Miss Saigon, Starlight Bowl/San Diego- Page 2

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 1:33pm

I have tickets for Sunday night... which is weird because I'm pretty sure I saw Sweeney last year on Sept. 11th too...

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 1:53pm

I'd like to drive down and see it, but I am a bit apprehensive due to the plane thing.

It'd be a LONG drive back afterwords and Saigon is a long enough show already.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 2:05pm

mmm... if it's that big of a deal you can stay at my house for the night...

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 2:14pm

Miss Saigon is playing at Lake Michigan College around here early next month.

http://www.lmcmainstage.org/

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 2:54pm

i'm getting excited... i'm going to see the show tomorrow on Sept. 10th!!!! woo hoo

[sdsm2006]

Posted: 9/10/05 at 7:03pm

I meant to add that we are using a real helicopter. It looks great. There was actually a moment on Thursday when a plane flew over just as the helicopter exited. It was a complete coincidence, but it was perfect timing. :)

[erikaamato]

Posted: 9/10/05 at 9:55pm

I've worked there, too, and yeah, the planes can suck... I was lucky, though. The show I did happened to coincide with some foggy weather, so there weren't as many planes as usual.

Actually, I was Hodel in the production of Fiddler that Elphaba mentioned! (Hi, Elphaba! So glad you liked the production!)

And sdsm2006 is right, it shouldn't be a big issue with Saigon, since it's almost a sung-through show. =)

~Erika

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/10/05 at 10:22pm

Be careful, CATSNYrevival - you might get a pair of strangers crashing on your floor.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:00am

I just got back. It's a very impressive production. They were having sound issues for the opening number, but it all seemed to have been fixed by "Movie in My Mind". Mics were going in and out and I could barely hear the ensemble. The sound guy was looking really stressed out, but he fixed it. The sets were all rented from the Fullerton Civic Light Opera so if anyone saw it there these were the same sets. I liked them a lot. One of the most impressive set designs I've seen at Starlight. The performances varied. I really enjoyed Jennifer Paz as Kim. She's been doing the show for a long time since the first national tour and she was great. She's got the role down. Heidi Meyer as Ellen actually surprised me. Ellen is such an un-likeable character, in my opinion, but she made me feel sorry for her tonight so that was a very interesting performance. She too has apparently played Ellen on Broadway. Carlos Mendoza as Thuy was my favorite. He gave a very chilling performance and was the only one on stage aside from Jennifer who seemed to understand how to sing the show. Jim Chatham was best as John during the act two opener, but not much else. And then there's Robert J. Townsend who in my humble opinion has a voice that would have been better suited to Madama Butterfly. Not a pop-opera. He has a fantastic voice but it was not right for this show/role. The Engineer was played by Victor Chan. I was expecting this part to be played by an equity actor, but it wasn't. Doesn't matter though because Victor was fabulous. Very funny when he needed to be and very emotional when called for. It was a perfect performance. Often times the ensemble needed to be much loader. this is a huge open air theatre and the sound gets lost very easily so they really needed some extra mics on stage or something because that was slightly disappointing not being able to hear them very well... especially for "This is the Hour". The helicopter effect was, I believe, the standard helicopter shell that landed center stage with the big search lights at the bottom. For a second all we saw was the search light and I though that was going to be the effect, but then the shell came flying in from stage right and the audience seemed most impressed. Over all I think the crew still has some light and sound cues to work out, but it should make for a great second week.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 5:03am

so i was at the show tonight as well... after seeing the show 20 times in various forms... i will say that i was EXTREMELY disappointed with this production... i found myself almost bored to death for most of the show which made me really upset... first off... why in the world were they using the Original London lyrics???? are they allowed to do that??? for the opening they sang the "tonight I will be miss saigon, tonight you'll be miss jumped upon" instead of the usual "one of us will be miss saigon, i spread the word it's miss saigon"... and Thuy's arrival was the "you're here it's true, it is as i was told" instead of the "you're here at last i've come to take you home"... kinda irked me a little... and as CATSNYRevival stated... major mic problems at the start of the show that really bugged the hell out of me as well...

let's see what else... the orchestra sucked... SUCKED... half started playing the music right after WHY GOD WHY when Kim wakes up and half started playing what they were supposed to have played which is WHY GOD WHY... the orchestra was really weak and it sounded like it half prerecorded music and half regular instruments... the music was EXTREMELY slow paced... made me want that synthesized crap the current tour used... the music just wasn't there... if this was the first time for me ever hearing the music.. i would have HATED it...

now the ensemble... they were also extremely weak... THE HEAT IS ON IN SAIGON was horribly boring... the actors just looked like they were walking around on stage aimlessly... their singing was also weak... THE MORNING OF THE DRAGON was almost embarrassing to me... it was painful to watch... and although quite impressive... they were also painful to watch and listen to during the helicopter sequence... aarrgh... i would definitely have to put all the blame on the director who i felt had no idea what this show is about... it should be fast paced when need be and slow when need me... he had his actors doing nothing.. or basically just making it up as they go along... there were alot of moments on stage where nothing happens... i hated how Bui Doi was staged.. basically the veterans come in and sing the opening of the song as usual but put chairs on stage... looked REALLY weird... i can go on and on...

as for the principals...

Jennifer Paz as Kim... i will always love her but I think she needs to move on from this role... she sounded tired and weak... which i wasn't expecting from her... very disappointed

Robert Townsend as Chris... i agree with CATSNYRevival... his voice is too operatic

Heidi Meyer as Ellen.... probably the best one out of all the leads... thought she was excellent in the role

Victor Chan as the Engineer.... weird that he got the third to last bow... i'm not surprised since Robert Townsend is apparently like a Starlight regular so they gave him the second to last bow with Kim getting last... but anyways... his Engineer was so boring... i never once thought of the engineer as a useless character until tonight... he brought absolutely nothing to this role... all he did was sing it... and nothing else... not acting no nothing... his American Dream, though, was slightly OK.....

Jim Catham as John... 2nd best thing in the show... thought he was great... still not used to seeing a white John but, eh... anyways... i liked him a lot... better then the current John on the tour

Carlos Mendoza as Thuy... didn't care for him... did more screaming then singing...

oh wait... now i remember something that i absolutely loved about this production.... how they staged Thuy's death... it was very well done.... the most dramatic i've ever seen it staged... and now i wish the original would have done it that way... gave me goosebumps... but pretty much all the productions have Thuy pull a knife on Tam... but this one he pulls a gun on Tam... when they first did it i was like "what the hell, they ruined another scene"... but man... seeing Kim and Thuy both point guns at each other was such a haunting image... and then when Thuy runs to get Tam he basically like jerks him from the bed and throws the boy to the floor and aims the gun at him and right when you think he shoots, Kim does the actual shooting... i'm getting chills just writing about it... so violent and beautifully staged.... but then it was ruined by the ensembles really weak THIS IS THE HOUR.... oh and something funny... when Kim kills Thuy this girl yells out something like "you go ahead"... hilarious!

all in all i'm glad i saw the show... i never miss it whenever it's around... i'm just upset because this production had so much potential but sadly it left me cold and empty... so disappointed... well i'm even more disappointed because i ended up going alone because my friend canceled at the last minute and i had this empty seat next to me the whole show.. how very sad...

[erikaamato]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 2:42pm

Ugh... Sorry to hear that. I've actually heard that this year the season in general wasn't so great. I only saw one production (Sound of Music...I had some friends in it), and I have to say it was underwhelming.

Too bad...

[Jon]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 2:58pm

Is this an Equity or Non-Equity production?

Because last I heard, Jennifer Paz was thrown out of the union for scabbing in the non-equity tour.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:07pm

Jon - You're right about Ms. Paz. Starlight is a non-union house that uses Equity Guest Artist contracts. (I worked there under that contract when I did "Hodel" for them a couple of years ago.) I'm sure they paid Ms. Paz Equity wages, though... Even though all the other poor non-union folks get next to nothing to perform there. *sigh*

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:11pm

i don't think i can ever see a show at the starlight bowl... i sitll can't get over the airplane thing... even though they kept perfroming Miss Saigon, i was still distracted by the planes... especially during the tender moments of the show... and the lyrics were inaudible at times when a plane went over... arggh.. why oh why is this a san diego tradition????

[otis33]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:20pm

The plane issue used to not be such a problem. But in the last several years, as air traffic became busier, the planes became much more frequent. I remember seeing shows where the planes were kind of fun, but few and far between.

It's too bad, because it can be a really great night out under the stars seeing theatre.

I agree, this season has not had many highlights. Sad to say, "Oliver!" was one of the slowest, unexciting productions I've seen in a while.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 3:50pm

I was still impressed with the helicopter and the car and the flashy sets for "What A Waste". that was enough for me to feel like I got that big glitter Broadway experience... and I'd never seen it prior so I suppose having nothing to compare it to helps...

and that alternate lyric thing baffles me. I can say though that I remember when they did their Jekyll & Hyde they used alternate lyrics for "Lost in the Darkness" that are not in the MTI scripts that they were using, but rather one of the pre-Broadway tour scripts... Updated On: 9/11/05 at 03:50 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 5:34pm

yeah... i was REALLY happy that WHAT A WASTE looked so glitzy... and i'm also happy they got a car for THE AMERICAN DREAM... but both songs were staged really crappy (well just when the car came out for the American Dream)...

[sdsm2006]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 11:58pm

Jennifer Paz, Robert Townsend, and Heidi Meyer are all members of Equity.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 12:00am

Wow, they let her come back?

[erikaamato]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 12:13am

That's news to me, too... The last I heard, maybe 3 months ago or so, was that they were continuing to deny her petition to re-join Equity because she "showed no remorse." Huh. Makes you think. Maybe I should drop my card, go on a non-union tour for a while, make some cash, then come back and re-join. I mean, if there are no consequences. :-P

[sdsm2006]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 12:30am

Quick note about the scenery - the scenery was originally designed and built for Pittsburgh CLO/ American Musical Theatre of San Jose/ Paper Mill Playhouse, not the Fullerton Light Opera. :)

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 12:35am

It'd be quite a feat for it to go back and forth between San Diego and Walnut Creek.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 12:49am

mmm... that's my fault. I got the CLO's confused...