No more MISS SAIGON...- Page 4

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/27/21 at 3:19pm

Philip Kan Gotanda's play "Yankee Dawg You Die" is over 30 years old but still relevant. Of necessity, it is a play for the 1980s as one character had to have performed in the films of the 1940s. 

I saw the world premiere in 1987 at Berkeley Rep. This is a review of the 1988 Chicago production. Yankee Dawg You Die

 

[joevitus]

Posted: 4/27/21 at 9:35pm

dramamama611 said: "I didn't say ONLY, I said OFTEN only. A big difference. Your list of black experience plays/musicalsis wonderful - but as part of what I said was about how the weight carrying the black experience play must be exhausting. Not that they didn't exist. In making the comment, too, White people don't have to worry about speaking for their race when choosing roles. I was thinking more than about JUST the bway experience - but film and tv as well, and perhaps that felt overwhelming - I watch a lot of SVU."

Fair point, and I'm sorry for ignoring the distinction.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/29/21 at 4:17pm

LizzieCurry said: "No, but when it's very few Asian-centric shows offered at all, then it skews people's views. If you've only gotten to eat oranges out of season, you might KNOW intellectually there are better ones out there, but you've never had one, you might need convincing that they actually can taste good, andyou're not likely to try another."

You can't attribute the lack of Asian-centric shows on Miss Saigon or The King and I. Those shows are telling very specific stories. How can you make the authors responsible for not telling a story?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/29/21 at 10:13pm

(To all:)

Erin Quill, David Henry Hwang, Conrad Ricamora, Jaygee Macapugay, Francis Jue, and Sunny Hitt had a really good discussion on the BroadwayCon YouTube channel earlier today. Take 45 minutes to watch this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDyvhPKy-H8&ab_channel=BroadwayCon

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 1:56pm

As some on this board may know, I loved Miss Saigon for years and it was my favorite show. I read a lot of the criticism of it and felt that the show still had its merits. Now that I am older, it's been harder for me to deny its more problematic elements. Sure, it has some beautiful things to it and ultimately I think that the message is well-intended, but it's hard to ignore the racism and outdated aspects. I'm not just talking about the orientalist language and sexualization of Asian women, but things like the logo not even matching the Vietnamese language, the Vietnamese lyrics in the show essentially being gibberish until they were rewritten for the US tour, Japanese cultural ideas like bushido being applied to Vietnamese culture like all Asian cultures are the same, etc. When I saw the tour of the revival before COVID hit, I realized that this show will always have a place in my heart, but I have outgrown it. I am ready to move on.

Also, when I saw the tour recently I had this thought: Chris didn't have to sleep with Kim when they first met. Wouldn't it be interesting if the show changed it so that he didn't?

Updated On: 4/30/21 at 01:56 PM

[unclevictor]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 1:59pm

More miss Saigon please!!