London Revival of Miss Saigon has its Kim — Page 3

"... turning Sun and Moon into some West Side Story balcony scene and then singing on a trash can... ugh... having Kim not wear Chris' tshirt for the rest of Act 1 which I felt just truly shows her belief that they will reunite and her love for him..."

Exactly! The original production was much more intimate in all those scenes. The smaller stages sliding centre stage made this show. This idea of a steel pipe construction and an empty stage with some props (tour,dutch versions) was very amateurish and made the show too impersonal. Using the whole stage is only a good idea in certain scenes (Bangkok, American dream, etc) and they did that in both versions with those scenes, but for the new productions they chose to do that with every scene unfortunately.

Also, I LOVED that Kim was wearing his shirt, why the hell did she wear a blue hostess jacket with buttons in the new version?

Updated On: 11/27/13 at 06:50 AM

You don't need those 1989 Drury Lane and 1991 Broadway Theatre trucks and set pieces for this show. This is the most intimate of the British pop operas. Signature Theatre demonstrated this past summer that MISS SAIGON can be done well in an almost black box setting so long as your principals can sing and act beautifully.

I do object to Ellen's new song: it is WRETCHED.

jsg03jd, you are confused.

The show does need these intimate set pieces because it is the most intimate of the British pop operas.

What this production does not need is the huge steel pipe construction from the tour and Dutch versions, and each and every scene (including Sun and Moon) taking place in that huge black stage with some props. Using the whole stage for every scene takes the intimacy out of the show. That is only suitable for the bangkok and American dream scenes.

I don't know how small the stage was in the Signature theatre production, but in the professional productions it did not work.

The heat is on, Sun and moon, Last night of the world, room 317 were just black holes in the show, because they only used props on a black stage. In Sun and Moon they also used the colossal stage, with their room being somewhere up right in the construction. Last night of the world had no set, just some candles on the floor and they sang on the dreamland bar prop with the lights off. What this show needs is smaller theatres sliding onto the real stage. Because the prince Edward theatre will be a very, very big black box.

This is interesting. I thought Julia Abueva didn't even make it to the final 6 in the Philippines auditions. I do think she is a great actress/singer. She has to be careful with her vibrato though. Her sound reminds me of Joanna Ampil.
The other girl, Tanya Manalang sounds a bit too amateurish for me, nice voice, but not yet professional. I wish the Kim alternate had the same singing calibre of Eva Noblezada or the Girl who plays Gigi. I expected her to be the alternate Kim. I hope I don't have to worry for a mediocre singing Kim when I visit the show in May.

Julia auditioned for Tara Rubin in New York last June in between auditions for the Les Miz revival. Everyone in the room (and a lot of people in the hallway) was speechless after she sang This Money's Yours and I'd Give My Life For You.

I hope they get Rachelle Ann Go who was chosen to play 'Gigi'. I watched the video whererein Cameron officially announced the cast members and I got curious when he said she had an 'amazing voice'. So I went to youtube and searched for her videos and he was right. In fact, that was an understatement. She has a very powerful, impressive singing voice. If she was younger, I believe CM would have chosen her to be his next KIM. It would be quite a shame if she only gets to sing one song (and a duet at that)due to her being 'over-aged' (late twenties) for the role. She can sing like a diva yet can make her voice sound younger too. I prefer a vocally strong Kim and IMHO she would be perfect for the alternate role. Hey, I would not mind at all seeing her in the main role over Eva. It also helps that I consider her prettier compared to Eva and the 2 understudies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgyDk_wqfkE (Part of Your World - live with orchestra)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMFfllV0z_8 (Part of Your World - studio recording)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3iufWXAM-8 (For the First Time - from Tarzan)

This is how she will sound as Kim:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEWfo2PlyKE (singing I'd Give My Life For You LIVE with Lea Salonga watching)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhyT9GdEFmQ

:) Such a powerful, strong singing voice. And what a range!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYmenSPKpc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBS5MKGreQc

Updated On: 11/29/13 at 02:10 PM

Dave19: I am anything but confused when it comes to MISS SAIGON having seen it numerous times throughout its run in New York (I first saw it during the Saturday evening performance after Jonathan Pryce, Hinton Battle and Lea Salonga won their Tonys in 1991 with those actors performing their roles and I saw its closing performance in January 2001 with Ruthie Henshall, Will Chase and Lea Salonga), once in Theatre Royale Drury Lane in 1997, once in the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2000 (also starring Will Chase and Lea Salonga), twice at Signature Theatre (with the remarkable Diana Huey as Kim) and once at The Bushnell (with Charlie Brady whose Chris was the most fully rounded sung I have ever heard) this past year. All of these are true professional productions.

What you fail to grasp is that the story and the music of MISS SAIGON do not need bells and whistles unlike spectacles such as PHANTOM, which requires the chandelier, and LES MIS, which requires the barricade.

Indeed MISS SAIGON can be mounted without both the helicopter and Cadillac that appear in Act 2. The audience loses nothing in terms of story and music even if these items were extracted from the show. It can be performed as a chamber piece and be just as or even more effective than the original West End and Broadway productions.

So long as you have the right performers, the show works even if performed under the conditions of the "professional" production you witnessed. If you're looking for sets and scenery and need them to feel like you're experiencing the music and story, then you've completely missed the point regarding the intimacy of this musical.

I feel that up until now, this show is not very well documented/recorded. Except from the original London cd, everything else out there does not do the show justice at all. When I see/hear clips of the live production, often recorded with crappy equipment, I realize how great this show is.

This made me think, wouldn't it be amazing if they would film the new London production, like a live event as they did with "The sound of music" now? Or more like the style of the Cats dvd. Or a combination of both? At the end of the run of course. It would be a great document of the show for future generations. I feel the new generation has no idea what the show is like. I also think it will only add to the popularity of the show, look at the recent Phantom 25th and Les Mis 25th shows put to dvd.

I feel they have found a strong cast with great singers, which is absolutely essential for this material, so this would be the opportunity. Because if they don't do it, and the show stops after a year, there will be nothing left but a possible future film version and we all know what kind of people they will hire for that. At least we will have a document that does the material justice.

There's a recording of the national tour on youtube that honestly has pretty amazing sound quality. And it is the original production, with the helicopter, the giant Ho Chi Mihn statue, the Cadillac, those cool shades that framed the stage rising up and down to let the scenery slide in and out, etc. The video leaves a little to be desired, but if you've never seen the original or want to revisit it this is probably the most complete version you're ever going to get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMfjJjwoU38

"I feel they have found a strong cast with great singers, which is absolutely essential for this material,"

huh??! They have an as yet unproven Kim, a provenly previously weak singer/actor as Chris and a too old Ellen. This is not a cast id be rushing to say should be recorded

Wow they made Ellen a cougar in the rival of this show.

Based on that Movie In My Mind clip, I think Rachelle Ann's voice and appearance are a good fit for Gigi. Now, if only there's a time machine to bring back that 18 year old Lea Salonga (Wow! She still got it!), this will be a rockin' revival.