Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg

Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. & Alain Boublil

Adapted from Original French Lyrics by Alain Boublil unless otherwise indicated

ACT ONE

SAIGON - APRIL 1975

It is a Friday night in Saigon, shortly before the fall of the city and the final withdrawal of the last of the American troops from Vietnam. At a sleazy after hours club called Dreamland, owned by a notorious Eurasian wheeler-dealer know as "The Engineer", Vietnamese bar-girls are preparing for the night's 'contest' which will see one of them win the title of Miss Saigon - and in turn become the prize in the evening's raffle. The Engineer is marshalling the proceedings, urging the girls to go out front and hustle for him and themselves. It is the only way they have to earn enough money to survive and maybe even get a passport out of the country before the city falls. tonight he is granting a debut to a young virgin, Kim, "fresh from the country".

The club is packed with American marines, civilians and South Vietnamese officers. Among them are two G.I's, Chris and John, out to get drunk, laid, or both. Chris sees Kim and is instantly taken by her. The contest is won by Gigi, and she is won in turn by one of the marines (The Heat Is On In Saigon).

As the action freezes on stage, Gigi is joined my all the other girls who fantasize about finding a G.I. who will take them away to their dream life in America, far from this sordid nightclub and far from the impending disaster which will fall in on the city when the North Vietnamese army reach Saigon (The Movie In My Mind).

John tries to cheer Chris up by buying Kim's services for the night from the Engineer for his reluctant friend. After a tentative meeting they eventually dance together and Kim quickly takes Chris out of the club and into her tiny bare room. Later that night, with Kim soundly asleep but the city still bustling outside the small window, Chris reflects on his confused feelings. He leaves some money for Kim, and goes out onto the street. There, he is accosted by locals who beg him to help them leave the country. He returns to the room, and, looking at Kim for the last time, realises that she will now forever be his best memory of the place (Why God Why).

Kim awakes as Chris is about to leave the room. She refuses the money Chris has left and goes to tell him exactly how she came to be here. Chris decides on the spot that he wants to spend his last days in Saigon with her (Sun And Moon).

The next day, Chris phones John to tell him his news: he's moving in with Kim, and they are going to spend the next 48 hours together. John is horrified; events have snowballed and Saigon is on the brink of invasion by the North Vietnamese army.

To make his honeymoon work, Chris still has to strike a deal with the Engineer to release Kim from her duties at the club.

The bar girls help Kim to move into a new room that she will share with Chris. A shrine is set up for the occasion, and the girls and Kim sing the Vietnamese words traditionally used to celebrate weddings. The festivities are interrupted by Kim's cousin, a man whom she had been promised when she was just 13, and who is now and officer in the North Vietnamese army. Chris protects her and sends Thuy away. Then he takes her in his arms and proposes to take her to America (The Last Night Of The World).

HO CHI MINH CITY - APRIL 1978

The action moves forward three years. Saigon has been renamed Ho Chi Minh City, and the victory of North Vietnam and the third anniversary of reunification is being celebrated in a street pageant.

Kim is in a small room that she shares with a number of other Vietnamese. In the early morning, she sings about the GI that she still believes will one day come back for her. But Chris, who now believes Kim is dead, is back home on the other side of the world, asleep in his bed and haunted by nightmares. Next to him is Ellen, his wife. She, too sings of her hopes - that he'll finally leave whatever is troubling him (I Still Believe).

The Engineer returns to Ho Chi Minh City from a re-education camp. Thuy, now the people's commissar, has offered him his freedom if he finds Kim. The Engineer leads Thuy to her, but again she rejects his love because she is sworn to Chris. Thuy orders his soldiers to wreck the room, and beat up the Engineer. Kim reveals to Thuy that she has a three-year old son, Tam, by Chris; when Thuy tries to kill the boy with a knife, Kim pulls out a gun and is forced to shoot Thuy and runs away with Tam.

When the soldiers discover that Thuy has been murdered, all hell breaks loose, and the Engineer takes his opportunity to escape making his way back to his hideout in the abandoned backroom of what was once "Dreamland". He collects his few treasured possessions together and prepares to join the boat people and escape from his war-torn country (If You Want To Die In Bed).

Kim and Tam burst in on the Engineer and tell him what has happened to Thuy, and she asks for help to leave the country. When the Engineer realises that Tam is the son of a marine, he sees him as a route to freedom for them.

Transported by the belief that the long-awaited reunion of her family will at last take place. Kim sings to Tam, telling him that she will do anything for him, even to the ultimate sacrifice. They join the 'boat people' to leave the country (I'd Give My Life For You).

ACT TWO

ATLANTA - SEPTEMBER 1978

John is now working for an agency that deals with the problems of children born to Vietnamese women and now absent American fathers, and is addressing a conference in Atlanta attended by Chris and Ellen (Bui-Doi).

After his address, John tells Chris that his staff in Bangkok have found Kim alive and working there. He also tells Chris of the child he has fathered.

BANGKOK - OCTOBER 1978

In a street in the sleazy district of Pat pong, the Engineer is seen hustling for customers with his rivals outside a nightclub called Le Moulin Rouge.

John finds Kim is also working there as a bar girl, and tells her that Chris is with him in Bangkok. As she shows him tam and expresses her undying love for Chris. John is unable to tell her that Chris is already married, and can only promise to send Chris to see her.

Kim is confronted by Thuy's ghost who reminds her not only of her guilt but draws her into the memories which continually haunt her of the devastating fall of Saigon, when she and Chris were separated, and, with a huge crowd of Vietnamese pushing at the Embassy gates, she failed to get past the guards and saw the last helicopter take off without her and with Chris onboard.

The Engineer, who doesn't trust Chris or John, finds the address of the hotel where they are staying, and Kim runs to find Chris: at the same time, Chris and John are traveling through the city to find her. When Kim arrives she is mistaken for the maid by Ellen. On learning the truth, Kim is distraught and urges Ellen to take Tam with back to America with her, but she refuses.

After Kim leaves, Ellen determines to fight for Chris (Now That I've Seen Her). Ellen tells Chris and John what has happened when they return, and despite Kim's wish to see Chris alone they both decide to go to persuade her to stay in Bankbook where they intend to support her and the child.

Kim returns to the club and lies to the Engineer, telling him that Chris will arrive later that evening to take them all to America. The Engineer finally believes his dreams will come true, and fantasizes about his inevitable success manipulating the American Dream to his own ends (The American Dream).

Meanwhile, Kim has already decided to sacrifice her own life so that her son can have a future in America with his father just as she promised before. As Chris arrives with Ellen and John, she disappears into her bedroom. A gun shot rings out and her body falls to the floor. A distraught Chris runs in and holds her in his arms for one last time as the curtain falls.

AMERICANS
The heat is on in Saigon.
The girls are hotter 'n hell.
One of these slits here will be Miss Saigon.
God, the tension is high, not to mention the smell.
The heat is on in Saigon.
Is there a war going on?
Don't ask.
I ain't gonna tell.

ENGINEER
Ah monsieur Chris, monsieur John
you've come to win Miss Saigon.

JOHN
I gotta get my friend laid as a last souvenir.

CHRIS
I love you pal but your bullshit I've had up to here.

JOHN, CHRIS & ENGINEER
The heat is on in Saigon.

JOHN
But 'til they tell us we're gone.
I'm gonna buy you a girl.

CHRIS
You can buy me a beer.

KIM
I'm seventeen and I'm new here today.
The village I come from seems so far away.
All of the girls know much more what to say.

But I know I have a heart like the sea.
A million dreams are in me.

CHRIS
Good Jesus, John, who is she?

AMERICANS
The Cong is tight'ning the noose.
Is it a week or a day or an hour that we got.
Tonight could be our last shot.
Got to put it to use.

AMERICANS & GIRLS
Tonight I bet that you and I will get along.
Forget about the threat, forget the Viet Cong.

AMERICANS
Mimi, Gigi, Yvette or Yvonne.
Gonna buy me a beer and elect Miss Saigon.

The heat is on in Saigon
and things are not going well.
But still at midnight the party goes on,
a goodbye party in hell.

GIGI
They are not nice, they're mostly noise.
They swear like men, they screw like boys.
I know there's nothing in their hearts.
But ev'ry time I take one in my arms it starts,

the movie in my mind.
The dream they leave behind,
a scene I can't erase,
And in a strong G. I.'s embrace
flee this life.
Flee this place.

The movie plays and plays.
The screen before me fills.
He takes me to New York.
He gives me dollar bills.

Our children laugh all day.
They eat too much ice cream
and life is like a dream.

Dream,
the dream I long to find
the movie in my mind.

KIM
I will not cry, I will not think.
I'll do my dance, I'll make them drink.
When I make love it won't be me.
And if they hurt me I'll just close my eyes and see.

GIRLS
They are not nice, they're mostly noise.

KIM
The movie in my mind,

GIRLS
They kill like men, they die like boys.

KIM
the dream that fills my head.

GIRLS
They give their cash, they keep their hearts.

KIM
A man who will not kill,

GIRLS
But ev'ry night again it starts.

KIM
who'll fight for me instead.
He'll keep us safe all day
so no one comes at night
to blow the dream away.

Dream,
the dream I have to find,
the movie in my mind.

GIRLS
And in a strong G. I.'s embrace
flee this life,
flee this place.

KIM
A world that's far away,
where life is not unkind,
the movie in my mind.

CHRIS
Why does Saigon never sleep at night?
Why does this girl smell of orange trees?
How can I feel good if nothing's right?
Why is she cool when there is no breeze?

Vietnam.
You don't give answers do you, friend?
Just questions that don't ever end.

Why, God? Why today?
I'm all through here on my way.

There's nothing left here that I'll miss,
why send me now a night like this?

Who is the girl in a rusty bed?
Why am I back in a filthy room?
Why is her voice ringing in my head?
Why am I high on her cheap perfume?

Vietnam.
Hey, look I mean you no offense.
But why does nothing here make sense?

Why, God? Show Your hand.
Why can't one guy understand.

I've been with girls who knew much more.
I never felt confused before.

Why me? What's Your plan?
I can't help her, no one can.

I liked my mem'ries as they were,
but now I'll leave rememb'ring her.

When I went home before
no one talked of the war.

What they knew from T. V.
didn't have a thing to do with me.

I went back and re-upped.
Sure Saigon is corrupt.

It felt better to be here
driving for the embassy.

'Cause here if you can pull a string
a guy like me lives like a king
just as long as you don't believe anything.

Why, God? Why this face?
Why such beauty in this place?

I liked my mem'ries as they were
but now I'll leave rememb'ring her,
just her.

KIM
You are sunlight and I moon,
joined by the gods of fortune,
midnight and high noon
sharing the sky.
We have been blessed, you and I.

CHRIS
You are here like a myst'ry.
I'm from a world that's so diff'rent
from all that you are.
How in the light of one night
did we come so far?

KIM
Outside day starts to dawn.

CHRIS
Your moon still floats on high.

KIM
The birds awake.

CHRIS
The stars shine, too.

KIM
My hands still shake.

CHRIS
I reach for you,

BOTH
and we meet in the sky.

KIM
You are sunlight and I moon,
joined here bright'ning the sky
with the flame of love.

BOTH
Made of sunlight
moonlight.

CHRIS
In a place that won't let us feel,
in a life where nothing seems real
I have found you,
I have found you.

KIM
In a world that's moving too fast,
in a world where nothing can last,
I will hold you,
I will hold you.

CHRIS
Our lives will change when tomorrow comes.

KIM
Tonight our hearts drown the distant drums.

CHRIS
And we have music alright
tearing the night.

A song played on a solo saxophone.
A crazy sound,

KIM
a lonely sound,

BOTH
a cry that tells us love
goes on and on
played on a solo saxophone.
It's telling me to hold you tight
and dance like it's the last night
of the world.

CHRIS
On the other side of the earth
there's a place where life still has worth.
I will take you.

KIM
I'll go with you.

CHRIS
You won't believe all the things you'll see.
I know 'cause you'll see them all with me.

BOTH
If we're together, well then,
we'll hear it again,

a song played on a solo saxophone.
A crazy sound, a lonely sound,
a cry that tells us love
goes on and on
played on a solo saxophone.
It's telling me to hold you tight
and dance like it's the last night
of the world.

KIM
Dreams were all I ever knew.

CHRIS
Dreams you won't need when I'm through.

BOTH
Anywhere we may be
I will sing with you
our song.

So stay with me and hold me tight
and dance like it's the last night
of the world.

KIM
Last night I watched him sleeping,
my body pressed to him.
And then he started speaking.
The name I heard him speak was Kim.
Yes, I know this was years ago.
But when moonlight fills my room I know
you are here. Still,

I still,
I still believe
you will return.
I know you will.
My heart
against all odds
holds still.

Yes, still.
I still believe
I know as long
as I can keep believing
I'll live.
I'll live.
Love cannot die.
You will return.
You will return.
And I alone know why.

ELLEN
Last night I watched you sleeping.
Once more the nightmare came.
I heard you cry out something,
a word that sounded like a name.
And it hurts me more than I can bear,
knowing part of you I'll never share,
never know.

But still,
I still believe
the time will come
when nothing keeps us apart.
My heart
forever more
holds still.

It's all over I'm here,
there is nothing to fear.
Chris, what's haunting you?
Can't you let me inside
what you so want to hide?
I need you too.

KIM (ELLEN)
For still. (I will hold you all night, I will make it alright.)
I still believe. (You are safe with me.)
As long as I (And I wish you could tell what you don't want to tell.)
can keep believing I'll live. (What your hell must be.)
I'll live. (You can sleep now.)
You will return (You can cry now.)
and I know why. (I'm your wife now)
I'm yours (for life,)
until we die. (until we die.)

ENGINEER
If you want to die in bed
follow my example.
When you see a cloud ahead
it's time to show your class.
Hit the door before
they make a target of your ass.

If you want to die in bed
in times of revolution,
when the flag they fly is red
let pride fill up your chest.
Meanwhile pack a sack
and take the first boat heading west.

My precious souvenirs
of all the golden years.
Rolex watches in steel
that look practic'lly real.
I'll need a little stock
to start me in Bangkok.

If you want to die in bed
forget about your karma.
When your life hangs by a thread
don't cry about the fates.
Grab a stash of cash
and plan a rest'rant in the states.

Let me stop for a bit.
This was my greatest hit.
Miss Saigon in her gown,
I made queen of the town.
They paid me twice and more
for just another whore.

Here I come,
U. S. A.
Your next champ's
on his way.

For men will always be men.
The rules are the same
for kings or for clerks.
Give me francs or dollars or yen.
I'll set up a game.
I know how things work.

Why was I born of a race
that thinks only of rice
and hates entrepreneurs?
Me, I belong in a place
where a man sets his price
and you pay and he's yours.

I should be American,
where ev'ry promise lands
and ev'ry businessman
knows where he stands.

First stop, Bangkok, then I roam.
'Cross that ocean that's white with foam
to the place that' s my heart's true home.

If you want to die in bed,
en route to your nirvana.
Grab your chance and plunge your head
and go where people win.
Heaven's there, but shit,
you need a visa to get in.

KIM
You who I cradled in my arms. You
asking as little as you can.
Little snip of a little man.
I know I'd give my life for you.

You didn't ask me to be born, you.
Why should you learn of war or pain?
To make sure you're not hurt again.
I swear I'd give my life for you.

I've tasted love beyond all fear.
And you should know it's love that brought you here.
And in one perfect night when the stars burned like new.
I knew what I must do.

I'll give you a million things I'll never own,
I'll give you a world to conquer when you're grown.

You will be who you want to be. You
can choose whatever heaven grants.
As long as you can have your chance,
I swear I'll give my life for you.

Sometimes I wake up
reaching for him.
I feel his shadow brush my hand.
But there's just moonlight on my bed.

Was he a ghost? Was he a lie?
That made my body laugh and cry.
And by my side the proof I see,
his little one,
gods of the sun,
bring him to me.

You will be who you want to be. You
can choose whatever heaven grants.
As long as you can have your chance,
I swear I'll give my life for you.

No one can stop what I must do.
I swear I'll give my life for you.

JOHN
Like all survivors I once thought
when I'm home I won't give a damn.
But now I know I'm caught.
I'll never leave Vietnam.

War isn't over when it ends.
Some pictures never leave your mind.
They are the faces of the children,
the ones we left behind.

They're called Bui-doi,
the dust of life,
conceived in hell
and born in strife.

They are the living reminder
of all the good we failed to do.
That's why we know deep in our hearts
that they are all our children, too.

These kids hit walls on ev'ry side.
They don't belong in any place.
They're secret they can't hide,
it's printed on their face.

I never thought one day I'd plead
for half-breeds from a land that's torn.
But then I saw a camp for children
whose crime was being born.

They're called Bui-doi,
the dust of life,
conceived in hell
and born in strife.

We owe them fathers and a fam'ly,
a loving home they never knew.
Because we know deep in our hearts
that they are all our children too.

These are souls in need.
They need us to give.
Someone has to pay
for their chance to live.
Help me try.

MEN
They're called Bui-doi,
the dust of life,
conceived in hell
and born in strife.

JOHN & MEN
They are the living reminder
of all the good we failed to do.

MEN
That's why we know

JOHN
That's why we know

MEN
deep in our hearts

JOHN
deep in our hearts

MEN
that's why we know.

JOHN
that they are all our children, too.

MEN
Ah.

ELLEN
It's alright
it's alright when you just imagine
there's no face
she's not real
and you can tell yourself it's all O. K.

But she's here
and my heart cries this isn't happening.
But the truth
is cold and real
and I know this storm won't go away.

Now that I've seen her
there's no way to hide.
She is not some fling from long ago.
Now that I've seen her
I know why he lied.
And I think it was better when I didn't know.

In her eyes,
in her voice,
In the heat that filled the air,
part of him still lingers there.

I know what pain her life today must be.
But if it all comes down to her or me.
I don't care.
I swear I'll fight.

Now that I've seen her
she's more than a name.
I don't hate this girl even so.
Now that I've seen her
I can't stay the same.
Who's the man that I always trusted?
Now I have to know.

ENGINEER
I'm fed up with small time hustles.
I'm too good to waste my talent for greed.
I need room to flex my muscles
in an ocean where the big sharks feed.
Make me Yankee,
they're my fam'ly.
They're selling what people need.

What's that I smell in the air,
the American dream.
Sweet as a new millionaire,
the American dream.
Pre-packed and ready to wear,
the American dream.
Fat, like a choc'late éclair,
when you suck out the cream.

Luck by the tail.
How can you fail?
And best of all it's for sale,
the American dream.

Greasy chinks make life so sleazy.
In the states I'll build a club that's four-starred.
Men like me there have things easy.
They have a lawyer and a bodyguard.
To the johns there,
I'll sell blondes there
that they can charge on a card.

What's that I smell in the air,
the American dream.
Sweet as a suite in Belair,
the American dream.
Girls can buy tits by the pair,
the American dream.
Bald people think they'll grow hair,
the American dream.
Call girls are lining Times Square,
the American dream.
Bums there have money to spare,
the American dream.
Cars that have bars take you there,
the American dream.
On stage each night Fred Astaire,
the American dream.

Schlitz down the drain.
Pop the champagne.
It's time we all entertain
my American dream.

COMPANY
Come ev'ryone come and share
the American dream.
Name what you want and it's there
the American dream.
Spend and have money to spare
the American dream.
Live like you haven't a care
the American dream.

ENGINEER
There I will crown
Miss Chinatown.
All yours for ten percent down.

ALL
the American dream.