Miss Saigon Revival Will Land at Its Original Broadway Home- Page 2

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 8/5/16 at 4:42am

EvanK said: "Interesting, I wonder if the Broadway production will be more automated? 

 

"

doubtul since it has been designateed as a "limited engagement"

 

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 8/5/16 at 4:47am

i'm curious to know whether Eva will have an alternate or will she be doing 8 shows a week?

[10086sunset]

Posted: 8/17/16 at 2:57pm

Telecharge currently has tickets onsale for the second to last performance, 1/13/18...

It's the only show available... 

Random...Maybe they are running some sort of test?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/17/16 at 3:01pm

broadwayguy91 said: "i'm curious to know whether Eva will have an alternate or will she be doing 8 shows a week?"

I can't imagine there'd be a reason to start doing that now.

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 8:55am

Saw both London versions and the original Broadway run and while I love the original design, I found this new one to be very effective (Unlike the Phantom Re-design)
By only issue was those side platforms, It seemed to me an odd choice to have a whole scene elevated stage left which I am sure might have some issues to people sitting at the far end of house right. Maybe with the Broadway's larger stage they will have more room and these platforms can slide onstage more. (it is also nice to see how they (the platforms that make up the houses) collapse on themselves when they go off stage.
But the grime and grit of the new version looked great along with its proscenium and show curtain.
Even the helicopter I thought was excellently done. At first I was like oh no, they are doing it only in projection, but then the backdrop flies out and the helicopter is there, it just worked so well.

The only issue I had really (and I am usually very picky about this) is the really bad diction. Yes people have accents. But some were so thick that it was totally distracting and unless someone knows all the words beforehand, it could be hard to follow (Thuy in particular) But that is an issue I have in all shows, not only accents that are too thick, but general lack of diction sometimes where you just can;t understand what people are singing.

Oh, I also dont like what I deem useless lyric changes. None of the new lyrics IMO are necessary and just mess you up mentally when you are watching the show and singing along in your head, lol.
I also prefer "Now that I've seen her" 100% over the new song.

I hope it has a good run, that theatre is HUGE.

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 11:36pm

LizzieCurry said: "broadwayguy91 said: "i'm curious to know whether Eva will have an alternate or will she be doing 8 shows a week?"

I can't imagine there'd be a reason to start doing that now.

 

"

I read there were rumors that she wasn't nominated for an Olivier because she didn't do a full 8 shows a week (or 7 shows, with the matinee being done by the alternate), so they may have decided to train her up to do 7/8 shows a week to solidify her chances at a Tony nom

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:03am

RippedMan said: "Sounds/looks cheap. I don't understand the point of paying more money for less production. 

 

"

Yeah I am really weary of these CamMac revivals from Laurence Connor. They make sense to tour to cities that couldn't handle the size and load in time of the originals but Les Miz and especially Phantom just show how brilliant the originals were and how those productions largely helped make the shows work on stage. We won't even get into the animosity directors like Nunn and Prince have had with these productions borrowing without credit elements from their stagings. 

It's ironic because back in the 80s Cameron spoke with much pride how he believed his productions were the first time tour date cities would get the full production of such elaborate shows on tour. 

I have particular fondness for Hytner/Napier's Miss Saigon which I saw in its final month in London. That said, a friend I trust did like this revival much more than the earlier mentioned Connor revivals. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:20am

EricMontreal22 said: "Yeah I am really weary of these CamMac revivals from Laurence Connor. They make sense to tour to cities that couldn't handle the size and load in time of the originals but Les Miz and especially Phantom just show how brilliant the originals were and how those productions largely helped make the shows work on stage. We won't even get into the animosity directors like Nunn and Prince have had with these productions borrowing without credit elements from their stagings. 

It's ironic because back in the 80s Cameron spoke with much pride how he believed his productions were the first time tour date cities would get the full production of such elaborate shows on tour. 

I have particular fondness for Hytner/Napier's Miss Saigon which I saw in its final month in London. That said, a friend I trust did like this revival much more than the earlier mentioned Connor revivals."

 

What's interesting with the new Phantom tour is that in reality, at least here in the US, it is really not that much smaller than the original tour. I've heard from various IATSE guys that it's the same number of trucks as the original (twenty). It's played almost exclusively in theatres that also hosted the original, and I've heard that some theatres have even had to reinforce their stage decks to bring it in because of the weight of that main wall/rotating drum set piece (I've heard that it's specced at 10 tons once fully assembled). Needless to say if a theatre could not accommodate the original Hal Prince production it's unlikely that this new one will be able to be booked either.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 6:26am

Justin D said: " By only issue was those side platforms, It seemed to me an odd choice to have a whole scene elevated stage left which I am sure might have some issues to people sitting at the far end of house right. "

I really dislike the new sets. The original was brilliant, because of the clever use of the small stages centre stage. This made the show very intimate. Almost filmic, when the dreamland stage slides towards you. Now there is just a black stage, a few chairs and a turning bar prop. Besides the Dreamland sequence, also other important scenes such last night of the world, room 317 now all take place on a big black stage with some props. It is almost like an amateur theatre production. 1 steel pipe construction and empty black stages with some props. The whole idea of intimacy is gone. Important scenes such as sun and moon, why god why now take place on the steel pipe construction in street. I hope it kind of works with the filmed 25th version, but in theatre it does not work.

The use of this small stages was so clever, because the actors also stepped off them, to create different areas/times. One of my favourite scenes was when Kim stood in front of that set, singing "I still taste your kisses", centre stage, facing the audience, while we see Chris and Ellen singing,  slowly sliding back while the lights dim on that set. Now, it's just lame, Chris and Ellen somewhere standing on a big black stage with a chair, and somewhere in the distance up right, in the steel pipe construction again of course, Kim is singin her line. No connection with the audience whatsoever.

The fences in the nightmare, the fantastic wooden set of lnotw (compared to the black stage with a trash can and the back of the bar prop now), made the original version much more gritty and real, emotion wise. Because the creators seem to forget that this show is about the thoughts and experiences of the characters being sung. So we want to see what is going on in their minds. That was more likely a romantic bed with a fan and fabric flowing, than a trashcan and a black stage. This lack of vision, especially in the sets can really harm the run I think. I just engages less.

 

About the lyric changes, I love them. I think almost every line is an improvement. Except for one. In the second act, Chris and Ellen sing this line "It's done, it's planned, the girl is smart, she'll understand", which they changed to "Kim is smart, she'll understand". I think the first one is much more powerful. Followed by singing about Tam: "We will do what is right, right for him, right for us, right for Kim" is now changed to "We will do what is right, right for Tam, and for us, and for Kim", which is silly, because we already know they are talking about Tam in the sentence before, in this case "him" is more powerful, and now the lyrical rhyme flow of the sentence is gone.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 7:53am

I respectfully disagree with the lyric changes. Almost none of them were necessary, and most sound amateurish. Many of them don't flow naturally and sound forced. When Thuy finds Kim with Chris, he basically say "here you are where I've found you" ( I don't have the exact lyrics in front of me but that's essentially what is being said). I would say only one or two changes were necessary (the Big Mac line for sure), and only one or two make me indifferent. It seems like these changes were lazily made simply to make changes.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 8:13am

You do have a point there, the Thuy part sounds a bit weird. Now that I think of it, the beginning of "I still believe" is also a bit strange. 

The parts I think are improved are "The heat is on in Saigon" and "The movie in my mind", He takes me to a place, where I don't have to dance.....I see the word "dance" as kind of symbolic for the whole game that's being played in that place. Also the next part about "all that I've been through, won't make my dream come true, dream. Instead of the: and eat too much ice cream, and life is like a dream, dream.

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 9:10am

and of all the lyric changes they left in the most cringe worthy line in the whole show:
Thuy with his line about "allright, that's it, that's all, you go back, I'll take over now"

set wise, regarding the original, is any one on here familiar with anyone that worked backstage, because I;ve always wondered how the heck they store all those trucks and sets backstage? do they reuse the trucks (bases)and just add the sets to them before they slide on? Almost every scene has 2 or 3 trucks, with walls and furniture. and they all seem to use the same tracks in the stage. Backstage must have been crazy.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 11:27am

Ugh... I'll always miss "He takes me to New York."

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:51pm

Justin, when I saw it in London, we did the backstage tour that same afternoon the the Tgeatre Royal offered (this was 1999--not sure if they still offer it). Keep in mind that the theatre is massive (wiki says the house seats 2100). 

Most of the tour was of the vast, ancient underground hydraulic system, etc, but we did briefly get to go stage level, and I remember it being packed (that statue alone) but all very carefully organized. But again, the theatre was created for massive spectacles--animals on stage, recreated ship wrecks etc so had tons of  wing space. As has been mentioned, the stage deck was heavily raked. 

I have no knowledge of how large the theatre was on Broadway or how much they had to downsize for tours. I know that when the Toronto sit down production opened in 1993 (I believe it ran five years but can't find any confirmation) the Mirvishes, who wanted to directly compete with Drabinsky's long runnin Toronto Phantom, didn't have a theatre that could accommodate it and used it as an excuse to build The Princess of Wales theatre, which since then has hosted most of the massive shows there (Lord of the Rings opened there). 

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:10pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t9aRiRs9X4

This is a rehearsal video of the upcoming Japanese production opening this fall. Does anyone know whether they are using the same set as the London revival?

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 8:04pm

it looks so

[Dave28282]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 6:46am

So they've had auditions for the past few weeks. Any news on the roles of Chris, Ellen, Gigi and Thuy and Kim alternate/understudy?

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 7:46am

I'm totally new to Miss Saigon, so I'm curious to ask, is there a potential role for Ruthie Ann Miles in this show?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 10:21am

Not really. The one role I can think of (Gigi) would totally waste her talent.

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 11:02am

LizzieCurry said: "Not really. The one role I can think of (Gigi) would totally waste her talent.

 

"

She could play Ellen, though.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 11:18am

Ellen's a waste of anyone's talent.

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/24/16 at 12:18pm

Ms.Miles could play the Engineer in the new revisal version that takes place in a circus!  Directed by Ms. Paulus, of course.  

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 11:04am

http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/katie-rose-clarke-nicholas-christopher-miss-saigon_78741.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=11oct2016

More casting.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 12:20pm

Love Katie Rose...don't know Nicholas as well. Congrats!