Making a scene

When people hear about Miss Saigon, they always ask about the helicopter, one of the most spectacular special effects in musical theatre.

Someone even thought the Regent Theatre roof was coming off to enable the helicopter to land.

Not so, says director Stephen Robertson with a laugh - although it was a huge challenge for the team of engineers, mechanists, theatre people and designers to create the mechanism for the helicopter that, in the show, evacuates the Americans from their embassy in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.

It is only on stage for about a minute but it's all lit up and is such a blow-away effect, he says.

While the long-running professional productions overseas had the mechanism to lift the helicopter built into their theatres, here the hydraulic arm had to be able to work in eight different theatres around the country.

The sets, costumes and props were built in Christchurch three years ago by a consortium of New Zealand musical theatre societies. This production by Dunedin Operatic is the seventh of the series, and the third directed by Mr Robertson.

It is one of his favourite musicals, he says.

"The story and characters are based on reality, and it's set in the late '70s. The music is special, and the emotional content - I like doing shows about real people and real emotion and the visual element for me is important."

By Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (creators of Les Miserables), Miss Saigon tells a story typical of the Vietnam War - and somewhat similar to that of the opera Madama Butterfly.

Chris, an American marine stationed in Saigon, falls in love with Kim, a Vietnamese girl, and promises her a better life in America. He gets permission to take her out of the country but in the chaos of the evacuation they are separated and he is forced into the helicopter, leaving her behind.

Three years later, he finds out Kim is working as a bar girl in Bangkok to support their child. He goes to find her, and she thinks he's come to take her away, not realising he has married an American girl.

When she finds out, she decides to end her life, leaving the child in the care of Chris and his wife.

"It has a tragic ending. She lives for the child and her strength comes from the child, and all she's wanting is a better life for the child, so it's self-sacrifice," Mr Robertson said.

The chorus in the musical is made up of Vietnamese and Thai people, played by locals of Asian descent.

"I made it clear when I was first casting the show I wanted Asians playing Asians. The audience have to believe what they are seeing as well. If we are representing real people and real time, then it has to be as legitimate as possible.

"Otherwise you are not going on the journey with the characters, you are just going to be watching a stage show and I think Miss Saigon is more than that. You believe what you are seeing and you get totally involved in the story," he said.