Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

High Score

Set during the Vietnam War and chronicling the doomed love affair between an American G.I. and a young bar girl, Miss Saigon doesn’t scream “church production.” But a music initiative run through Rutland’s Grace Church is, to say the least, “wider in scope than most church programs,” notes director Rip Jackson. A highly trained cast of singers presents this sizzling, pop-opera adaptation of Madame Butterfly — sleazy nightclubs and all — to a score delivered by a full, professional orchestra. Oh, and there’s a helicopter onstage, too. It’s easy to see why “The Heat Is On in Saigon.”