Miss Saigon Programme

St John’s School Presents

Tuesday 29 June to Friday 2 July 2021

St John’s School, Leatherhead Presents MISS SAIGON® SCHOOL EDITION Performed entirely by students Music by CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHONBERG Lyrics by RICHARD MALTBY JR and ALAIN BOUBLIL Adapted from the original French lyrics by ALAIN BOUBLIL Additional material by RICHARD MALTBY JR Orchestrations by WILLIAM DAVID BROHN Original Stage Production by CAMERON MACKINTOSH School Edition special adaptation licensed by MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL and CAMERON MACKINTOSH LIMITED

DIRECTOR’S NOTE In every dramatic storytelling there is a back drop, whether that be the future, another planet or another country. The enduringly popular hit, Miss Saigon, travels the world, gives snapshots of history and is accompanied by a fabulously powerful score. When staging it at St John’s, one thing only was at the forefront of my mind. This is a story about love; love at first sight and that ‘thunderbolt’ moment, the sacrifices one will do for love and most significantly the love that a mother has for her child.

It is this all consuming parental care and love that drives the motor of this world-famous musical and provides an emotional rollercoaster of a ride.

The Performing Arts Department is enormously proud of all the pupils involved in this production, from those backstage to those in the limelight.

Their enthusiasm and diligence has overcome every obstacle thrown at them, whether it is rehearsing in masks, lockdowns threatening to cancel performances or completely restaging to make sure that they are in shot of the camera! We hope that all their fabulous work provides you with an amazing evening’s entertainment and fabulous memories for all those involved.

I would personally like to thank all the staff in the department for working cohesively to help stage this production and particularly to Ms Thyne, whose unstinting support and technical knowledge has made this musical possible.

Ollie White Director of Performing Arts

CAST L Kim

Hannah Sheppard

Chris

Will Simpson

France

Engineer

Tommy Haines

Will B

John

Josh Philips

Jess B

Ellen

Daisy Murray

Rosie

Zoe Donaldson

Ella B

Thuy

Harry Threapleton

Willia

Gigi

Poppy Parfitt

Lizzie

Georgie Philpott

Katie

Mimi

Lucy Dwan

Zoe Do

Yvette

Talia Slatter

Lucy D

Yvonne

Lizzie Connick

Leah F

Assistant Commissar

Luke Knowles

Katy H

Featured Soldiers

Kitty Beaumont

Emilij

Rosie Brickwood Emilija Harman Tajah Nair Featured Roles

Will Smith Jack Sumpter Oliver Timpson

American Dream Dancers

Isla McDonald Will Smith

Ensemble

Kitty

Kate H

Izzy H Tilly Grace

Susann

Luke K

Freddi

Ruby L Freya

George

Christ Tajah Poppy

Ella P

LIST Beaumont

Alexandra Pearce

esca Beech

Georgie Philpott

Bennet

Talia Slatter

Brentnall

Will Smith

Brickwood

Bromfield

am Churchill

e Connick Denyer

onaldson

Dwan

Fitzpatrick

Hardy

ja Harman

Hewson

Hilton Hunt Kielstra

Zoe Spanswick Jack Sumpter Oliver Timpson Alice Tobin Tati Tresider Katherine Vann Emilia Ward Esther Winklehner Lydia Woodhouse Izzy Wright

CREW Director & MD

Oliver White

nah Klein

AD & Production Manager

Eloise Thyne

Knowles

Repetitors

Sophia Dee

ie Lamy

Lavelle Locke

e Moore

ty Moore Nair Parfitt

Parfitt

Jamie Conway Choreographer

Becky Herszenhorn

Production Assistant

Emily Winterbottom

Pupil violinist included in professional band

Jimena Rodriguez Foronda

Technical Support

Dan Smith Pleasure Khathi

Set supplied by Scenic Projects Costume supplied by Thespis Theatrical Costumiers and Surrey Arts Wardrobe

Miss Saigon: problematic Hannah Sheppard

SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE VIETNAM WAR The Vietnam War (1954-73) The Second Indochina War (commonly referred to as the Vietnam War) was provoked by the American fear of the domino effect, that communism would spread exponentially faster the more countries employed the ideology. The United States and other members of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) joined the efforts of the Republic of South Vietnam in opposing South Vietnamese communist forces: the Viet Cong (VC), and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The USA’s failure to achieve military victory, the agenda behind their participation, and the conduct of American forces during the war all created immense contention, which resulted in anti-war protests in America, and ultimately America’s withdrawal from it in 1973.

French influences in the musical The Vietnam War, as it is now known from an Anglo-American perspective or The American War from a Vietnamese perspective, was in fact the Second Indochina War. The first (from 1946-1954) was between France, who claimed Vietnam as a colony in the 1800s, and the Viet Minh. Minh was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who became Prime Minister and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Viet Minh led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule.

Post American influenc After American presenc been withdrawn in 1973 of the war began betwe Vietnam. The war ended communist victory.

THE LOTUS BLOSSOM/DRAG

“In western media, As usually either portray feminine, and sexually Blossoms/China dolls’ cunning ‘Dragon Ladies sexuality as a weapon.

McDonough

The book Madame Butter author John Long (writ credit for being the i Miss Saigon, having in which ultimately laid for the musical we hav Blossom stereotype is in this book; an Ameri a Japanese bride while isolating her from her before leaving her. Sh fails, and is left in son. In the opera, her successful, and her so American officer.

The overarching theme fetishisation of perce subservience and purit dispensability of the

One can see how these transpired and filtere

c/controversial themes

ce: ce in Vietnam had 3, a two year phase een North and South d in North Vietnamese

GON LADY COMPLEX

sian women are yed as submissive, y compliant ‘Lotus or as dangerous, s’ who use their .” - Samantha Anne

rfly by American tten in 1898) is to inspiration behind ncited an opera the groundwork ve now.The Lotus heavily played on ican officer takes e there for work, r culture and family, he attempts suicide, Japan with their r suicide attempt is on goes home with the

here is the eived female Asian ty, as well as the ‘wife’ character.

themes have ed through into Miss

Saigon. The musical is often criticised for the speed and totality with which Kim becomes infatuated with Chris and after his return to the USA, relies entirely on her memory of him and her hope of rescue.

Her youth, also, is often criticised for playing into the western infantilisation of these Lotus Blossom characters and Asian women generally. It romanticises her experiences of prostitution and, ultimately, the musical’s denouement and places her into a dependency on Chris, playing into the Lotus Blossom trope where she relies on his protection. Furthermore, the text constructs a white saviour narrative in which Chris can still be good and even a hero in his guilt and desire to help her, despite his questionable behaviour.

THE WEDDING SCENE A key scene which shows the writer’s cultural insensitivity is the wedding scene and is often the first to be subjected to questions. The words of the song, sound in this scene, to the untrained ear, to be Vietnamese and the song is presented as a traditional wedding song for women to sing. This is, however, completely inaccurate. The words are, in fact, merely phonetic replications of what the writer perceived the language to sound like, after, it is said, a trip to a Vietnamese restaurant. This reductive approach to cultural representation has become increasingly problematic for modern audiences.

‘BUI DOI’ AND THE GLORIFICATION OF AMERICA “Bui Doi” translates into ‘children of dust’ or ‘dust of life’. Initially, the phrase referred to starving people taking refuge in towns in the 1930s. In the show, the phrase refers to the children born to American soldiers and Vietnamese women.

More than 3,000 Vietnamese orphans were evacuated from Vietnam in the chaotic final days of war. The lives of the rest changed with the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1987, which allowed 21,000 Amerasians and more than 55,000 family members to settle in the United States.

promised land portraya communist, pro-western where those subjected presence should be gra influence and the hope represent.

The play’s American so women appallingly and their country only to ideological agenda, ye heroes. Gigi sings of in the same breath, wi so she can escape the has found herself.

RECENT VIOLENCE AGAINS There were still an estimated 50,000 children with American fathers and Vietnamese mothers left behind.

Bui Doi have been continued to be connected, now through DNA testing technology, to their biological fathers.

Bui Doi even became ‘golden children’, being used by wealthy Vietnamese couples to get into America.

In the musical, Kim, like her fellow bar girls, longs for her son (a ‘Bui Doi’) to grow up in America, “a place where life still has worth,” – unlike as the play insinuates, Vietnam, a country in which his life is ‘worthless’, a very proAmerica anti-Vietnam sentiment.

American, or western, stories often have this self-celebratory undertone.

Though the play openly criticises America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, highlighting the destruction and pain they caused, there is still an intense glorification of a notion of a better life in America, which many of the characters spend the entire play pining after. This

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ canada-56218684 The impact of negative representation and the Asian countries is a s for the SJS production been a “surge in abuse Americans since the st a year ago. “From bein verbally harassed to i assault, there have be reported cases in rece survey found that 8 in say anti-Asian violenc rising.

Advocates and activist hate crimes, often lin that blames Asian peop of Covid-19. The UK’s similar story, though been discussed far les the pond. The number o crimes reported to pol tripled at the start o but campaigners and po unreported.

al is tied to antinisation rhetoric, to western military ateful for its e it is seen to

oldiers treat these have torn apart assert their own et somehow remain their cruelty yet, ishes to be married hell in which she

ST ASIANS

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e cultural e homogenisation of significant context n today. There has e” against Asian tart of the pandemic ng spat on and incidents of physical een thousands of ent months.” A recent n 10 Asian Americans ce against them is

ts say these are nked to rhetoric ple for the spread statistics tell a it seems to have ss than across of anti-Asian hate lice in London alone of the pandemic, olice agree many go

JONATHAN PRYCE AS THE ENGINEER The original London cast of Miss Saigon was immensely successful in their first run and the Broadway run of the show in 1989. Lea Salonga, the original Kim, who later became the voice of not one, but two Disney princesses, went on to enjoy a varied and incredibly successful career in the performing arts. The original casting of the Engineer, however, has, since this initial run, garnered much criticism for its cultural insensitivity, having caused much offence in the choices made regarding Jonathan Pryce’s casting and costuming. Not of Asian descent, he played a French-Vietnamese character, an in itself contested decision;he retained the role only because of his star status after heavy public questioning of this choice had placed the casting decision under fire. The true salt in the wound, however, was during his London run, where he wore eye prosthetics to alter his appearance into what were perceived to be more ‘Asian’ features. This was barred when the show moved to Broadway because of its deeply offensive nature and the engineer was then played by Jon Jon Briones, a Filipino-American actor, in the 2014 revival of the show.

WITH THANKS TO The band, Steph Turner, Clive Freeman, Tim Woolveridge, Alice Anderson, Joanna Gray, Gareth James, Chris Williams, Ashley Currie, Jane Clarkson.

Marketing, Catering, Operations, Reprographics and IT departments.

And to all staff who have assisted backstage

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