Miss Saigon- Page 2

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 1:04pm

My fave show! I've seen it three times and will be seeing it again soon. I think it's so powerful and moving. My fave song would have to be Why God Why? or The Confrontation. The entire score is a fave of mine obivously but these two stand out to me. On the London recording though i can listen to Lea singing those songs over and over again. I don't think anyone will be able to replace Lea in this role... she was phenomonal! I saw Joanna Ampil who was pretty good and Ima Catro who was amazing, so enthusiastic and her singing was beautiful. She was definately the better of the two in my oppinion.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 1:41pm

I love this show, too! Earlier this year, I saw a local amateur production that was pretty good. They even did the helicopter scene and everthing. (By the way, the show was picketed by many Asian-Americans who think the show is racist; in fact, they were staging their own version across town entitled MISSED SIGH GONE, or something like that.)

I have the Original London Recording (with Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce) and the Complete Symphonic Recording. My question: Why didn't they hire Lea and Pryce to recreate their roles for the Complete Recording? I rarely listen to that version because it's not as good. I have the same complaints with the Les Miserables Complete Symphonic Recording. The best cast, in my opinion, was the 1995 Les Miserables: In Concert, which featured Colm Wilkinson, Philip Quast, Lea Salona, Judy Kuhn, Michael Ball, Ruthie Henshall, etc. They're called the "Dream Cast" so why did they not release a Complete Recording with these great singers?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 1:49pm

Because people get confused when you release too many cast recordings.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 1:53pm

But I was not asking about a simple cast recording (i.e. highlights), but rather the Complete Recording.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 1:57pm

I know you were. But there already IS a complete recording in English.

Having two CSRs might make several dozen Les Miz fans happy, but why go through all that trouble when there already is one?

Besides, if you assembled the 10th anniversary cast, what apart from the cast would convince you to buy that instead of the CSR? Why not wait until 1997 to incorporate all the Broadway 10th anniversary changes first, then commit all those to permanent (and legal) record?

Speaking from a logistics/practicality/marketing perspective, anyway.

[Sant]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 2:13pm

Or maybe they didn't think the Complete Symphonic would be the same thing as "Dream Cast"... After all, they did record the "Dream Cast" of Les Mis, but they still had the CSR of that show as well, which included only two lead actors of the "Dream Cast": Michael Ball and Philip Quast. Maybe if they had done some kind of "Dream Cast" thing of Miss Saigon they would have contacted Salonga and Pryce.

[J604]

Posted: 11/8/05 at 3:45pm

I've seen several productions of Miss Saigon, and I particularly loved the original Broadway cast. Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce were the best actors for their roles. The part that tugs at my heartstrings the most is the scene prior to Kim's death when she sings in counterpoint to John, Ellen and Chris about Tam's future.