Something that annoyed me about Miss Saigon...

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:22am

This might be a nitpick, but was anyone else bothered by the ending of "Miss Saigon"?

After Kim shot herself, Chris ran to her and held her in his arms, which is all fine and dandy, but then he decided to kiss her on the lips...

Now, if I'm not mistaken, Chris is married to Ellen. So...did he just cheat on Ellen?

This irritates me because this is suppose to be a touching, heartbreaking scene.....but to me, it just made me want to say "Wow, Chris is such a douchebag".

I understand that Kim is dying and all, but kissing her (in the version I saw, it was a passionate one) on the lips? I mean, on the forehead would have been more appropriate....but on the lips? This just further proved Ellen's accusation that Chris was still in love with Kim.

If the scene didn't end right there, I'm pretty sure Ellen was furious and ended up divorcing him.

Anyway, what do you think?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:23am

Wow.

I'd like to think Ellen would be a little more forgiving than that.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:24am

I wouldn't consider kissing someone cheating.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:35am

Christ. Can we please make this place 21 and up?

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:36am

Fvck off, HorseTears!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:45am

I think HorseTears may have something.


And SM2, cursing is against board rules....


Troll alert

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 02:45 AM

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 3:02am

Well how would you feel if your spouse was kissing someone behind your back?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 3:25am

^If I was Ellen, and my husband had a kid with another woman, and she was dying, and my husband was trying to comfort her in her final moments - I don't think I'd mind much. Hell I'd kiss her.

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 03:25 AM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 3:36am

That annoys you? Really? A dieing woman is given a final kiss from the father of her child who has chosen another woman, and that annoys you? Huh.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 4:44am

Look at Ellen's side of the story. Her husband kept a huge secret from her, which was the fact that he married someone before her. So there's dishonesty and deception. Not only that, but Kim then commits suicide, and now Ellen has to help Chris take care of a child who is not even her own. Also, Ellen had to witness her own husband kissing another woman on the lips, passionately, and he didn't even consider how Ellen would feel about it. This just proves that Chris is still in love with Kim, not Ellen.

I'm pretty sure Kim would have been fine with a kiss on the forehead.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 5:20am

You joined to post this?

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:10am

What annoys me is that the staging makes it clear that she shot herself in the HEAD... Giving her enough time to sing a final song before dying?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:11am

How simplistice your world is BroadwayStar. A kiss in not something that breaks up most marriages. Might hurt feelings, sure, but marriages can survive it. And since he did it in front of her, it's honest and open.

LOTS of people raise children that aren't "theirs". Even at this time in history.

Does it raise questions for the couple? Sure. But do musicals (or movies, etc) have to end with a perfect bow on them? I think not. They likely WOULD have to work on their relationship -- but most couples do.

We don't know near enough about Ellen to know how she feels or how she would react. After all: THEY ARE FICTIONAL.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 11:17am

Broadwaystar, if even an extramarital kiss (post-mortem) bothers you, you should avoid Camelot, A Little Night Music, Follies, Company, Promises, Promises, How to Succeed, City of Angels, Chess, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Pal Joey, Fanny, House of Flowers, Candide, Irma la Douce, Do I Hear A Waltz?, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Stop the World I Want to Get Off, High Spirits, Pipe Dream, I Do, I Do, I Love My Wife, Seesaw, Chicago, Ballroom, Into the Woods, Falsettos, Nine, Steel Pier, Ragtime, Parade, The Wild Party, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, The Boy From Oz, Passion, The Gay Life, Two by Two, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene (among countless other musicals).

Because you will find them to be teaming with philandering "douches" who do a great deal more than just kiss.

And definitely forget about Madame Butterfly. And just about any other opera.

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 11:17 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 11:27am

Well how would you feel if your spouse was kissing someone behind your back?

You've moved the goalposts. Chris didn't do anything behind Ellen's back.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 11:43am

Appropos of nothing, but every production of Miss Saigon I've ever seen (including the Broadway production) has made it explicitly clear that Chris IS still in love with Kim. Much of act 2 is framed around this moral dilemma- he'd gotten used to life with Ellen (though never forgetting about Kim) and was very much in love with her, but the moment he returns to Saigon, all of those feelings return. That being said, I don't tihnk he'd ever cheat on Ellen (which further drives his dilemma), nor do I think a kiss to a dying woman is cheating.

Maybe I've been misinterpreting it all these years.

I always found the most unintentionally funny part of Miss Saigon (a show I really enjoy, by the way) to be the scene where Kim shows up at the hotel room, and Ellen immediately assumes the Asian woman at her door must be the maid.

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 11:43 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:26pm

Yes, I think all of the stuff Chris says to Ellen about how he was all confused and Kim was the only good thing he found in Vietnam etc etc was trying to convince himself as much as Ellen.

Also, then I guess Raoul divorces Christine after Phantom. Oh wait, no, he just becomes an alcoholic with a gambling addiction!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:38pm

Now, if I'm not mistaken, Chris is married to Ellen. So...did he just cheat on Ellen?

He didn't *just* cheat on Ellen. He cheated on her prior to the kiss at the end. Kim bore him a child. It wasn't an immaculate conception. I'll leave you to figure the rest out.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:56pm

Well, he impregnated Kim before he met Ellen. And he "married" Kim before the fall, so really, if anyone's been cheated on it's Kim.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:59pm

Thanks for refreshing my memory Phyllis. That is true. Haven't listened to this show and my memory is a little fuzzy on all the details.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 1:04pm

Tonight you will be Miss Saigon, baby.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 1:37pm

"And definitely forget about Madame Butterfly. And just about any other opera"

Though, to be fair, Pinkerton and his wife are a pair of world class a-holes in Butterfly, returning with the sole intention of taking the son back to America.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:16pm

So to make this clear. Chris told Ellen that he is still in love with Kim. Am I correct? So I guess Ellen wouldn't be so surprised if she saw that he kissed Kim. But then again, she must have been pretty hurt to know that her husband of 2 years was never really in love with her. So I'm pretty sure her feelings got hurt when he kissed her.

I've only seen Miss Saigon once last year, so my memory on this isn't that great.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 2:25pm

SporkG, POTO was the exact same example comparison that initially came to my mind. And I still don't understand why Christine kisses him in such a romantically passionate way...and twice, to boot.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 3:36pm

Come to think of it, I've seen three different productions of Miss Saigon and I don't think Chris even kissed Kim during the finale in all of them.