Miss Saigon questions regarding the ending

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 5:33pm

I know the ending was changed between London and Broadway (maybe during previews? I can't remember). Can someone more familiar with the show than I explain what changed about it? Which ending does the current London revival use?

Updated On: 8/7/14 at 05:33 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 5:45pm

No matter which version, it still contains the bizarre logical fallacy that Kim shoots herself in the head and is still able to sing.

[THEATRICAL100]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 6:34pm

Wasn't there a little tizzy about what reprise or song Kim sang before she dies? Can't remember.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 6:40pm

In the videos I've seen, we never see Kim shoot herself. I assumed she shot herself in the heart. She doesn't get a song to sing afterwards like Eponine, just two lines and an embrace, if I recall.

[James885]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 7:26pm

The action of the ending wasn't changed between London and Broadway, just the music. The London finale 'The Sacred Bird' (which can be heard on the OLCR) was replaced when the show opened in NYC by a new song called 'Little God of My Heart', which was changed again a couple years later to the current 'Finale' (heard on the complete recording).

I never saw the show with 'Little God of My Heart' as the ending but I believe the staging for 'The Sacred Bird' and 'Finale' was very similar.

Updated On: 8/7/14 at 07:26 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/7/14 at 7:49pm

This youtube video has audio of most (all?) the different finales sung by Lea Salonga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzGfBDvHPeo

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 4:23pm

It appears that Kim shoots herself in the stomach the times I've seen it. But still, she's singing with a sucking chest wound. Shades of Eponine in "Little Fall...". I've read that the original sacred bird ending with Kim warbling about the gods drove director Nicholas Hytner crazy, so he asked for a revision for Broadway to make it more about Kim's devotion to Tam.