Miss Saigon and racism — Page 8

"As for the idea that it is worth doing Miss Saigon in order to remind people of the shame of the Vietnam War, nonsense. There are better shows. To name only a few, read: The Trail of the Cantonsville Nine by Daniel Berrigan, Viet Rock by Megan Terry, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, Sticks and Bones, Streamers all three by David Rabe, and Tracers conceived by John DiFusco and written by eight soldier who fought in Vietnam..."

All capable of filling 1500 - 2000 seats in St. Louis, Wichita, Sioux City, Columbus or even Providence? Comparing the sociopolitical impact of a wildly popular romance-centric piece of musical theater with Megan Terry's work or even Rabe's is faintly ludicrous. MISS SAIGON, whatever its warts, and they have been intelligently documented in this thread, is a successful piece of pop-culture, an entertainment that like SOUTH PACIFIC draws masses and yes, manages to make its critical points about hegemony, imperialism and racism/sexism. (Lest we forget, the 11 o'clock spot is a blistering indictment called "The American Dream.") It's at best an imperfect show, but it's popular because with accessibility and dramatic expediency it tells a strong tale and underscores the myriad prices paid for blighted, immoral policy, one still part of our global dialog. Via pop operetta, its lessons are visited on a general audience that wouldn't get anywhere near "Sticks and Bones" or "Streamers" (my personal favorite). I respect and defer to the POV about its deficiencies. But since it's not going away, I pragmatically look for its value. And maybe we can get the Roundabout to do any one of the Viet Nam-focused plays noted above. We are overdue to be reminded of that debacle in our theater, and from my observations, it's assiduously avoided, even as parallels mount with the foreign policy implemented in that last decade. I'd pay to see any of them.

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Updated On: 7/24/14 at 09:11 AM

South Florida: it would REALLY help if you could differentiate the previous poster's question from your answer, either with italics or quote marks.

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Given the discussion of Vietnamese v. Japanese v. Filipino peoples, I'm surprised that nobody has compared Kim to Bloody Mary. The latter was of course originated by the one and only Juanita Hall, an African-American (who later also played in FLOWER DRUM SONG).

Bloody Mary is actually "Tonkinese", a word we don't use much any more except to refer to cats. In the 1940s, It actually referred to people from the Bay of Tonkin in Northern Vietnam. (James Michener's book makes this clear.)

In other words, like Kim, Bloody Mary was Vietnamese (and like many Vietnamese had emigrated originally to work for French colonials in the Pacific islands). So we have two iconic female Vietnamese characters who are rarely played by Vietnamese-American actors.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 08:05 PM

I have major hesitations over the idea that Broadway is a haven from ignorance, nationalism, and racism. That's not to say that Broadway is ignorant, nationalistic, or racist, but it IS pretty bland, and not particularly inclusive. I'm sure the flocking hordes might be titillated by Kinky Boots but that's about as far as it goes - anything past that would push away the Disney crowds, and they've got the wallets.

Thank you, Gaveston for that really critical piece of this story. If there's one actor who pulls all of these issues together (well, at least for stimulating discussion) it's the late, great Juanita Hall. The idea that she played both Asian roles is fascinating, particularly since African-American actors couldn't routinely be cast non-traditionally in substantial "white" parts during the era in which Hall worked successfully. So in order to work as a black woman, she played (and famously) roles that deprived Asian actors of opportunities. (Not a charge, a neutral observation.)

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Thank you for the correction, StageManager2. Even as I typed my post, I had an image in my head of Hattie McDaniel in the 1936 B&W version (my favorite), but I convinced myself I was confused.

Holy. Thanks for sharing that! I'd missed it.

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Hooray for Ben Rimalower! #truth

Updated On: 8/3/14 at 10:15 PM