It is fashionable for sophisticated people to sneer at musicals like Miss Saigon and its Boubil/Schonberg predecessor, Les Miserables. Melodrama, soaring music that lacks subtlety and operatic emotions without the opera all combine into that most middlebrow of forms, the big ’80s/’90s musical.

To paraphrase the Swedish synth pop duo Icona Pop in that most inescapable of songs: I don’t care. I love it. I don’t care. It is possible that my views are skewed from first seeing it as an adolescent, when your own emotions are so deeply felt that it comes as a relief to hear trained belters giving you the big ones: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, in an accessible, poppy style. And it is acceptable, as a sensitive teenager, to weep at a musical, when weeping because of your own troubles (petty to everyone else, of immense importance to you) is not always permitted.

It was very interesting to revisit the musical as an adult. Eva Noblezada as Kim acquitted herself very well, with a strong voice and good acting skills (excellent really, considering her age). Alistair Brammer was a very athletic Chris with an excellent American accent (always a bugaboo of mine), but clearly an adult, and I must confess that the age and height differential between the two made it difficult and uncomfortable for me to buy into their romance. Hugh Maynard provided good support as John, although I thought he had excessive rubato and melisma in Bui Doi, which really benefits from being sung straight. Tamsin Carroll was a sympathetic Ellen, and I thought the new song “Maybe” did more to humanise her than the previous “Now That I’ve Seen Her” (formerly “It’s Her or Me”).

But the real star here is Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer. I adored Jonathan Pryce in the role, but Briones really made it his own, and was much more credible in the character. He gets all the best lines and the best songs, especially “The American Dream”, which in his hands was somehow less cynical. In contrast to Pryce, who radiated pure contempt for the suckers he was about to exploit, I felt that while Briones was certainly looking forward to the opportunity to con, there was also genuine love of America in his desperate desire to get there.

The production itself was much more gritty than the original, with emphasis on the sleaziness of the club, the exploitation of the women, and the despair of the Vietnamese. Many of the lyrics were changed, most unremarkably, although I did appreciate the change from “On the other side of the earth/there’s a place where life still has worth” to “On the other side of the earth/there’s a place your life will have worth.” The infamous “Christ I’m an American/How could I fail to do good” was retained, however. I did appreciate John’s incredulous “an April fucking moon?” following that particular line from Chris’s phone call. I thought there was too much speak-singing throughout, and often wished they would simply sing through.

I have not often seen a London audience (other than tourists) give a standing ovation. Billy Elliott and The History Boys are two productions that come to mind that produced such a result. Half of the audience yesterday rose to their feet at Noblezada’s bow, and the other half at Briones. I think the decision to extend booking to May 2015 was a wise one.