Miss Saigon is a sung-through stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madama Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover. The setting of the plot is relocated to 1970s Saigon during the Vietnam War, and Madama Butterflys story of marriage between an American lieutenant and a geisha is replaced by a romance between a United States Marine and a seventeen-year-old South Vietnamese bargirl.
The musical premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 20 September 1989, closing after 4,092 performances on 30 October 1999. It opened on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre on April 11, 1991, with a record advance of over $39 million, and was later staged in many other cities and embarked on tours. Opening day ticket-sales for the 2014 London revival of more than £4m were said to set a world record.Miss Saigon breaks record for biggest single day of sales whatsonstage.com, Retrieved 24 January 2014 whatsonstage.com, Retrieved 24 January 2014
The musical was Schönberg and Boublil's second major success, following Les Misérables in 1985. As of January 2026, Miss Saigon remains Broadway's fifteenth longest-running show.
Background The musical was inspired by a photograph, which Schönberg found inadvertently in a magazine. It showed a Vietnamese mother leaving her child at a departure gate at Tan Son Nhut Air Base for the child to board an airplane headed for the United States where the child's father, an ex-G.I., would be in a position to provide a much better life for the child. Schönberg considered this mother's actions for her child to be "The Ultimate Sacrifice," an idea central to the plot of Miss Saigon.
Highlights of the show include the evacuation of the last Americans in Saigon from the Embassy roof by helicopter while a crowd of abandoned Vietnamese people screams in despair, the victory parade of the new communist regime, and the frenzied night club scene at the time of defeat.
Principal characters + Character Voice Type DescriptionKimMezzo-soprano E3–E5A seventeen-year-old Vietnamese girl, recently orphaned and forced to work at "Dreamland." She corresponds to Butterfly in the original opera.Chris ScottBaritenor A2–A4 (falsetto B4)An American Marine sergeant about to leave Saigon to return to America. He corresponds to Pinkerton.EngineerBaritone A2–A4The sleazy hustler and owner of "Dreamland." He is half-Vietnamese and half-French. He corresponds to Goro.EllenMezzo-soprano F3–E5Chris's American wife. She corresponds to Kate.John ThomasTenor A2–B4Chris's friend, also a Marine. He corresponds to Sharpless.ThuyTenor C3–B4Kim's cousin and betrothed, to whom Kim's parents promised her when the two were thirteen. Has since become an officer in the Communist Vietnamese government. He is a composite character, corresponding in part to both The Bonze and Prince Yamadori.Gigi Van Tranh Mezzo-soprano G3–E5A hardened Saigon stripper; initially voted as "Miss Saigon".TamSilentKim and Chris's three-year-old son. He corresponds to Dolore, or "Sorrow".
Synopsis
Act 1 In April 1975 at "Dreamland", a Saigon bar and brothel, shortly before the end of the Vietnam War, it is Kim's first day as a bargirl. The seventeen-year-old peasant girl is hauled in by the Engineer, a French-Vietnamese hustler who owns the joint. Backstage, the girls ready themselves for the night's show, jeering at Kim's inexperience ("Overture / Backstage Dreamland"). The U.S. Marines, aware that they will soon be leaving Vietnam, party with the Vietnamese sex workers ("The Heat Is on in Saigon"). Chris Scott, a sergeant disenchanted by the club scene, is encouraged by his friend John Thomas to go with a girl.
The girls compete for the title of "Miss Saigon", and the winner is raffled to a Marine. Kim's guilelessness strikes Chris. Gigi Van Tranh wins the crown for the evening and begs the marine who won the raffle to take her back to America, annoying him. The showgirls reflect on their dreams of a better life ("The Movie in My Mind"). John buys a room for Chris and the virgin Kim ("The Transaction"). Kim is reluctant and shy, but dances with Chris, who tries to pay her to leave the nightclub. When the Engineer interferes, thinking that Chris does not like Kim, Chris allows himself to be led to her room ("The Dance").
Chris, watching Kim sleep, asks God why he met her just as he was about to leave Vietnam ("Why, God, Why?"). When Kim wakes up, Chris tries to give her money, but she refuses, saying that it is her first time sleeping with a man ("This Money's Yours"). Touched to learn that Kim is an orphan, Chris offers to take her to America with him, and the two fall in love ("Sun and Moon"). Chris tells John that he is taking leave to spend time with Kim. John warns him that the Viet Cong will soon take Saigon, but then reluctantly agrees to cover for Chris ("The Telephone Song"). Chris meets with the Engineer to trade for Kim, but the Engineer tries to include an American visa in the deal. Threatening the Engineer at gunpoint, Chris forces him to honor the original arrangement for Kim ("The Deal").
The bargirls hold a "wedding ceremony" for Chris and Kim ("Dju Vui Vai"), with Gigi toasting Kim as the "real" Miss Saigon. Thuy, Kim's cousin, to whom she was betrothed at thirteen, arrives to take her home. He has since become an officer in the North Vietnamese Army and is disgusted to find her with a white man ("Thuy's Arrival"). The two men confront each other, drawing their firearms. Kim tells Thuy that their arranged marriage is now nullified because her parents are dead, and she no longer harbors any feelings for him because of his betrayal. Thuy curses them all and storms out ("What's This I Find?"). Chris promises to take Kim with him when he leaves Vietnam. Chris and Kim dance to the same song as on their first night ("Last Night of The World").
Three years later, in 1978, a street parade is taking place in Saigon (since renamed Ho Chi Minh City) to celebrate the third anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam and the defeat of the Americans ("The Morning of The Dragon"). Thuy, now a commissar in the new Communist government, has ordered his soldiers to look for the still-corrupt Engineer. For the Communist Party, he goes by the name "Tran Van Dinh" and has spent the past three years working in the rice fields as part of a re-education program. Thuy orders the Engineer to find Kim and bring her to him. Although the intervening period is not shown, it is apparent that Kim and Chris have become separated in the three year time jump. Kim has been hiding in an impoverished area, still in love with Chris and steadfastly believing that Chris will return to Vietnam and rescue her. Meanwhile, Chris is in bed with his new American wife, Ellen, when he wakes from a dream shouting Kim's name. Ellen and Kim both swear their devotion to Chris from opposite ends of the world ("I Still Believe").
The Engineer takes Thuy to where Kim has been hiding. Kim refuses Thuy's renewed offer of marriage, unaware that his men are waiting outside the door. Furious, Thuy calls them in and they begin tying up Kim and the Engineer, threatening to put them into a re-education camp ("Coo-Coo Princess"), before Thuy orders them out and allows the Engineer to leave. Again, Kim refuses to go with Thuy and shocks him by introducing Thuy to Tam, her three-year-old son from Chris. Thuy calls Kim a traitor and Tam an enemy, and tries to kill Tam with a knife, but Kim is forced to shoot Thuy to protect Tam ("You Will Not Touch Him"). Thuy dies as the street parade continues nearby ("This Is the Hour"), with Kim showing horror and heartbreak at her action, before fleeing with Tam.
The Engineer laments being born Vietnamese and wishes to go to the US ("If You Want to Die in Bed"). Kim tells the Engineer what she has done, and he learns that Tam's father is American ("Let Me See His Western Nose") – thinking the boy is his chance to emigrate to the United States. He tells Kim that now he is the boy's uncle, and he will lead them to Bangkok. As Kim swears to Tam that she would do anything to give him a better life, the three set out on a ship with other refugees ("I'd Give My Life for You").
Act 2 In Atlanta, Georgia, John now works for an aid organization whose mission is to connect Bui-Doi (from Vietnamese trẻ bụi đời "street children," meaning children conceived during the war) with their American fathers ("Bui Doi"). John tells Chris that Kim is still alive, which Chris is relieved to hear after years of having nightmares of her dying. He also tells Chris about Tam and urges Chris to go to Bangkok with Ellen, and Chris then finally tells Ellen about Kim and Tam ("The Revelation"). In Bangkok, the Engineer is hawking a sleazy club where Kim works as a dancer ("What A Waste"). Chris, Ellen, and John arrive in search of Kim. John finds Kim dancing at the club and tells her that Chris is also in Bangkok. He then tries to tell her that Chris is remarried, but Kim interrupts. She is thrilled about the news and tells Tam that his father has arrived, believing that they are to go to America with Chris. Seeing Kim happy, John cannot bring himself to break the news to her but promises to bring Chris to her ("Please").
The Engineer tells Kim to find Chris herself because he doubts that Chris will come ("Chris Is Here"). Kim is haunted by the ghost of Thuy, who taunts Kim, claiming that Chris will betray her as he did the night Saigon fell. Kim suffers a horrible flashback to that night ("Kim's Nightmare").
In the nightmare and flashback to 1975, Kim remembers the Viet Cong approaching Saigon. As the city becomes increasingly chaotic, Chris is called to the embassy and leaves his gun with Kim, telling her to pack. When Chris enters the embassy, the gates close, as orders arrive from Washington for an immediate evacuation of the remaining Americans. The Ambassador orders that no more Vietnamese be allowed into the Embassy. Kim reaches the gates of the Embassy, one in a crowd of terrified Vietnamese trying to enter. Chris calls to Kim and is about to go into the crowd to look for her. John is eventually forced to punch Chris in the face to stop him from leaving. Chris is put into the last helicopter leaving Saigon as Kim watches from outside, still pledging her love to him ("The Fall of Saigon").
Back in 1978 Bangkok, Kim joyfully dresses in her wedding clothes ("Sun and Moon [Reprise]") and leaves the Engineer to watch Tam while she is gone. She goes to Chris's hotel room, where she finds Ellen. Ellen reveals that she is Chris's wife. While Kim is heartbroken and initially in denial about the truth, she soon confirms to Ellen that Tam is Chris's son, and says that she does not want her son to continue living on the streets, pleading that they take Tam with them back to America, but Ellen refuses, saying that Tam needs his real mother, and Ellen wants her own children with Chris. Kim angrily demands that Chris tell her these things in person, and runs out of the room ("Room 317"). Ellen feels bad for Kim, but is determined to keep Chris ("Now That I've Seen Her/Maybe").