Miss Saigon lyric changes- Page 2

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:52pm

oh yeah... did you guys also know there was a soliloquy taken out fo the musical entirly for broadway?? it was in the show for a couple of years... i think... and then they got rid of it completely... it was right after Kim kills Thuy... during THIS IS THE HOUR, the company is actually erecting the statue up of Ho Chih Minh and then when the song is over, Kim sings her soliloquy... the lyrics go someting like this:

He is dead, he is dead
I have killed with these hands I have killed
Oh why, am I cold for this must be a judgment fulfilled
And why don't I cry
He's a man that I knew as a child
What horrors brought us here from the hills of our birth
You, Tam, my parents, all erased from the earth
Oh Chris today my fate as your wife has been sealed with your gun
Now wherever you are I will bring you your son
For still, I still believe by all the gods you wait for me my heart against all odds hold still
Come Tam, do not cry, we must start on our journey today
Where he is we will go and his light will be showing the way
The Engineer, he will know any price I am willing to pay

Then she runs off with Tam and IF YOU WANT TO DIE IN BED begins

The song was removed because it slowed down the show considerably... and it did... if you were ever to listen to it... the song is somewhat of a rececitive.... you can slightly here some of the tune of the song in the OLC recording when KIM interrupts the Engineer during IYWTDIB sequence when she comes in and sings (rather than just semi-sings it now when she enters)... "Engineer, Thuy is dead...." and during the nightmare sequence when she goes "Oh chris, I still believe..."

[Tag]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:01pm

Sort of OT but I didn't want to start a new thread.

Is the book of the musical available anywhere for purchase?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:12pm

Fascinating, eatlasagna. I never knew that and I thought I knew the show really well!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:14pm

eatlasagna: That is very interesting. I did not know that. You're right, it would've slowed down the pace of the story.

Updated On: 9/17/06 at 08:14 PM

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 1:38am

Thanks, eatlasagna...good thing they took that out.
There was one blocking I'm glad they changed. When Thuy was led to Kim's shanty, the soldiers literally destroyed the entire house on stage, no wood stud was left standing. This made the scene quite weird as you can imagine the next scene being played "in open air" on the street of Vietnam.

But there is one very touching song that I wish they kept. It is called "Too Much For One Heart" in which the intro melody is similar to "The Sacred Bird" and the rest is the same melody as "Please." It was sung by Kim to Tam after she found out that Chris was in Bangkok. It was taken out because of the same reason. The play was just too long. "Please" replaced that song.
You can see Monique Wilson and Lea Salonga sing this song in the "The Making" video. Lucky for the fans, Lea released the complete song commercially in her "The Broadway Concert" cd.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 1:42am

It's on the demo, too, but the one Lea sang was a little different.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 3:14am

musicaltheater1... interseting... i have a video of the london cast a year or two before closing and they tore down the entire set during that scene... it seems during broadway and the tours they changed it for some reason... anyways... that seems always intrigued me... i love it but some casts play it as "let's destroy the room" while others play it as "let's pretend we're doing stuff while she's blindfolded to scare her".... thoughts?

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 5:10am

Well, when I saw the show in Dublin (UK&Irl Tour) they didn't tear down the room, which is why I was a bit confused by all the banging and crashing noises on the Full Symphonic CD I got. I love the big rousing chorus of This is the hour there, it's great. There's just so much music in the show, it's unreal!

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 7:36am

"Now Tam, My brave boy, our long wait has ended,
Smile, Tam, for you have a father, at last."

When I saw this on Broadway and Manila when Lea Salonga reprised Kim, yet another lyric change from the CSR occurred albeit a very minor, nitpicky one. Instead of "My BRAVE boy" Kim sang "My BIG boy."

And in NOW THAT I'VE SEEN HER, the final line "Who's the man that I ALWAYS trusted, now I have to know" was restored, whereas the CSR dropped the "ALWAYS." I always wondered why the show kept on making those minor lyrical changes.

[clarky]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 8:48am

I don't think they changed the lyrics of NOW THAT I'VE SEEN HER on the CSR. I think the reason why the word "ALWAYS" is not there is because it got cut out of the song. If you listen carefully you will notice a cut in the song itself. I think the reason they did that, please don't shoot me for saying this, is because Ruthie didn't have the note. She is a fantastic singer, but there is a difference between belting a C or an E. Just my opinion.

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:00am

No shooting here, Clarky, but the first syllable of "TRUSTED" in the CSR as sung by Ruthie still goes up to the E (I checked on my keyboard, and I didn't hear a cut in the CSR). Personally, I prefer leaving the "ALWAYS" in the song. And I think when I saw the final performance in NYC, Ruthie sang NOW THAT I'VE SEEN HER with the "ALWAYS" in the final line, which, I'm pretty sure was in a clip available on that file sharing site some time ago. I just don't get why the creative folks bothered making these minor changes instead of leaving the songs well enough alone especially well into the run of the show.

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:03am

eatlasagna..that is interesting. I thought that scene was removed before the Broadway production opened. From what I've heard, it was changed bec. it was unecessary to create such a commotion and intimidation since Kim and the Engineer are going to be blindfolded and threatened to be shot anyway. Additionally, it wasn't technically working well with the "trucks" when the walls have to be demolished. The scene change became difficult and not seamless. Was "Too Much For One Heart" performed in one of your videos?

Updated On: 9/17/06 at 10:03 AM

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:28am

eatlasagna, just for clarification, that soliloquy you discussed in your post only appeared in the London production, correct? I think there was a picture of Lea in the MAKING OF MISS SAIGON book and the caption accompanying it quotes one of the lines from the soliloquy, but I'm pretty sure that entire recitative was excised from the show prior to its NYC mounting.

And, also, wasn't TOO MUCH FOR ONE HEART transformed into PLEASE before the London previews began?

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:33am

jsg03jd, that's correct. "Too Much For One Heart" never made it to the previews. That's why I'm so glad Ms. Salonga released the song in one of her albums.

[clarky]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 12:50pm

hey jsg03jd: I just listened to Ruthie's Ellen Song and the word "Always" is cut out. You can hear a click at that spot. Turn it really loud and you will see what I mean

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 2:36pm

yes... the soliloquy only appeared in the London version... i have several KIMS on tape singing this soliloquy... some other differences....

like i said... the opening went through a lot lyrical changes

BACK IN TOWN sequence went through lyrical changes as well as musical changes

the part where KIM sings now "can you take me to Chris we can leave here right now" went through some minor lyrical changes

people actually clapped after the song PLEASE which is odd

SUN AND MOON REPRISE actually had more lyrics... after the crescendo of music KIM sung (like in the duet)... "you are sunlight and I moon joined here" instead of going right into "brightening the sky with the flame of love"


also... some stuff... on broadway and on tour during Thuy's arrival after the ceremony.... some lyrical changes that always irked me because they did it like every actress... "we were promised at 13 the woman i've become is not the same" or sometimes they go "we were promised at 13 the woman I AM NOW is not the same"....

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 3:04pm

eatlasagna...do you have the lyrics to the original Sun and Moon Reprise before the revisions were made?

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 7:40pm

the lyrics are pretty much exactly the same... with just that one part added in

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 8:57pm

eatlasagna..pls..see PM.