Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?- Page 4
Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
#75re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:32pmI saw the show, I know the characters motivations. It won't change what I see in this show's subtext. We just disagree on that, it's ok. It doesn't change the fact that there is some pretty music with really embarrassingly bad lyrics that I have a soft spot for.
#76re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:37pm
My vote is for LES MIZ, hands down. I feel like MISS SAIGON is a little more rushed. It's lyrics aren't as good (to me), and the story wasn't as engaging. I kept wanting to get back to Kim, and all we got was the Engineer.
Broadway Blog: FIxing Follies
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#77re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:37pmHaha... I admit that some of the lyrics are bad. But I feel the same way about Les Mis, too.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#78re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:39pmI know, I don't think the English lyrics to Les Mis are much better. The original French concept is my favorite. It's so dark and moody. More satisfying.
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#79re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:46pmwow... see... this is why i love miss saigon... there's more to this show than meets the eye... six people whose lives are changed forever (seven if you count Tam)... simple story with complex surroundings... MISS SAIGON! haha i'm a nerd... but i also love les mis... two diffrent shows but i prefer saigon
#80re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:57pm
The helicopter beats the barricade.
#81re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 5:35pm
For me, Les Mis has a much stronger score. The music is more compelling; the songs are more gripping and more memorable (for me) than those in Miss Saigon. In terms of listening to one over the other, I'll basically always pick Les Mis.
Even with as much as I love the music, though, I've never seen Les Mis live and not been at least a little bored. I think the show has spectacular dramatic moments, and there are parts that are unbelievably absorbing and emotionally effective. Overall though, I just always feel like it could be a half-hour (at least) shorter; it just drags in places and I think it tries to span more time.
My evaluation of Miss Saigon is less complete because I've never seen it live, and as I said, I do like the Les Mis music better. That being said, though, I'm much more intrigued by the story of Miss Saigon and I feel like the characters are more evenly drawn - you're given a more full perspective on each character whereas for me, at least, some of the many Les Mis leads feel one dimensional. I have problems, for example, with Chris as a character (better than Pinkerton, but not by much) as a whole, but I find him more full-fleged than some Les Mis characters.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#82re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 5:42pm
MISS SAIGON without a doubt. I've seen MISS SAIGON countless of times (both on Broadway and in it's 'larger than the Broadway production' 1st US Nat'l Tour), and simply LOVE it.
As for LES MISERABLES. I attempted to sit thru that boring crap 4 (four) times shortly after it opened on Broadway. I left at intermission every single time. At least I made the effort to WANT to like it -- it just never worked it's charm on me.
#83re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 5:57pm
I've seen LES MIZ probably about five times, felineofavenueb, and I've always said it works better farther back. I think when you sit too close--at least so long after the original staging/direction--it feels like a concert, with the actors noticeably stepping out to sing so many of the songs.
When I finally saw MISS SAIGON on Broadway in 2000, the helicopter was a big letdown. It was so small, and it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Same with the PHANTOM chandelier. It looked like it floated to the stage on a cloud.
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VIETgrlTerifa
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/18/04
#84re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 6:08pm
Basically the portrayal of Kim is one of the sweet innocent vietnamese girl who wants nothing more than to go to america. It's a stereotype that you see in dozens of books and movies. Sure, it's easy to see why someone would prefer the conditions of the US to that of war-torn Saigon, but why wouldn't she go to China or India-- they're closer and atleast one of them doesn't have a communist government.
Because people fell for the whole American dream ideal (even if it was just an ideal and that the reality can be just as brutal). There are tons of Vietnamese immigrants who wanted to come to America because it seemed to be the opposite of the communist government. Many now have adult American-born children.
The fact that you put China as a country she could've went to sort of shows your lack of understanding of what the Vietnamese (that wanted to get out) wanted during and after the war. India? Seriously?
"I've got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators and their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes
While you stare at your books."
#85re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 7:40pm
As someone who has scene Les Miserables multiple times and has performed in a production of Les Miz, I still do not know what to make of it. The book seems slopy, requires countless leaps of faith, and the score does not seem to be written for singers, rather it seems to be orchestral motifs that are being sung.
Parts of it (Fantine's Death, Javert's Suicide, One Day More) are certainly haunting, I think in many ways one Day More is the decisive musical theatre piece of that era and the crowning achievement of a Boublil &Schoenberg show.
Now, that being said, I have never SEEN Miss Saigon, but I do prefer the score and much more. Like I say, I am just hearing it with a musician's ears and imagining with an actor's knowledge of the stage, etc. but I do think there is far more potential with that score than Les Miserables.
danielloz
Swing Joined: 6/17/07
#86re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 8:07pmIt is a VERY close call, but I prefer Miss Saigon
stanton
Featured Actor Joined: 3/8/06
#87re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 8:38pmI love both of them.
I wish I could sing.
sally1112
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/04
#88re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 8:58pm
I have only seen tours of both, Les Mis once, and Miss three times, but I like LesMis better. I think that they are both average shows, but there is something about LesMis that is so dramatic and theatery that makes me like it, and when I listen to the recording I get to hear Patti LuPone...and that always makes me feel happy.
Updated On: 7/2/07 at 08:58 PM
#89re: Which do you prefer - Miss Saigon or Les Miserables?
Posted: 6/28/07 at 10:42pmi've seen both shows in broadway.. i prefer MISS SAIGON!
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