MISS SAIGON
Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr.
The last helicopter lifts off from the U.S. embassy roof and sways, almost tauntingly, in midair. The blast from its rotors flutters the now useless documents of the South Vietnamese, crushed against the gates, who were promised escape but are being left behind. Imbued by the occupying forces with the American Dream, they are abandoned to a nightmare retribution. That harrowing image from the newsreel of the mind not only inspired London's biggest new musical but is actually re-created onstage. While special effects generally promote escapism rather...