Featuring a real helicopter and an 18 foot statue of Ho Chi Minh, it's the biggest musical ever to be performed on these shores. Miss Saigon, the epic love story of a young Vietnamese bar girl and an American GI, opened in The Point in Dublin last night and the stars were out in force.
Well, there was the usual posse of Fair City actors anyway. The opening night veterans stood looking glamorous in the corner of the sweltering VIP enclosure which smelt like a perfume factory.
And Michael Colgan, director of the Gate Theatre, who prefers straight theatre to musicals, had come along too. "Maybe I'll start doing musicals at the Gate," he mused. With bad summer weather, business is booming at theatre box offices across the city.
Waiting patiently outside for the doors to open were the family of Robert Vicencio who plays one of the lead roles, the Vietnamese General Thieu, in the musical that's set in 1975. Generous Robert has a habit of flying his parents Rene and Doris and his sister Elaine (13) to first nights from their home in Australia. "We have seen him in London, Hong Kong and Sydney. We are very proud of him," said Rene.
Some 500 invited guests sipped wine before the curtain went up. Producer Cameron Mackintosh was about somewhere but was keeping a low profile until the interval.
Pat Kenny and his wife Cathy looked tanned, fresh from a holiday in Portugal. Other guests included the PDs' Liz O'Donnell, Norma Smurfit, singer Paul Brady and the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey.