Touring Miss Saigon In San Francisco

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 3:56am

Just returned from my theatre group outing to Miss Saigon at San Francisco's Orpheum theatre and was VERY impressed.  Across the board excellent.  Sets, choreography, orchestrations, cast, et al.  Only quibble was the sound mix was out-of-balance now and then (we had excellent seats in the first and second rows of the loge).  Several MS ''virgins" were in the group and they were very excited about the production.  Having seen the original production many moons ago I felt that this iteration was the stronger of the two. 

POSSIBLE SPOILER: Also loved that the final bow was given not to the characters of Kim or The Engineer, but to Tam.  The child actor, Justin Chen was wonderful in the non-speaking/singing role. 

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 8:06am

I saw the Broadway revival twice and enjoyed it. I wish they'd announce the rest of the tour stops.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 8:58am

Sho-Tunes-R-Us said: "

POSSIBLE SPOILER: Also loved that the final bow was given not to the characters of Kim or The Engineer, but to Tam. The child actor, Justin Chen was wonderful in the non-speaking/singing role.Â"

 

Tam has gotten the last bow from the beginning, in the original production.

 

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 9:00am

Lot666 said: "I saw the Broadway revival twice and enjoyed it. I wish they'd announce the rest of the tour stops."

Here are the dates through August:

 

Miss Saigon tour

Whether there are actually more dates to come depends on how the first year goes I guess.

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 10:38am

carolinaguy said: "Lot666 said: "I saw the Broadway revival twice and enjoyed it. I wish they'd announce the rest of the tour stops."

Here are the dates through August:

Miss Saigon tour

Whether there are actually more dates to come depends on how the first year goes I guess."

That yellow "More Dates Coming Soon" banner at the bottom of the list has been there for as long as I can remember. 

[yesraccoons]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 11:02am

Does anyone have any word on rush for this show? Or how it usually is for shows at this theater?

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 11:36am

Glad to hear you enjoyed it.  I saw the recent revival twice and loved it.  Also saw it back in 1989 in London when it first opened and 1991 when it first opened in NYC.  I bought my NYC tickets a year before it opened, and then it was cancelled.  Remember all that?

Yes, it's a great moment when the final bow is given to Tam.  I remember that from 1989 and 1991.  The audience roars with approval.  Looking forward to seeing it again when it comes here to LA next year.  

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 4:25pm

yesraccoons said: "Does anyone have any word on rush for this show? Or how it usually is for shows at this theater?"

Great rush policy.  Click on link and scroll down.  

https://www.shnsf.com/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=miss-saigon&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6fvdBRCbARIsABGZ-vT2VmJu65mhOC0KNxGlQeN3pH4K5EYtaBXzjHzYj2h1ysirU-GOZb4aAvTcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 4:44pm

My quibble with this revival remains to be the the many lyric changes, most of which are pedestrian, and the horrendous new song for Ellen. I actually thought the physical production was pretty good. Definitely grittier than its predecessor design from the non-Equity tour from the beginning of this century. 

[antonijan]

Posted: 10/12/18 at 9:12pm

I think the last Phantom tour had more lyrics changes than the current Miss Saigon and Lesmiz but I still enjoyed this one nevertheless.

A possible spoiler question....

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Was there a Mormon missionary in the previous productions?

Also...

The Folsom bdsm hustler dude talking to a customer at the bar

Could do a little action...

Like some simulated kissing and hugging to make it believable...

Since all the girls pretty much "bared" it all.

Great production!!!

And I waited 30 years for this!!!!!!

[Sally Burns]

Posted: 10/13/18 at 6:06am

antonijan said: "Was there a Mormon missionary in the previous productions?"

I don't think so, but if there was, it certainly wasn't a Book of Mormon-ish type Mormon who said, "HELLO!"

[Sally Burns]

Posted: 10/13/18 at 6:16am

Fosse76 said: "My quibble with this revival remains to be the the many lyric changes, most of which are pedestrian, and the horrendous new song for Ellen. I actually thought the physical production was pretty good. Definitely grittier than its predecessor design from the non-Equity tour fromthe beginning of this century."

I didn't like all of the changes to the lyrics either. The last time I saw this show was in 1998 during the second national tour but I still noticed all of the changes to the lyrics, even the minor ones.

I wasn't crazy about Ellen's new song either. While I understand that they were trying to make her more sympathetic, I didn't like the actual song.

My other major complaint was that I did not like the cheesy graphics they used for the helicopter before the actual helicopter was lowered. My husband wondered why they didn't make the physical one look exactly like a huey.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 10/13/18 at 4:59pm

Sally Burns said: "antonijan said: "Was there a Mormon missionary in the previous productions?"

I don't think so, but if there was, it certainly wasn't a Book of Mormon-ish type Mormon who said, "HELLO!""

He was in the revival and he was definitely a Book Of Mormon type yelling hello all through What A Waste.

[HunterK]

Posted: 10/13/18 at 8:05pm

Sally Burns said: "antonijan said: "Was there a Mormon missionary in the previous productions?"

I don't think so, but if there was, it certainly wasn't a Book of Mormon-ish type Mormon who said, "HELLO!""

In the Broadway revival Casey Garvin was in that track and always made a big deal of saying "HELLO" very old and with a hand wave. He must have said 15 times in a 3 minute period. On the tour the actor in that track says it as well, but not as much BOM influenced, even though most of the audience knew what was going on. 

[Sally Burns]

Posted: 10/13/18 at 10:46pm

Sorry, I was referring to the original production not having a Mormon (not the subsequent revival/tour).

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 10/14/18 at 7:40am

^
Sally Burns said: "antonijan said: "Was there a Mormon missionary in the previous productions?"

I don't think so, but if there was, it certainly wasn't a Book of Mormon-ish type Mormon who said, "HELLO!""


That person asked about previous productions and you answered.

[antonijan]

Posted: 10/15/18 at 6:58pm

Thnx for the replies! I kinda like the BOM nod...

Like when Something Rotten referenced all those musicals and of course TLK on BOM.

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 12:33pm

Sally Burns said: "Fosse76 said: "I wasn't crazy about Ellen's new song either. While I understand that they were trying to make her more sympathetic, I didn't like the actual song."

I liked "Now That I've Seen Her" (Her or Me) much better than the new song.

 

Updated On: 10/17/18 at 12:33 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 12:38pm

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/please-no-more-miss-saigon

"There’s Kim (Emily Bautista), an innocent Vietnamese village girl turned prostitute — both virgin and not — who doesn’t get to speak until she catches the eye of a white American GI, as if it’s not till then she matters or even exists. She’s so selflessly, slavishly devoted to him, even after he leaves her, that she kills herself over him. She has to die; as far as the musical can see, it’s the only possible ending for the crime of mixed-race copulation."

Updated On: 5/8/19 at 12:38 PM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 12:47pm

Hoping this ends up in Toronto like they keep saying it will.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 1:40pm

LizzieCurry said: "https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/please-no-more-miss-saigon

"There’s Kim (Emily Bautista), an innocent Vietnamese village girl turned prostitute — both virgin and not — who doesn’t get to speak until she catches the eye of a white American GI, as if it’s not till then she matters or even exists. She’s so selflessly, slavishly devoted to him, even after he leaves her, that she kills herself over him. She has to die; as far as the musical can see, it’s the only possible ending for the crime of mixed-race copulation.""

That's a rather, "interesting" interpretation of the plot. You can always tell when a reviewer has a bias (Hedy Weiss, formerly of the Chicago Sun-Times, passed off an anti-French rant as a review of the non-Equity tour years ago). 

Updated On: 5/8/19 at 01:40 PM

[BJR]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 1:48pm

Bias? That's a pretty widely held view of the story from most Asian American actors I know.

SAIGON is the show that gives so much (jobs) but still extremely problematic.

And in extremely liberal SF, that's definitely not far out of the mainstream.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 5:51pm

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/please-no-more-miss-saigon 

"There’s Kim (Emily Bautista), an innocent Vietnamese village girl turned prostitute — both virgin and whore — who doesn’t get to speak until she catches the eye of a white American GI, as if it’s not till then she matters or even exists. She’s so selflessly, slavishly devoted to him, even after he leaves her, that she kills herself over him. She has to die; as far as the musical can see, it’s the only possible ending for the crime of mixed-race copulation."

She should be fired for that alone, but the rest of her immature rant and biased revision of the plot and score is just as bad, if not worse:

After Kim tells him her “village was burned,” that her “family was blasted away,” Chris’ only response is more arousal: “Can I see you tonight?”

She's cherry-picking lyrics out of context and adding her own false narrative.  It's a shame she was given a job that could have gone to a million other more competent writers (which would include most BWW members).  <<edited by BWW staff>>.

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to check out the cast on the website.  Has anyone else checked out the cast page?  WTF is going on with headshots nowadays?  I don't recall seeing so many bizarre and unflattering headshots for one production before.  I'm still looking forward to seeing the tour, but Jesus, I don't understand what half this cast was thinking when they selected their photos.

Updated On: 10/16/18 at 05:51 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 6:23pm

It’s not like the authors of Miss Saigon wrote the ending the way they did because of racial bias. The opera they based their musical on ends the same way. If you want to claim the authors are punishing their lead character for mixed-race copulation you have to go further back than Boublil and Schonberg.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/16/18 at 6:35pm

She could also mean that the same rule applies to Cio-Cio San as it does to Kim.