A riveting holiday treat as Miss Saigon Returns to Oxford after twenty years

Miss Saigon’s return to Oxford was nothing short of a triumph: a production that delivered spectacle, emotion and unforgettable performances in equal measure.

After more than twenty years away from the city, one of the world’s most renowned musicals has finally returned to Oxford — and it has done so in spectacular fashion. Miss Saigon, the landmark production by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, played at New Theatre Oxford from Tuesday, 16 December 2025 to Saturday, 03 January 2026, marking a long-awaited homecoming for a show whose scale and ambition had previously outgrown the venue.

When Miss Saigon last visited Oxford in 2004, the production had to be significantly reduced to accommodate the theatre’s limitations. For many, that meant never fully experiencing the vast visual and emotional impact that has defined the musical worldwide. This time, there were no compromises. The production arrived in its complete, fully realised form, including the legendary helicopter sequence that has become one of musical theatre’s most iconic moments — and seeing it live in Oxford felt nothing short of extraordinary.

Set against the final days of the Vietnam War, Miss Saigon tells the story of 17-year-old Kim, a young Vietnamese woman forced to work in a Saigon bar run by the notorious Engineer. There, she meets Chris, an American GI, and the two fall in love amid the chaos of a city on the brink of collapse. When the fall of Saigon tears them apart, Kim embarks on an epic journey of survival and sacrifice, determined to find her way back to Chris — unaware that he has returned to America, never knowing he has fathered a son. Inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, the musical confronts themes of love, loss, power, and the devastating human cost of war.

I had been looking forward to this production for quite some time. New Theatre Oxford has a habit of announcing its festive shows early, and Miss Saigon had been quietly anticipated for months. While Christmas theatre often leans towards pantomime and tradition, this felt like a deliberate and welcome alternative — a festive offering with emotional weight and dramatic substance.

From the moment the curtain rose, the production commanded attention. The streets of Saigon pulsed with energy, brought vividly to life by a powerful ensemble whose precision and physicality grounded the story in constant motion. Sweeping backdrops and cinematic staging created a world that felt expansive yet intensely personal. The contrast between chaos and intimacy was handled with remarkable finesse.

Visually, the production was stunning throughout, but the scenes set in Bangkok were particularly striking. Bursting with colour, movement and excess, these moments dazzled the eye while underscoring the show’s darker themes. And then there was the helicopter scene. Long discussed, often mythologised, it proved to be genuinely surreal in the theatre — overwhelming in sound, scale and emotion. Even knowing it was coming did nothing to dull its impact; it remains a breathtaking feat of theatrical storytelling.

For readers less familiar with the production, I’ve included a small selection of images at the end of this review — not from this specific staging, but chosen to give a sense of the visual language, scale and atmosphere that Miss Saigon is known for, and to offer a flavour of what audiences can expect from this epic musical.

At the heart of the production was a compelling cast, led by Seann Miley Moore as the Engineer. Having reprised the role across an international tour, Moore brought a magnetic, unpredictable energy to the character, balancing menace with dark humour. Their performance reached a thrilling peak in “The American Dream” — a blistering, satirical number that was delivered with razor-sharp precision and commanding presence. It was both entertaining and deeply unsettling, offering a biting critique wrapped in show-stopping theatricality.

Opposite Moore, Julianne Pundan made an extraordinary professional debut as Kim. Her performance was anchored by powerful, emotionally resonant vocals that carried remarkable clarity and depth. There was a sincerity to her delivery that cut straight through the spectacle, particularly in the show’s quieter moments, grounding the epic narrative in raw human emotion. It was a performance that suggested a major talent at the very beginning of what promises to be a remarkable career.

The wider cast added further strength and texture, with Jack Kane offering a conflicted, introspective Chris, Dom Hartley-Harris bringing authority and warmth as John, Emily Langham delivering emotional restraint as Ellen, and Mikko Juan providing a simmering intensity as Thuy. Together, they formed a richly layered ensemble that ensured no moment felt underplayed or incidental.

Musically, Miss Saigon remains as powerful as ever. Schönberg’s soaring score, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr., seamlessly balanced grand spectacle with intimate storytelling. Iconic songs such as “The Heat Is On in Saigon”, “The Movie in My Mind”, and “Last Night of the World” resonated deeply, while ensemble numbers surged with urgency and emotion. Even amid large-scale staging and technical brilliance, the music never lost sight of the characters’ inner lives, allowing heartbreak and hope to coexist in every note.

Perhaps what Miss Saigon ultimately achieved most effectively was reminding me that Christmas is about more than turkey and tinsel. At its heart, the festive season is about love, sacrifice, and human connection — and in that respect, this production hit the mark with remarkable precision. It offered a powerful, thought-provoking alternative to traditional seasonal fare, proving that Christmas theatre can be both celebratory and profoundly moving.

Miss Saigon’s return to Oxford was nothing short of a triumph: a production that delivered spectacle, emotion and unforgettable performances in equal measure. And true to form, New Theatre Oxford has already announced its festive show for next year, with Annie set to run from Tuesday, 15 December 2026 to Saturday, 03 January 2027, and tickets are already on sale. If this year’s offering is anything to go by, planning ahead is not just advisable — it’s essential.