Miss Saigon Previews Thread — Page 3

Toti Driver (Set Designer) was seated next to me. We chatted a bit before the show and during intermission. Such a sweet lady. I also saw Bob Avian (Staging) standing in front of me by the orchestra pit as people were leaving.

I thought this production was amazing. Eva was crying during room 317 and I could see the tears rolling down her face. The stage was very high, but a lot of action takes place down stage. The helicopter is amazing!!!! Everyone came outside after the show to take pictures and sign autographs.

Regarding the set design.. I haven't seen this production in person, just through YT clips and of course the filmed version. I did see the 90's version on Broadway and a number of times during it's full scale tour. I think time has made the memory of the original seem bigger than it really was. The majority of the action took place on small sets dwarfed by a huge stage framed by white blinds.. The lightning fast transitions and epic story of the show, plus the "big" moments (Morning of the Dragon, Bangkok, The Fall of Saigon, The American Dream) gave it a larger than life feel. From what I've seen the staging of the new version holds up to the original, just without the automation. I'm excited to see it in person.

I was not much a fan of this musical when I saw it the first time. After last evening, I'm still not. As before, it's turgid and heavyhanded. On the positive side, the score contains some pretty melodies, and the tear jerking elements still jerk tears. Eva Noblezada and Alistair Brammer both sang beautifully and gave affecting performances. I've never understood why the character of the Engineer was given so prominent a part in the proceedings. He's really incidental to the main story, and his dime-store cynicism wears thin early. Jon Jon Briones was less outsized than Jonathan Pryce, but he scored his laughs and did his big number well.

All told, I'll take Madama Butterfly.

I've never understood the hate. Even those who dismiss the show admit the score is gorgeous. I guess people associate this with the over the top mega-musicals of the late 80's-early 90's, which it surely was, but there is so much to love beyond the spectacle.

I first saw this show at the matinee on the day before the Tonys, and then saw it countless times on Broadway and on tour after that. I'm looking forward to seeing the revival next month. Sometimes I call the show a guilty pleasure, but I'm not sure how "guilty" to really feel about liking it. I compare it to Wicked in at least one aspect: there are things wrong with both of them, but the central idea in both is so solid that the shows just work, even if in spite of themselves at times.

I love everything about Schonberg's score. The music is even more accomplished than Les Mis to me, since it's a little more specifically tuned to its setting and story. Much as I love Les Mis, let's face it, the music is (very pleasant) theater pop that could be placed in any number of contexts. And I'll admit, I also enjoy the spectacle but there's a real balance there with intimate character scenes. (Much as in Wicked, I love to see Elphie fly, but it doesn't mean I don't still find "For Good" the best and most effective number in the show.) There are also many opportunities in Miss Saigon for talented performers to really show their chops and there are some terrifically tense scenes.

All that said, the show can be a bit heavy-handed at times. It's essentially a big soap opera set to music, which you just have to accept for what it is, but scenes like the "Bui Doi" number cross over into the obviously manipulative. (I remember some critic likening it to a UNICEF ad and now that's all I can think of every time I hear that song.) But my biggest problem is the lyrics. They do their job, but sometimes not very artfully. Some things just grate and they haven't been fixed with the revisions. Thuy's lines "You must decide upon/Which side you're really on" are a syntactical torture, don't really rhyme, and don't make any sense--is there any doubt of which side Kim is "really on"? And it's not my job to rewrite the show, but even in the new song "Maybe" there's a weird lyric: "Back when we met/You were broken and wild/And I held you at night/And I ached when you cried". Obviously wild and cried are supposed to rhyme but don't, so wouldn't it be more effective for Ellen to sing "You were broken inside"? To me, that has a little more pathos and actually rhymes. But anyway. (FWIW, overall I actually like "Maybe" a little better than the old number, just because Ellen's reaction of "What if I'm the other woman?" feels truer in the situation.)

But despite the shortcomings, the show just has an emotional pull that works for me and I really anticipate seeing it next month, while enjoying others' comments on the preview period.

Whizzer, how was Nicholas Christopher?

Auggie27 said: "Carolinaguy's post is spot on, for my money. I think the soapiness is cut by the Engineer, whose wisely employed both as a character in traditional book scenes, and an explication-delivering host, post Cabaret MC. If he's not entirely original, he's used in very compelling ways, and the placement of "American Dream" late in the show, just when the melodrama crescendos lifts the show out of bathos. But the tears this musical provokes are all earned. It manipulates because the history is accurate. And accurate history, even if reductively distilled into Butterfly's construct, is worth our time in a musical, at least to me.



"

Very well said!

I am so looking forward to seeing this. My friend and I have tickets for Saturday night, April 29th. I first saw the show in May of 1991, twice - right after it opened and before it won it's 3 Tony Awards.

broadwaybaby11 said: "I spontaneously went to the theater yesterday around 5:30pm and managed to walk away with 2 rush tickets - Orchestra Row S.

As a whole, I was blown away by the performance.



"

WOW!!! Thanks for the tip...

Nick is one big reasonI want to see this production alomg with it being one of my favorite scores. Became a fan of his after seeing him in the RENT revival.

WhizzerMarvin said: "This production feels a lot less like a revival and more like a stop on the 3rd national tour- which isn't really an insult, but rather a remark on how familiar and safe it all feels. It's not a slavish recreation, but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table either. You won't see anything you wouldn't expect to see from any production of Miss Saigon. It's being presented as a sort of comfort food and ends up being just kind of there, albeit in a very professional way.

...

I think this production might please the fans who want to hear the score again, but next time they revive the show I would like to see something new done with it. "

I agree with what you said about it being a bit too much of the same as other productions. I didn't understand what the cast meant when they said that this production is grittier than the previous ones.

I saw the London and Japanese production (both in the last 2 years). I must say that Kim and Chris in the new production are way less intimate. I've never seen the original production but growing up Asian and a theatre kid, I've seen many clips of previous productions. In this production I felt like Sun and Moon and Last Night looked very unnatural. The staging didn't quite give me the chills that other productions did (even though the set looked amazing and the music had me in an emotional wreck, goddammit Claude Michel and Alain Boublil).

I think Eva is great. Her voice is definitely something more than what I've ever heard and she would kill it in the right role, but Miss Saigon (in my opinion) is not one of them. Her version of Kim as a mother is good, I think she does it well but her Kim falters quite a bit when she's with Chris. Eva's portrayal of Kim has way too much strength and it didn't sit so well with me. I really think she'd be amazing or even Tony quality, if she was in a show like Rent or Wicked. BUT JON JON. You are gonna love him. He was fantastic.

The production overall had me in tears the moment the helicopter sounded. The music is amazing, kudos to the one in charge of orchestrations because it was heartbreakingly fantastic. The nightmare scene was done so cleverly and literally has you on the edge of your seat. To anyone who is going to watch it, please enjoy it. Although I did just roast quite a lot of the show, I was still so captivated by it. The visual effects are incredible but oh the music. It's the music that gets you right there.

I see a possible Tony out there for Jon Jon, set design and orchestrations.

Billy Bustamante and Nkrumah Gatling are fabulously talented, so should Briones or Christopher be out, they're in good hands.

Are the characters of Fifi and Dominique the previously unnamed, generic "bar girls"? They're not named in The Heat Is On.

Question for anyone who has seen the London revival, or the DVD or Blu-ray of said revival: From a production standpoint, does this seem like the London production has come here in tact, or is it scaled back?