Miss Saigon on Broadway - Closed on January 28, 2001- Page 2

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:45am

MY FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saw it on tour too many time to count... and only once on Broadway, the July before it closed. I remember my friends and I who were visiting just couldn't believe it would ever close, but then we saw the Broadway cast.... (an Asian Ellen? that was weird)... weak leads, a lot of different lyrics then those of the tour... and in an audience full of military (it was fleet week or something)... no standing ovation.... one of only maybe 6 shows I've ever seen that didn't get a standing ovation... so disappointed... anyway we understood why it was closing then... they couldn't keep up the show to the original standard.

I think that also explains why there have been so many haters over the years, they never saw the same show that we saw our first time..... it's the only reason I can think of, cause it's my favorite show of all time!!!! love it to death

Movie In My Mind - my favorite too....

and why don't I have a copy of this final performance???? lol

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:18am

@jsg03jd i've never seen Luoyong Wang as the Engineer... i've only heard many of his performances and know what you're talking about... luckily i know the lyrics to the whole damn show so I know what he's saying but to other I would think they would get confused... anyway... how was his actual portrayal of the character? dude seemed to have played the role for the last five years of the run!

anyway... like i said I never saw it on broadway but i saw the tour numerous times... my favorites have been:

Joseph Anthony Foronda and Kevin Gray made sensational Engineers... as did Jon Jon Briones and Johann Michael Camat in the non-equity tour

Jen Paz, Kristine Remigio and Mika Nishida were excellent KIMs... I also liked Kym Hoy although she had a very husky voice (for lack of a better word)

Steve Pasquale is my favorite Chris... he is the only person I ever saw that not only sang and acted the role beautifully.. but had the perfect look for the role... and i liked that he was young ... i also enjoyed Peter Lockyer

Tami Tappan and Andrea Rivette were some great Ellens

Allan Hong is probably the best Thuy I have ever seen... loved his voice and he played the role so perfectly

Keith Byron Kirk and Eugene Barry Hill played excellent Johns

[Sean2]

Posted: 1/29/11 at 3:25am

..And at the other end of it, the very beginning -- I managed to get a very back row stalls ticket for the opening night of 'Miss Saigon' in London, before anything was known about it. I remember that every time Lea Salonga opened her mouth and sang I stopped breathing. That must be what angels sound like.

I'm glad she was able to stay with the show for so long, all the way to the end. That sounds like it was a pretty exciting performance!

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/30/11 at 9:25pm

Mr. Wang was sufficiently sleazy and unctuous as The Engineer. He was slim and was very, well, slinky onstage. He was good, but like I said, his diction bothered me big time. He played the role for a long time; it was a steady gig so I could see why he stayed in SAIGON until the production closed.

I wish I saw Steven Pasquale as Chris! He'd talked about how difficult the role was and how it destroyed many a young man's voice in some profile on Broadway.Com (I think or some other site). I saw SP in a reading of Michael Arden's musical at Joe's Pub and hearing him sing there, I imagine he was an amazing Chris. Having said that, I had no complaints with Will Chase: he and Sean McDermott were my favorite Chrises on Broadway.

Norm Lewis was my favorite John followed by Hinton Battle. I liked Billy Porter too.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 1/30/11 at 10:32pm

I saw the original production 8 times--1st national tour three times (L.A.); 2nd national tour twice (San Diego & Costa Mesa, CA); the Broadway production twice; and an excellent, nearly perfectly reproduced, large-scale regional production in Redondo Beach, CA in 2008.

I'd say of all three official Cammack U.S. productions, the strongest cast and production-wise was definitely the 1st national tour. Unfortunately, the helicopter effect was very weak on Broadway. It was nice in the 2nd national tour, but it was breathtakingly realistic in the 1st NT. I'll never forget that sight of it landing on the Ahmanson stage. I was seated front row center and felt like ducking like the cast does during that scene as it seemed like the real thing that moment you first see it emerging. Then you know it's an effect but are still completely awestruck by the realness of it all. My heart would pound so hard during that scene, lol.

But that's not at all why I liked the show. Yes, the stage effects were impressive and anyone who hasn't seen the original live has missed out on some of the most impressive stage craft ever, but the real draw for me was the story and the gorgeous music. Sure, there are a handful of truly awkward songs and it seems to have q million cheesy love ballads, even if there are only 2 between Kim and Chris. But the heart wrenching story not only forces one to reflect on those kinds of situations which really occurred but Kim's naive optimism and youth, mixed with her tragic life is the thing that gets me all the time.

I very much enjoyed the original L.A. cast and still think Kevin Gray is one of the best Engineers. Tami Tappan was incredible! She added so much nuance to her acting, you almost forgot she was singing. Not only that, she had a very strong, clear, and expressive voice.

I recall being horrified by Peter Lockyer's prepubescent-sounding voice after seeing a preview clip of the show on television. I was relieved when I saw it live and was impressed by his beautiful voice and passionate portrayal of Chris.

Jen Paz was similar to Lea Salonga in that she had this voice that could belt the crap out of any note one second then sound completely angelic and soft the next. I saw her as Kim in the regional production mentioned above in 2008, years after first seeing her Kim in 1995, and she was incredibly still very believable in the role and her voice was still impressive. I wish I could have seen that production more than once. probably the very last opportunity to see anything even remotely resembling the design,scale, and majesty of the original production. The helicopter effect wasn't as sophisticated as in the original production but it was more impressive than what I remember seeing on Broadway.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 3:43pm

My favorite Engineer is Jon Jon Briones, though keep in mind I haven't seen all of them.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 5:17pm

Leo Valdez is supposedly CamMack's favorite Engineer. Considering he played the role in London, UK Tour, Sydney, Melbourne, Manila, HK, and Singapore engagements, I wouldn't doubt that. Of the ones I've seen, I've liked his and Kevin Gray's interpretations.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/31/11 at 5:36pm

i love the fact that jon jon briones was in the original london cast!! in fact, if you watch the Making of Miss Saigon you can catch a glimpse of him.. so young! haha... and i loved his Engineer!

[darkfacegood]

Posted: 2/23/11 at 3:56am

So I'm like a month late on this post... don't know how I overlooked it.

As an alumni of the Broadway cast, I'm going to be totally biased and say that Miss Saigon is my favorite show. My brother and I were Tam; him from 91-92 and I from 93-95. Being at the 4,000th and closing performances was like going to a really big family reunion. I can't believe that was 10 years ago!

Again, I'm going to be totally biased when I say that my favorite actors/actresses are the ones that I worked with:
Engineer- Herman Sebek, Raul Aranas, Ming Lee, Alan Muraoka, Luoyong Wang
Kim- Lea Salonga (I didn't actually work with her, my brother did, but she is the original Kim), Leila Florentino/Annette Calud, Rona Figueroa/Emy Baysic. I also rehearsed with Joan Almedilla, Deedee Lynn Magno and several of the new/alternate/understudies.
Chris- Sean McDermott, Christopher Peccaro, Jarrod Emick, Eric Kunze, Peter Lockyer
John- Timothy Robert Blevins, Keith Byron Kirk, Norm Lewis
Thuy- Jason Ma, Yancey Arias, Michael K. Lee
Ellen- Jane Bodle, Candese Marchese, Tami Tappan, Misty Cotton

Broadway Cast 1994

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 2/23/11 at 11:25pm

I was fortunate to see the farewell performance and what a performance it was...powerful and emotional! What a beautiful show! Lea Salonga was flawless. Will, Michael (Thuy), Charlene (Gigi) & Ruthie were amazing! A few things that stood out, Luoyong sounded exhausted, the microphone picked up a bar girl's comment "I hate that song. I really, really hate that song" (refering to Dju Vui Vay). Some of the bar girls actually took off their tops during "What A Waste". Their backs were towards the audience. The Finale was so powerful, after Will screamed No, we all gave them a standing ovation right away. Confettis fell, Cam Mac and Alain Boublil spoke, and we went straight to the cast party attended by most of the Miss Saigon actors from past and tour productions, including some from former European productions. What a great party!

[nealb1]

Posted: 2/24/11 at 5:33pm

One of my all time favorite Broadway musicals. I saw it twice shortly after it opened - the first week of May 1991. Loved it!!!

The first time I had heard of the show was Fall of 1989 when I read a review of it in "Time" magazine. I went to The Wherehouse in Burbank and bought the double cassette and was hooked on the show. When the Broadway tickets went on sale a year in advance, I mailed in my order, and then the show was cancelled. The official announcement was saying that all ticket orders had to be sent back. I never did and the show opened as planned.

Finally seeing the show was so surreal - something I had waited so long for and loved every minute of it. In 1997 when a friend of mine was cast in the show that I had done shows with here in LA. He gave us the full backstage tour - upstairs in all the dressing rooms, under the stage, the pit, and the very raked stage.

A very dear friend of mine saw the very first performance of "Miss Saigon" in London. The first preview of the show was cancelled, and he had a ticket to what would have been the 2nd performance, but it turned out to be the 1st performance as a result of the cancellation.

Great memories of a great show! Thanks for posting this thread.

[IThespis]

Posted: 2/26/11 at 9:55am

It was a grand Broadway show! In time we'll see a big Broadway revival. Many in the business feel the score is far superior to Les Miz. I'd agree.