Miss Siagon in community theatre??

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Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 2:54pm

A local community theatre has just announced their season which includes Miss Siagon. Now I love this show but it would be very difficult to mount this considering the amount of minorities needed, the staging, the music. A little ambitious for a community theatre.
Has anyone seen a regional or community production of this?
How did it turn out?

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 2:58pm

I have and it's actually pretty funny. In terms of the casting, you'd be surprised how many more Asian performers there are out there. And they're probably done the show about 12 times. But- the ensemble is often just a handful of actors, not the full size that a B'way production would have. So, for instance during This Is The Hour, you'll see like 5 actors onstage, and they'll pipe in additional pre-recorded voices to make it sound like 50. It cracks me up.

Also, the helicopter scene often involves just a film projection of a helicopter. That scene made me laugh as well.

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re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 3:22pm

well for years people have been putting on make-up and pretending to be siamese people in the king and i...but i don't know if that would go over well for miss saigon.

Updated On: 12/20/04 at 03:22 PM

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 5:01pm

I didn't know rights were available. MTI has it listed as restricted, or at least it did last time I checked.

I need to find a group around here that is doing it, then!

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 5:17pm

I didn't think the rights were available either, or if they were they wer probably very expensive.

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 5:21pm

I love reading bios for Miss Saigon. THey've all been in it many times before, along with King and I and Flower Drum Song. Sad Really.

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 5:31pm

I shudder at the thought of a community theater doing this show -- from the score to casting and staging...

That being said, I did see a quite moving (professional) staging of this show in the round outside of Chicago (Lincolnshire) that was amazing --- it proved you do not need to sets to make this "work" -- the helicopter and American dream scenes were inventive and the required simplicity of "theater in the round" made the best parts of this show work -- when it's primarily the 2 or 3 character driven scenes -- not the production numbers.

"Sir K, the Viscount of Uppity-shire...." -- kissmycookie

Updated On: 12/20/04 at 05:31 PM

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 5:33pm

I love bad community theatre! It's so hilarious. Have you ever seen Titanic in a community theatre?

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/20/04 at 6:21pm

diva, are you in Vancouver? I'm seeing the community theatre here do it in May. www.artsclub.ca. The Stanley is pretty prestigious around here but I've got my doubts about the set. The stage is really small. (The theatre used to be a movie theatre waaay back in the day.)

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#10

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 6:58pm

One of the community theatres where I live is putting it on. (I was so sad that I missed the auditions while I was on a trip.) I live in Hawaii, so at least there won't be a shortage of Asians for the cast! I am really looking forward to seeing it.

#11

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 9:41pm

We just caught a production of Miss Saigon at a local dinner theater in october. I went into it thinking they were probably going to blow a difficult show. But I was pleasantly suprised. The ensemble was amazing, and they had a helicopter, not a projecter.

#12

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 9:54pm

I also saw "saigon" at a dinner theatre outside of Baltimore(Toby's Dinner Theatre). It is also a theatre in the round and they had very inventive staging.

It was very good...the actors did a very good job, and...

THEY HAD A HELICOPTER(sort of). It was half of a helicopter that came from the side of the exits and had smoke and wind.

All in all it was very well done.

David walked into the valley With a stone clutched in his hand He was only a boy But he knew someone must take a stand There will always be a valley Always mountains one must scale There will always be perilous waters Which someone must sail -Into the Fire Scarlet Pimpernel

#13

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 9:58pm

I love reading bios for Miss Saigon. THey've all been in it many times before, along with King and I and Flower Drum Song. Sad Really.

Yeah, it'd be funny if it wasn't sad.

"I've got to get me out of here This place is full of dirty old men And the navigators and their mappy maps And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes While you stare at your books."

#14

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 11:12pm

Is it any worse than the school version of Les Mis? Like any 17 year olds should ever be singing Valjean! (No offense to anyone who's ever done the school version, I have just always thought it was a horrid idea.)

I also want to go on record as saying I hope the rights for Rent NEVER get released for community theatres to do. Anyone who's done community theatre knows why....Do you really want to hear the high school choir teacher playing Maureen? Or the eight billion teenage girls who will come to auditions with Rodgers and Hammerstein songs? Yikes! And, when there is a shortage of guys (happens a lot) having Angel played by a girl? I've done a ton of community theatre, and the idea of doing shows like Miss Saigon, Les Mis, and Rent is a nightmare.

Sorry if this post offends anyone, but come on!

There's always room for pathos - and jazz hands.

#15

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/22/04 at 11:23pm

I saw it at Toby's as well. Though I saw it in the first week to a half house so the energy was sort of low. They did a respectable job, and as far as community theater being able to do it, it is definitely possible.

They had at least one black person playing an Vietnamese girl, and it was fine.

#16

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/23/04 at 12:22am

They did a production of this at the PAC at my High School in New Jersey. They brought in Equity actors from NY, and the production turned out to be quite amazing actually--Broadway Quality. Helicopter and all that jazz, and lights and sets just absoutely incredible production. Singing, acting, everyone was amazing and blew me away.

#17

re: Miss Siagon in community theatre??

Posted: 12/23/04 at 8:45am

I saw the first post-Broadway production of Miss Saigon at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston. They had to do it in an old dumpy theater in the round because their main theater was under renovation.

It was one of the best productions I've seen in my 8 years as a subscriber. The simplified staging forced them to focus on the characters. It helped that they had top notch actors including many who had been in the Broadway cast. The helicopter was a simple strobe light in a doorway.

While TUTS is far from community theatre, my point is that the set and effects are not the key to this show. The key is getting quality performers. If a community theatre can do that, they will be fine. Of course, that's easier said than done.

Pass it on - Take a kid to a show.

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