Miss Saigon Previews Thread- Page 17

[Dave28282]

Posted: 4/15/17 at 5:42pm

RippedMan said: "Having Room 137 and the following bits be mostly spoken is just awkward. The lines are melodramatic. They need to be sung because listening to them I was cringing at the choices the actors were making. 

I'm not sure what the musical director told them, but her and Alistair both made some odd choices throughout the night."

This is a good and very important point. It really is awkward. I love this show, but during this scene I was completely thrown out of the story because of this bizarre choices.

I am worried that the director might have the delusion that speaking certain words in a sentence and then use vibrato in the last syllable makes it feel more raw/real for the audience. While actually it is very weird and you are forcing the audience into a style-clash and switch with them multiple times in 1 sentence. It's really weird building something up and than slap the audience in the face and then use vibrato on the last word again and expect to get away with it.

These lines really need to be sung. The language of choice is kind of operatic in this show. The singing needs to be embraced.

Another scene with these weird choices was right after Bui Doi where Chris speaks to John. Alistair then speaks: Is...this story....for......reeeeaaaaaaallllll (and literally uses a 5 second vibrato after 4 spoken words). Just sing the damn line and keep the last note shorter/more natural! That is what makes it natural in this language.

Really, is there no-one working there who understands this?

 

Updated On: 4/15/17 at 05:42 PM

[Dave28282]

Posted: 4/15/17 at 5:52pm

I found this Kim comparison clip on youtube. It really shows how in the past notes were actually embraced and notes told a story/emotion themselves. In this new production, it seems like the notes only get in the way of the speaking. Which results in something very forced, unnatural and amateurish. (basically the same travesty that happened in the les Mis film).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnpJp3PWCdw

 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 4/22/17 at 8:00pm

BUMP

Hey!  Are there windowcards available at the theatre?  I couldn't find anything about it online.