Queensland Theatre closes its 2023 with an energetic, large-scale production of hip-hop musical Vietgone, co-directed by Daniel Evans and Ngọc Phan.

Written by American-Vietnamese playwright Qui Nguyen, with original music by Shane Rettig, this non-traditional musical premiered in the US in 2015. A semi-biographical account of Nguyen’s parents’ love story, it is told in non-linear snippets and with certain embellishments.

Nguyen writes himself into the play as the Playwright (played by Hieu Luong), who welcomes audiences to the performance and is a background presence until the final minutes.

Queensland Theatre’s Vietgone. Photo © brett Boardman

Helicopter pilot Quang evacuated dozens of people prior to the Fall of Saigon in 1975, but couldn’t go back for his wife and two young children. Tong escaped with her mother but is wracked with guilt that her younger brother remained behind. Thrown together by chance in an Arkansas refugee camp, they have an immediate, explosive chemistry. But Tong wants a new life in America and Quang is determined to return to Vietnam.

With his best friend Nhan, Quang sets out for California on a salvaged motorbike, a road trip that takes them across six states in search...