BREAKING NEWS: It's Finally Official! MISS SAIGON to Return to West End in May 2014 at Prince Edward Theatre!

First scooped last year by BroadwayWorld.com with extensive coverage of the auditions, it's finally OFFICIAL! Cameron Mackintosh has just announced that Boublil and Schönberg's legendary musical MISS SAIGON will return to the West End in May 2014 to the Prince Edward Theatre.

Cameron Mackintosh said "I find it hard to believe that it is already 25 years since I first premiered Miss Saigon in London, where it became the greatest success ever in the long history of the Drury Lane Theatre and went on to be a phenomenal success around the world.

Ten years ago I decided to reconceive the show in a completely re-imagined physical production that could play a far greater number of theatres than the original but still retains Bob Avian's legendary musical staging and the same scale of cast. As well as touring the UK with enormous success the new production directed by Laurence Connor has been seen in numerous countries around the world where it has been embraced by audiences and critics alike with as much enthusiasm as the original.

If anything the tragic love story of Miss Saigon has become even more relevant today. In the last 25 years our country has become involved in similar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the way we weren't in Vietnam and the American Dream has been buffeted by the reality of recent history. The new production has taken a more gritty and realistic approach to the design than the operatic original but still delivers the power and epic sweep of Boublil and Schönberg's great score.

Of all my shows Miss Saigon is probably the one I have the most requests to bring back. For some years I have been waiting for the perfect theatre to house the new production. These requests are not only from a public who remembers seeing it originally but from a generation of new audiences who were too young (or not even born!) to get to see it. Now that the very successful Jersey Boys has decided to move to a more intimate theatre I now have the perfect theatre - The Prince Edward."

Set in 1975 during the final days of the American occupation of Saigon, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman.

Orphaned by war, 17-year-old Kim is forced to work as a bar girl in a sleazy Saigon night club owned by a notorious wheeler-dealer known as 'The Engineer'. John, an American GI, buys his friend Chris the services of Kim for the night. That night will change their lives forever.

Since its London premiere in 1989, Cameron Mackintosh's production of Alain Boulil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's epic musical MISS SAIGON has become one of the most successful musicals in history and the greatest success ever to play the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. As well as record breaking London and Broadway runs, MISS SAIGON has been performed in 28 countries, over 300 cities in 15 different languages, has won over 40 awards including 2 Olivier Awards, 3 Tony Awards, and 4 Drama Desk Awards and been seen by over 35 million people worldwide.

Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil recently wrote a powerful new song called 'Maybe' for the role of Ellen to sing in the second act which has been included in the recent Dutch and Japanese productions but London audiences will be the first to hear the song in English.

MISS SAIGON has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jnr and Alain Boublil, adapted from original French lyrics by Alain Boublil. This new production will be directed by Laurence Connor with Musical Staging by Bob Avian and additional Choreography by Geoffrey Garratt, Production Design by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley from an original concept by Adrian Vaux, Costume Design by Andreane Neofitou, Orchestrations by William David Brohn, Lighting Design by Bruno Poet and Sound Design by Mick Potter.

Priority Booking opens 2 September 2013, with public on-sale on 9 September 2013. Sign up for more info at http://miss-saigon.com