: move me. The logo for theater that has been used many times is the laughing mask and the crying mask and this night, in the cinema, this all came together perfectly. It may as well be the best musical theater on film I have ever seen. Very well done.

To quote the critic of the Daily Mail, "The best live film of a stage show that I've seen". And I fully agree with him. I am an avid fan of musicals with a DVD collection over 700+.

Having had to wait 25 years since my late wife and I saw it at Drury Lane, London, I have had to be content with the CD.

This production and the DVD are worth more than 10. If you buy only one DVD of a musical, stage or screen, it has to be this one. From the two showstoppers at the beginning and end, The heat is on in Saigon and American Dream, to the beautiful duet, The last night of the World, the score and the performances are fantastic.

After Les Miserables, still the best musical ever, Boubil and Schonberg came up with another smash, this time based on Madame Butterfly. And thanks to Cameron Mackintosh for his foresight in producing both shows.

Bringing this show to a smaller stage than Drury Lane created several problems the least of which was the helicopter and the number involving the statue of Ho Chi Min was more cramped.

There are two extras with the DVD, one giving a history of the musical and the other, the after show performances from the original cast which reduced me to tears of joy. Each member of both casts and the production team deserve a huge amount of applause, which they duly got.

The close up singing shots strongly suggest there were so many cameras, that many were on stage and thus part of the performances were filmed not on the night. If you love musicals, this one totally without fault with a dream cast and incredible production values. Enjoy.

Just fabulous stay till the end

Up there with Les miserable

No spoilers here, no long reviews, just put simply, if you haven't seen it, go watch it now. You can thank me later.

If you have seen it already, go watch it again!

A reworking of Madam Butterfly. Miss Saigon is ultimately a tragedy.

Chris, an American GI just before the US withdrawal from Vietnam meets Kim in a Saigon bar. She is a young innocent girl who has lost her family. Now she is fresh meat in her first night as a bar girl. The joint is run by the manager called the Engineer.

All the women in the bar are scantily clad prostitutes, hoping that a GI will marry them and take them to America where they promise to be good wives. Even the Engineer wants the American dream.

Chris falls in love with Kim but he has to abandon her when the US troops withdraw. Some years later he discovers that Kim had his child.

Eva Noblezada and other female cast members reach some high notes. However I did not think that the songs were that great or the story so enthralling.

The original musical was well known for its staging of a helicopter scene. It does not shy away from its rude subject matter. A sex bar where women are exploited, all they want to do is escape.

The 25th anniversary show has a segment where the original stars appear. Jonathan Pryce jokes that he has been let out from the museum. Lea Salonga is still beautiful as ever and still has a great voice.

Maybe this is a musical that is better to watch on the stage. It loses its immediacy on the screen however wonderfully it has been filmed.

This is so good the singing and acting are amazing. I'm so impressed with the whole cast the story and music are phenomenal. The story is so emotional and touching that I cried watching it. I wish I could see this in person and can't wait to see these actors in other productions.

Overall, this show gets a 1000000/10 and I highly suggest watching it if you have the time your whole perspective will change for the better. And you will start to truly appreciate the arts and theatre much more after watching this. Hope they get a revival of this show and bring it on a national tour or back to broadway one day.

I have seen this production performed live and loved it. My heart broke and ached for Kim and her plight, not so much in this version. She comes off as opportunistic and entitled, and she is very hard to sympathize with. It's impossible to feel any good will toward such a brat. On the bright side, The engineer is fantastic.

The production value of this version is impressive, and the performances are mostly good... but the changes they've made are inexplicable. I understand the necessity of rewriting lyrics when needed, but to change them to nonsensical drivel is unforgivable. For instance, they absolutely destroyed the song "Please" by altering the lyrics and making them totally lame and completely devoid of passion and feeling. The song is supposed to end on the word "please" for a reason...

As for casting, I'm pleased with everyone except Ellen. Her performance was just awful. Add that to the mortal sin of deleting one of the best Broadway songs of all time ("Now That I've Seen Her"), and I just have to shake my damn head. I don't know why they got rid of this beautiful gem of a song and replaced it with an empty, boring piece of garbage that made no sense.

For all of that, I gave to give this a mediocre review. Miss Saigon has always been one of my favorite musicals... but I simple can't include this production. I have season tickets to our local broadway theatre and will be seeing Miss Saigon this season. I only hope it has improved or at least been restored to its former glory.

The fact that the CGI bundle of cheese The Dark Knight is rated above this is unfathomable.

Some pretentious 5+6/10 reviews on here. It's just 100% brilliance. The nit picking is pathetic.

Amazing product of amazing human skill.

This show is magnificent, so powerful. I was there opening night of the original production and I loved some of the changes they made. I cried at least 3 times (and I am very familiar with the show). I am so glad that these actors were filmed and we now have this amazing production we can now see over and over again. It is perfectly cast, the intensity of the show is overwhelming (in a good way) these actors give you no choice but to go on this journey with them, they pull you in from the beginning. I especially loved the new opening with Kim and the Engineer. The strength of these talents on the stage is a gift we are given while we watch this journey. The Engineer was amazing, to be able to despise his cruelty but yet like and feel for him is an amazing actor embodying the best of his gifts. I am not sure of the words for the actress playing Kim, the minute you see her you want to protect her but we watch her strength emerge, stunning performance. Everyone in this company gives it their all every minute, every second and never lets us done. The act 2 opening is powerful, beautiful solo done with such emotion and conviction, Bravo! Highly recommended!

This is terrific - you get a good filmed version of the whole show (in its revised - but certainly not improved - form of 2014) and also a moving reunion of the original 1989 cast. Lea Salonga and Simon Bowman, the first Kim and Chris, sing The Last Night of the World, showing up the inferiority of the performance earlier in the evening. Alistair Brammer in particular cannot compare with Simon Bowman. Brammer's voice has a kind of whiny drone in it. Probably no one has ever surpassed Bowman on tenderness in the love duets of the show (see the videos on Youtube of him and Lea performing them when the show was new). He seems actually to have improved his voice since then, losing the (IMO) excessive vibrato. The new Kim is good, but Lea Salonga is impossible to beat. Her excellent voice has become richer and more mature over the years, less suitable for the role of teenage Kim, but that's not a criticism.

Miss Saigon is not among my favorite musicals.It is inspired by opera Madama Butterfly,so those familliar with it know what is coming at the end .Sets and costumes look nice.Cast does a decent job.Good production and the final scene is very tragic.7/10

Simple put, I like the theme and the music, fantastic choreograph, scene setup. But the story will be boring as hell with out the character "engineer" a Pimp. the main characters are boring and way too easy to forget. you can watch haft way of the show and realize you can't remember their name.

I dont know, but I dont connect to this story as I do to les miserables (wich is by the same creators) despite that, I really fell in love (again) with the best parts, this Kim though she seems to been descended down from heaven or something so beautifull she'd sang, Eva Noblezada is her name I believe. She is also featured on the Grey-brown-ish broadway recording of Hadestown (wich is way intenser, btw)