Short North Stage is never one to back down from a challenge. At the end of every season, the Columbus theatre group asks its audience what shows it would like to see the following season.
Every year, at least one joker wrote down MISS SAIGON, thinking it would be nearly impossible for SNS to perform a show that requires a helicopter to land on stage.
The key word here is nearly.
Co-Directors Chari Arespacochaga and Edward Carignan and associate director and choreographer Cindy Tomm deliver a breath-taking production of the Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil epic update of Madam Butterfly. Impressive engineering, strong casting, and meticulous detail elevate Miss Saigon to a new level. Missing this show during its March 19-April 19 run at the Garden Theatre (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus) would be a big mistake.
To start with, let’s explore the elephant, or rather the helicopter, in the room. The evacuation of the American Embassy scene is crucial to MISS SAIGON, a love story set in the middle of the Vietnam War. The fear was any attempt to replicate the sequence might result in something:
- hokey (picture a model of a Bell UH1-1 Huey being dangled by a fishing line);
- distracting (gigantic drones hovering over the set);
- or merely symbolic (projections of news footage on a screen).
Without giving too much away, Carignan, scenic designer Seth Howard, and projection designer Becca Schall create something that silences any naysayer. The scene feels raw, realistic, and resonant.
If anything, the production’s ambition occasionally risks overshadowing its quieter moments—but the cast consistently pulls the focus back to the human story. More people leaving the theater were talking about the actors’ performances than the helicopter.
Lucy Alo Acuna (Kim) and Corbin Payne (Chris) provide the heart of the musical as the star-crossed lovers, who fall in love, get married, become pregnant, and are separated -- in three days. Acuna captures the innocence and the grit of a 17-year-old trying to do whatever she can to survive in a war-torn country. Payne handles a very complex role, capturing a Marine hardened by Saigon’s decadence, only to be undone when he falls for Kim. Both actors have outstanding solo moments, but they are strongest in duets like “Sun and Moon” and “Last Night of the World.”
Eymard Cabling’s run at the Short North Stage marks the fifth time he has starred as the Engineer and the 12th production he has been in of MISS SAIGON. Yet, Cabling seems to find new ways of reinventing the “antihero” of the show. Instead of portraying the Engineer as a sleazy strip club owner/pimp, Cabling makes his character a profiteer who will do whatever he can to survive.
Naturally, every war story is based on conflict. Sarah Chelli (Ellen), Jordan Young (Thuy), and Jay Owens (John) create tension in the show. Ellen doesn’t surface until late in the first act, but Chelli adds depth as the woman who helps Chris heal upon his return to the United States. Her split stage duet with Kim on “I Still Believe” and the confrontation between the two when they first meet are among the show’s highlights.
After being comic relief in previous SNS shows Legally Blonde and Waitress, Young adds a double-bladed edge to Thuy, who was promised to Kim and vows revenge when he finds her with Chris. Owens’ John has one of the biggest character arcs in the show, pushing Kim and Chris together at the beginning of MISS SAIGON and bringing the estranged couple back together at the end of it.
In a show like Miss Saigon, the tiniest of details matter. The opening scene of a teenager discovering his father’s old military footlocker is interesting, but the case goes on to play an instrumental role throughout the show. At another point, banners of Ho Chi Minh drop from the rafters to symbolize Saigon’s fall to the communist regime. Later those banners are replaced by the stars and stripes as the Engineer describes his dreams of setting up shop in America.
Sometimes the show’s best parts happen without a sound. John realizes not everyone agrees with his pleas for the “Bui-Doi,” the Vietnamese children the GIs left behind. One of the vets becomes agitated and storms out of the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. It is such a small but powerful moment.
MISS SAIGON is Short North Stage storytelling at its finest – poignant, powerful, and spectacular. It makes one wonder what the theater company will do for an encore. Who knows? Maybe some joker will suggest THE LION KING or THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
Photo Credit: Buzz Crisafulli
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