Miss Saigon Previews Thread — Page 14

Fan123 said: "...I also wonder if some of the "greatest love story" stuff is more for marketing purposes than anything else. That phrase is going to sell more tickets to a sizeable portion of the audience (read: us white people) than "white people screw things up: the musical", more accurate though the latter may be."

Cameron Mackintosh isn't stupid. In truth, this show presents the U.S. in a rather unflattering light and the typical #TrumpsAmerica type would rail against it if the advertising reflected that. If, however, it's presented as "the greatest love story", those same people will go for it like a trout and come away with nary a thought for its indictment of U.S. foreign policy.

Has anybody need Eva's understudy? How is she? My tickets are for next Saturday's matinee and I read that Eva doesn't do Saturday matinees.

After seeing the current Broadway production, I have a new take on the musical under the current political order of the US. I see the musical as an indictment of the US, its savior mentality, and its laissez-faire attitude towards the exploitation of other cultures. When I was young and saw the Toronto sit down, I actually viewed this as an unrequited love story. It's not. It's a story of how people survive trauma with fantasy and how in the end, it all falls away.

Also, from the first time I saw it, my heart broke for the female dancers. I struggle with the exploitation and the shoe horning of history to fit the story, but in my early 20s it did make me look into Vietnam and what happened to its people and namely its women and children. The photo the creative team credit as starting the journey for them of the mother surrendering her child still stays with me.

I think some of the lyric changes and re-writes are attempts to add some more weight or depth to the characters. This doesn't mean it still isn't problematic. I think it still upsets me because Asian women are still highly fetishized and exploited globally. They are among the largest victims of sex trafficking and sex slavery.

Bettyboy72 said: "After seeing the current Broadway production, I have a new take on the musical under the current political order of the US. I see the musical as an indictment of the US, its savior mentality, and its laissez-faire attitude towards the exploitation of other cultures. When I was young and saw the Toronto sit down, I actually viewed this as an unrequited love story. It's not. It's a story of how people survive trauma with fantasy and how in the end, it all falls away.

Also, from the first time I saw it, my heart broke for the female dancers. I struggle with the exploitation and the shoe horning of history to fit the story, but in my early 20s it did make me look into Vietnam and what happened to its people and namely its women and children. The photo the creative team credit as starting the journey for them of the mother surrendering her child still stays with me.

I think some of the lyric changes and re-writes are attempts to add some more weight or depth to the characters. This doesn't mean it still isn't problematic. I think it still upsets me because Asian women are still highly fetishized and exploited globally. They are among the largest victims of sex trafficking and sex slavery.





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I am hoping that the refugee theme of the show will make some people think about the issue more deeply. It's definitely a timely topic on many fronts.

Saw the show tonight- it was Billy Bustamante's debut as The Engineer and he was fantastic! And of course Eva Noblezada is giving a thrilling performance as well.

I've seen this production before on the West End a few years ago, but I think I liked it better on a second viewing. Love that score (even though some lyrics aren't very good).

Also a side note, the helicopter didn't ascend at the end of the scene so the show had to be held for about 10 minutes. It was a VERY interesting night.

Bettyboy72 said: "After seeing the current Broadway production, I have a new take on the musical under the current political order of the US. I see the musical as an indictment of the US, its savior mentality, and its laissez-faire attitude towards the exploitation of other cultures."

This has always been the overriding theme of the show to me.

After months of anticipation, saw the 3/14 preview (yes, the one where the helicopter malfunctioned), and was generally underwhelmed by the entire production. Part of it is staging, and the irritating tendency these days to build out stages that obstruct views, while concentrating so much action downstage where it is barely visible. (We literally could not see any of Kim and could only see the top of Chris' head in the final scene, although we could see everyone in front of us craning their necks trying to see SOMETHING. To stage such an emotional scene that way is just plain disrespectful to paying customers) And no, these seats were not marked obstructed view. But we were never able to really feel part of the show, which we should have been for what we paid for tickets. But more generally, the entire show seemed to lack energy and immediacy. Perhaps the show has not held up well after 20 years. Perhaps this production just lacks chemistry. Perhaps it's different when Jon Jon Briones performs (Billy Bustamante performed the role of the Engineer at our performance). But I have seen amateur productions of Miss Saigon where I have been far more moved than I was at this performance, and that's very disappointing. And I certainly hope they get the helicopter fixed by opening night.

I also saw the show last Saturday evening and was blown away (last time I watched the show was back in 2000.)

i was a crying mess when Nicholas Christopher sang Bui Doi in act II. Wow. I hope he gets a nomination! I didn't know this but Hinton Battle, who performed the role of John back in 1991, won the Tony for Best Featured Actor. Alistair was great too! Overall loved the cast. ????

Is there an official word on whether Eva will always be out on those two days mentioned previously? Was hoping to catch it on a Tuesday night but might reschedule if she won't be in it.

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Is Eva on Wednesday afternoons or evenings?

Tomorrow, March 15, will have the first Wednesday matinee, so it remains to be seen if Eva will be performing. She performed the first night of previews, obviously, which was a Wednesday evening, and also last Wednesday evening, March 8.

Broadwaystar2 said: "Dave28282 said: "eatlasagna said: "That being said, I don't like the scene now when he comes in after the confrontation. It's just talking over music. It's like you spend the whole show singing everything than you just start talking. "

Great point! They need to be very careful with this. For some reason the director thinks this is realistic, when in fact, it's the opposite. The language has been singing from the start, and that illusion of sung thoughts and dialogue creates raw emotion. To ask from your audience to suddenly switch is kind of dangerous and takes people out of it.





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I feel this takes you out of the show, you should stop going to theater...LOL!!



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I think people who don't understand this artform should not work in theatre. This switching is like a slap in the face, slapping the audience out of the story/artform/illusion. The language of storytelling that has built up until that point. There is a reason it's sung. Speaking 4 words like a soap opera and then use a long vibrato on the 5th is not going to work.

dodger106 said: "After months of anticipation, saw the 3/14 preview (yes, the one where the helicopter malfunctioned), and was generally underwhelmed by the entire production. Part of it is staging, and the irritating tendency these days to build out stages that obstruct views, while concentrating so much action downstage where it is barely visible. (We literally could not see any of Kim and could only see the top of Chris' head in the final scene, although we could see everyone in front of us craning their necks trying to see SOMETHING. To stage such an emotional scene that way is just plain disrespectful to paying customers) And no, these seats were not marked obstructed view. But we were never able to really feel part of the show, which we should have been for what we paid for tickets. But more generally, the entire show seemed to lack energy and immediacy. Perhaps the show has not held up well after 20 years. Perhaps this production just lacks chemistry. Perhaps it's different when Jon Jon Briones performs (Billy Bustamante performed the role of the Engineer at our performance). But I have seen amateur productions of Miss Saigon where I have been far more moved than I was at this performance, and that's very disappointing. And I certainly hope they get the helicopter fixed by opening night.



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Very Interesting you just signed up yesterday for the boards and have such great hostility.