Miss Saigon Previews Thread- Page 5

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 10:44am

What time did the show get out? I was going to stay overnight, but it turns out I have somewhere to be the next day. So, I may have to take a late bus home 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:00am

"At the end of American Dream when the dream begins to dissipate he says, "Come on! We can make it great again!" "

Oh that's bad. I hope they take it out.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:07am

neon, I liked John in this production. He didn't over perform his big number, which was nice, unlike Chris who I found way too far over the top in the last third of the show.

 

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:13am

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "What time did the show get out? I was going to stay overnight, but it turns out I have somewhere to be the next day. So, I may have to take a late bus home "

Last night the show got out at around 10:50 but, as another poster stated, intermission was 30 minutes, likely due to a technical issue.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:30am

LizzieCurry said: "Dave28282 said: "BroadwayConcierge said: "Allow me to clarify: why is there a Trump reference in a show that takes place in wartime Saigon??"

The same reason why Flounder in The Little Mermaid says about Ariel: "She treats me like shashimi left over from last week". It's hip and happening to not take your own show seriously and make a fool out of your audience. 

If any show does this (deliberately taking your audience out of the show/deliberate distraction to make fun of something current) I find that extremely disrespectful and I can't help but wonder what the hell the creators must be thinking. I feel like they are doubting the power of their own show or don't take it seriously at all."

I agree with this post as much as I disagree with your other! 

 

"

That's not possible :) Because if you agree with this post, you would understand BroadwayConcierge's question too, or at least applaud his question.

Updated On: 3/3/17 at 11:30 AM

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:36am

BroadwayGuy12 said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "What time did the show get out? I was going to stay overnight, but it turns out I have somewhere to be the next day. So, I may have to take a late bus home "

Last night the show got out at around 10:50 but, as another poster stated, intermission was 30 minutes, likely due to a technical issue.

 

"

Okay! To those who were there on Wednesday, what was the time?

 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:44am

How was Rachelle Ann Go? Eager to hear about her especially since she'll be the West End's Eliza in Hamilton by the end of the year. Potential Tony nom there?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:49am

WhizzerMarvin said: "neon, I liked John in this production. He didn't over perform his big number, which was nice, unlike Chris who I found way too far over the top in the last third of the show."

 

Cool- thanks for the response!

 

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:50am

WhizzerMarvin said: "neon, I liked John in this production. He didn't over perform his big number, which was nice, unlike Chris who I found way too far over the top in the last third of the show.

 

 

"

That's too bad.   I saw Chris Peluso in the London company toward the end of the run and thought he was an excellent Chris.

 

 

 

Updated On: 3/3/17 at 11:50 AM

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 12:25pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "BroadwayGuy12 said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "What time did the show get out? I was going to stay overnight, but it turns out I have somewhere to be the next day. So, I may have to take a late bus home "

Last night the show got out at around 10:50 but, as another poster stated, intermission was 30 minutes, likely due to a technical issue.

 

"

Okay! To those who were there on Wednesday, what was the time?

 

 

"

It was about 30 minutes on Wednesday also.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 12:26pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "How was Rachelle Ann Go? Eager to hear about her especially since she'll be the West End's Eliza in Hamilton by the end of the year. Potential Tony nom there?"

Is that role really long enough to warrant a Tony nom? I feel if anyone has a real featured role, it's Ellen and John. Chris also comes off as a lead character to me, honestly.

 

[kdogg36]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 12:44pm

neonlightsxo said: "Oh that's bad. I hope they take it out."

Yeah, if that's still in there when I see Miss Saigon, I'll be booing a Broadway show for the first time in my life.

 

[matineeidol2591]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 12:44pm

For those interested in rush: 

I arrived at 8:45 this morning.  I was 10th in line if I'm not mistaken. Line was snaked around the theatre down the west side of 53rd by 10am. 

I purchased two rush tickets. They're partial view on the extreme sides of the Orchestra. I'm in row J.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 1:03pm

For those who were there the first couple of nights: How was the house? Full, mostly full, lots of empty seats?

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 1:19pm

carolinaguy said: "For those who were there the first couple of nights: How was the house? Full, mostly full, lots of empty seats?"

 

Very few empty seats.

House right seats may miss out on some of the early Kim/Chris scenes. They staged those really far stage left and even though I was sitting a little house right, I had some issues with nightlines. The person sitting to my right couldn't see any of those moments.

 

[Skip23]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 3:52pm

Briones IS the show. It comes alive when he's on. And I cant shake his performance. I was as much saddened by his failure at the end as I was by the other sad ending. 

 

Kim needs to pop, and this girl doesnt. There's a reason why Chris says: "Jesus John who is she?!". She's pleasant and efficient - irritating vibrato and all, but nothing more. 

 

The Chris ends up being a physically overdirected wind up toy. Remember -  Less is sometimes more. 

 

Show really is too long. Those endless recitatives between Kim and Chris and the military dance go on WAY too long. 

 

The John was underwhelming. I actually liked Ellen. Except for that boring song she is forced to sing. 

 

I may have to see Jon Jon again. 

 

 

 

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 5:35pm

My longer opinion:

I went in worried this would be "Miss Saigon Light". I knew they were going to tour this set and I was concerned it wouldn't live up to the memory of the original. While this was very different, it worked. The show has a beautiful score and story. The characters are great and I found myself getting sucked into the drama and occasionally shedding a tear.

Some thoughts - both good and bad:

-They use glow tape for spike marks EVERYWHERE. If you're in the mezz, when the lights go dark the stage is a sea of spike marks. I think it's sloppy. It took me out of things.

-The set pieces that slide in on stage right and stage left - the big huts - they never fully leave the stage. I was dying for a black curtain - anything - to cover them up during the scenes that take place in America, etc. When I saw pics of the set I was worried this would be the case and it was.

-They have changed lyrics in every song. It started to drive me insane. In some cases they were replacing really great lines with bad ones. "Can I end this journey please?" is now "This is too much for one heart." It's strange and I don't know why they messed with the libretto.

-That leads to my biggest pet peeve: the majority of the cast was adlibbing incessantly. They would insert lines in places where none were needed. This makes sense for the engineer but it happened non-stop. At one point Ellen sings something like, "But she loves him." and john just says, "I know." His interjection was unnecessary and threw off the momentum of the song. To me this shows that the cast or director don't trust the writing. Which is foolish.

-Morning of the Dragon was great.

-Helicopter scene was great - helicopter has a much larger range of motion in this version and it's cool.

-Lighting was ON POINT.

-The audio was distant in the first 15 minutes. It eventually got louder but we want this show to be loud. We want to hear this score!

-Performances were uniformly good. The role of Chris just sucks. He's kind of a weak and ****ty person. Allistair does a good job of making Chris' choices seem believable.

-The final moment of the show was well staged. It wordlessly wrapped up everyone's story. 

-The chorus in this is HOT. Wow. The guys have some serious muscle. The Mormon boy in the second act. Damn. I was really impressed overall with the chorus' performances. I rarely say that but it's really worth noting here. Everyone was really solid in their character choices even if they were playing soldier #5 or prostitute #3. Bravo!

-American Dream isn't the showstopper I remember from the original but it was still good. The ending was weird to me. The audience ate it up!

 

Those are my thoughts. I hope everyone can catch this. I'm a tough critic and I'm so glad I went.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 5:44pm

Oh, that's interesting. Too Much For One Heart used to be a solo for Kim, but (I think) it was cut before the OLC even started previews. Lea Salonga sings it in concerts frequently.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 6:47pm

"Too Much for One Heart" was a solo for Kim and director Nicholas Hytner thought it was slowing down the show so he wanted to pull it out. The melody was recycled as the song "Please". In the new version, the lyrics from both are sort of combined. 

[Dave28282]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 7:22pm

theatregoer3 said: " They insert lines in places where none were needed. At one point Ellen sings something like, "But she loves him." and john just says, "I know." His interjection was unnecessary and threw off the momentum of the song. To me this shows that the cast or director don't trust the writing. Which is foolish."

I have seen this happen and it is extremely annoying. I agree, the writing does the work perfectly, and that is the artform here. For characters to add a forced, silly spoken "I know" in between a sung line is such a style clash. It's like a pingpong game between embracing the artform and apologizing for it. That is ruining the emotional truthfulness that was built up by the sung line of Ellen in this case. 

It's like the director doesn't understand that realness/truthfulness in this artform does not come from talking realistically, but from embracing the artform. Why is the director so ashamed of the material?
 

Updated On: 3/3/17 at 07:22 PM

[Broadwaystar2]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 10:24pm

You are a FOOL!

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:19pm

Dave28282 said: "It's like a pingpong game between embracing the artform and apologizing for it. That is ruining the emotional truthfulness that was built up by the sung line of Ellen in this case. 

It's like the director doesn't understand that realness/truthfulness in this artform does not come from talking realistically, but from embracing the artform. Why is the director so ashamed of the material?"

 

Yes  Yes  Yes  Could not have said it better. Thank you!

 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:25pm

Is this the same kind of ad-libbing/over-interjectionitis that happened in the last Les Miz revival?

[matineeidol2591]

Posted: 3/3/17 at 11:57pm

This was a total snooze fest. disappointing from start to finish. flimsy/cheap theme park set, melodramatic performances, tired direction, and the biggest travesty- a very sad sounding orchestra.  save your money and watch the bootleg floating around with will chase and lea salonga. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/4/17 at 12:01am

I didn't think the orchestra in the sitzprobe video sounded sad