I left “Miss Saigon” feeling a little more enlightened Saturday. There was laughter, there were tears, but mostly there was a greater realization about what happened in Vietnam during and after the war.

“Miss Saigon” is a musical based on a true story about a soldier named Chris who meets a Vietnamese prostitute, Kim.

After meeting in a brothel, the two spend the night together and fall in love.

As Saigon is falling apart, Chris calls in a favor to spend one more day with Kim.

Other than the far-fetched fact that Chris could decide in one day that Kim was his true love, the love story was believable.

At this point, the storyline of the play becomes confusing.

The audience has no idea what has taken place or why Kim and Chris aren’t together.

Kim’s cousin, now in charge of the army, finds her and offers to marry her again.

Kim refuses, swearing Chris will return and introduces him to her now 3-year-old son, Tam. Kim’s pimp – renamed the Engineer, sees Tam as his way to the United States and offers to help get them to Chris.

It was interesting to see the Engineer’s actions versus his thoughts brought to light through his fabulous performance.

The vulgarity and profanity in the dance and choreography was shocking.

The show had the actors doing and saying things not common of many major musicals.

It was hard not to blush as the pimp made direct references to sexual acts.

Even after the performance, many people were commenting on the language.

From start to finish, the play was captivating.

One downfall however was with the show’s sound,

Some of the actors’ microphones seemed to have been turned up too high.

This mistake made it difficult for the audience to understand what the actors were saying.

Although there were problems with sound, many audience members seemed impressed with the overall performance, yet dissatisfied with the technical aspects of the show.

Something else that drew many audience members in was a more universal factor.

The actors personified the characters well, especially the Engineer.

“Miss Saigon” had many unexpected, yet realistic twists proving once again that love is never easy.

Even if the play was more risque than expected, it combined history and romance into an overwhelmingly emotional performance.