Musical Context and Meaning in “Miss Saigon”

Jessica Black

History of Musical Theatre

Dr. Armstrong

Musical Context and Meaning

In 1986, Miss Saigon started to become a reality for Boublil and Schonberg. 1986 offered top artists such as Dionne Warwick, The Bangles, Bon Jovi, Huey Lewis, Prince, Madonna, and the list goes on. With this in mind, one can ask where does Miss Saigon fit in. Although the music is a blend of two worlds that include a full orchestra and an assortment of instruments from the Orient, all of the songs had pop versions and the creators intended on having pop stars sing at least some of the score. With a lot of money and time invested in what was to be a series of pop hits, Cameron Mackintosh stepped in and ended the cliched pop album because Miss Saigon had grown away from the mainstream. From the plot grew historical importance and the fear of pop music belittling the importance became an issue. From there the show’s music would only live inside the show and would attempt not to reflect the redundancy of the top 40 charts.

Miss Saigon is designed to appeal to a modern audience and transport them to the past which is the purpose of the variety of ethnic instruments not found in pop music of the late 80’s. These specialty sounds included a moon guitar from Vietnam, sounds from Indonesia, a three-stringed guitar from Japan, and the Japanese bamboo flute; all instruments not commonly found in a Bon Jovi or Whitney Houston song. The show’s purpose was not just to appease to a pop culture, but to send them to Vietnam via music. Nicholas Hytner, director of Miss Saigon, refers to the show as a pop opera, but lays more emphasis on the word opera in which he states that the show is pitched high emotionally from beginning to end. He feels in this sense Miss Saigon compares favorably with Madame Butterfly although the plot has taken on a historical importance that outweighs the latter.

The emergence of two cultures in the music of Miss Saigon allows the smaller love story to emerge with the grander epic plot of the Vietnam War. I feel the show has heavy pop undertones and think that the first song “The Heat is on in Saigon” uses a fast pace rock and roll tune to wheel the audience in and this recurs throughout the show with a subconscious effort to keep audiences in tuned. With the rock and roll undertones and the operatic overtones plus the jazzy ballads, this concurs with Hytner’s stating that it is a rock opera. The steadily growing popularity of the “Megamusical” and the epic topic that had failed prior to Miss Saigon introduced the audience to a new version of musical theater with a lot of assistance from the mystery of the Orient performed by an array of ethnic instruments. The major social accomplishment of this show was bringing the Vietnam War out of the dark depths of the human soul and serving it to a welcoming audience on a historical platter. The years following Vietnam would have scattered attempts at recapturing the war in a world that was not ready for reenactment, but Miss Saigon incorporated a love story and gave insight to life off of the battle field, but intertwined the complexities of the heart and emotions that occurred during these dark years. Miss Saigon creators also allowed the remaining dust to settle before leaping into the project full force. They also brought in Richard Maltby for American insight and as he pointed out, the success of the movie “Platoon” in 1986 also signified that Americans were prepared to finally deal with this particular tragedy. The recent success of the movie Titanic used the same effect of a love story in portraying the larger picture of tragedy including a highly tragic ending for the main stars as well as the tragic historical ending.

The music of Miss Saigon caters to the meaning of each song from love ballads to dramatic victory marches. The music and lyrics serve the purpose of portraying a love story, but the grand effects of the orchestra emphasize the greater tragedy at hand which is death and destruction (social, mental, and physical) through the art of war. The music allows the audience to hear past the improbable love connection and face the impossibilities of life and love in disastrous times. The darker ballads such as “The Sacred Bird” have dual meanings and portray life without love as well as the chaotic confusion of placement after war. The many songs with double meaning exist in order to reach the audience on two topical levels, but primarily to bring everything full circle and associate darkness, emotional failure, and absence of compassion to war and politics.