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| Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| I finally got around to seeing the revival of Miss Saigon, with all of the principals in. I have seen several other productions, but not in many years. Perhaps my view of the show was colored by seeing it in the time of #metoo, but it really seemed the story of a woman who gets treated terribly by all the men in her life. Thuy, The Engineer, and even Chris all think only about how Kim can make life better for them; none of them seem to think at all about HER or what she thinks or feels. Part of this may be colored by the current casting. This is the first production of Miss Saigon I’ve seen where Kim looks so young. Eva Noblezada is the real deal. She has grit and passion and a beautiful voice. Alistair Brammer, however, is not. His voice has a tone that I found off-putting, and his acting is wooden. He is not at the same level as Noblezada, and I don’t think they have much chemistry. He also seems much older than Noblezada. So their love comes off as first love by a young, naïve girl for a good-looking older guy with no substance. I did not believe that he had any real interest in Kim as a person during their scenes in the first act. And his second act is all about how Kim being trapped in a brutal post-war dictatorship was so bad for HIM. The topper was the scene in the second act where he and Ellen are holding hands singing about how great they are while John is angrily telling them that their plan isn’t right and isn’t fair to Kim… well, it made me hate the guy. All the tiny lyric changes seemed unnecessary, although I think Ellen’s new song is better. And I didn’t think this version was that much “grittier” than others I’ve seen. There’s a bunch of lewd gesturing, but that was about it as far as “gritty” went. I’m curious how I would have felt about the show with a different Chris, although prior reports are that the understudy is even worse. I’m not sure what’s going on; Chris seems like a part that would be pretty easy to cast and the production should have had a lot of great options. |
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| This production considered itself a correction of the Vietnamese point of view; discuss | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 09:29 pm EST 01/14/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:28 pm EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| Playbill put this out today. It's interesting to me that many of the points raised here are about redefining motivation and goals for the characters. But do they land with the audience? This one stood out, from Devin Ilaw, who played Thuy: “I just went to Vietnam to do research,” he explains, “and learned a lot about the culture, and the strength and love that people there have for their country. People often ask me, ‘What’s it like playing the bad guy?’ I am not a villain, that’s the important thing about Thuy. I had a great conversation with Bob Avian, the original choreographer on the show. He said to me, ‘I really love how you play him like a hero.’ I never thought of it that way, but that’s how you have to think of it. Thuy is just trying to bring honor to his culture, country, and family—and that’s what we’re trying to do in this production—to showcase the culture of Vietnam and to show them honor.” I saw this production, as noted below, and appreciated much of the work done to remint its story with more genuine understanding of Vietnam. But I certainly didn't think this Thuy POV informs the storytelling. If anyone in the audience felt they saw this, please share. I see the sequence through the prism of gender, and watching Noblezada face such an obstacle is so wrenching. The idea of cultural identity in Thuy does not surface. He's terrifying, and provokes her self-defense. That remains our take away: we watch, and want her to kill him. |
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| Link | How This Miss Saigon Honors the Vietnamese Perspective |
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| re: This production considered itself a correction of the Vietnamese point of view; discuss | |
| Posted by: mikem 10:39 am EST 01/16/18 | |
| In reply to: This production considered itself a correction of the Vietnamese point of view; discuss - Delvino 09:28 pm EST 01/14/18 | |
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| I agree that this production does not transmit any sense of what Vietnam or Vietnamese culture is like. I think Ilaw may be trying to say the truism that no villain thinks he's a villain. Thuy thinks he's doing the right thing. If Ilaw plays the character as a villain, he's playing it wrong. I saw an interview with Boublil and Schonberg where they said that the "Vietnamese" during the marriage scene doesn't make any sense, but no one told them that for 25 years until this revival was rehearsing in London. They corrected it for this production. It says something about the bubble that we can sometimes live in. |
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| Nicholas Christopher | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:40 am EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| I forgot to mention that Nicholas Christopher, who plays John, was announced as the new Burr with the Hamilton tour, supposedly starting on Jan 6, but he is still with Miss Saigon. He was very good, and I could see him being a very good Burr. Rachelle Ann Go, this production's original Gigi, is also now in Hamilton, originating the role of Eliza in the London production. I was a little bummed that I didn't have a chance to see Go as Gigi, but the part is very small. I saw a local production that had Gigi be Thuy's main soldier-with-the-gun who threatens Kim, which put an interesting spin on the character and on the relatonships between Thuy, Kim, and Gigi. |
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| re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:39 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| Alistair Brammer's...voice has a tone that I found off-putting, and his acting is wooden. I never saw Simon Bowman in the original production, but I still can't stand listening to him on the recording. What is it about casting this role? |
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| re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 12:07 am EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - Chromolume 11:39 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
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| I saw Jarrod Emick go on as an understudy Chris way back in the day, and he was the only one I’ve ever seen who made the role truly work. (And I’ve seen it a shameful number of times.) | |
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| Jarrod Emick... | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:52 am EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - carolinaguy 12:07 am EST 01/14/18 | |
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| Is about as perfect a 'type' as you can imagine for Chris, and I think he was well cast in the DAMN YANKEES revival (for which he won a Tony Award), but... Why, God... why are all his vowels so screwy?!? I don't KNOW that he has no formal vocal training, but if he had a voice teacher that let him get away with those vowels, it's a tragedy of its own epic proportions. - GMB, who is reminded that Steven Pasquale also has no formal voice training, and has a weird eeeu diphthongs when he sings "you." |
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| re: Jarrod Emick... | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 11:59 am EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: Jarrod Emick... - GrumpyMorningBoy 10:52 am EST 01/14/18 | |
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| Maybe it comes from being South Dakotan. [Kidding, South Dakotans. :)] |
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| re: Jarrod Emick... | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:04 pm EST 01/14/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Jarrod Emick... - carolinaguy 11:59 am EST 01/14/18 | |
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| Well, I taught Voice and Articulation for two years in Kearney, Nebraska (an hour or so south of the Dakota border), and I always said it took the first half of the course to convince the students they had a front section of their mouth, so you may be on to something! | |
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| re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 09:49 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:47 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| I saw the Chris understudy last spring, and he was so wrong, so histrionically over the top and yet canned, the whole story became even less appetizing. And yet, it made a bigger thematic point, by removing an attractive, romantically viable young man from the point of access: the indifference, mistreatment and sociopolitical abuse of this young woman is a searing portrait of hegemony run amok. All of the isms attached this show -- imperialism and colonialism the biggies -- stand out when Chris is vacuous, just a big voice in shallow shell. Noblezada, raw and yeah, so young her naivete was almost embarrassing to watch, as it should be. She lifted the show for me, and she made a case for its cautionary tale. |
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| I saw this production in London soon after it opened | |
| Posted by: aleck 10:08 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - Delvino 09:47 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
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| And I thought it was terrific. I excused the British Chris for his lapses in accent. But overall I thought it was better than the original production -- which I saw at least 5 times because it was one I would take out of towners of a certain age to. There were a couple of good performances of Chris during that original run -- particularly Will Chase. However, I have to admit I didn't care for it the first time I saw it, which was about a week after it opened. I actually did not think Jonathon Pryce was very good. Later replacements were better. More believable in the role. However, this past November I revisited this production in its current Broadway presentation with someone who had never seen it. We saw the understudies of the understudies in the leads. It was a disaster. My friend was puzzled by the whole thing and why it could have possibly been such a success. The Chris was unable to sing or act. He made no eye contact with his Kim. The Kim wasn't much better. She actually seemed lost on the stage, not knowing where to go next. Everything was so hesitant. And forget any diction. If you weren't familiar with the dialog and lyrics, you were out of luck on trying to follow what was going on. That was true of the ensemble as well. The ladies were loud, but they slurred the lyrics. It was a dispiriting experience -- especially compared to the tight and effective performance I had seen in London. It was watching the tail end of the run of some bus-and-truck production that had been limping along for 10 years. |
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| re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 08:18 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - mikem 10:13 am EST 01/13/18 | |
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| "I’m curious how I would have felt about the show with a different Chris, although prior reports are that the understudy is even worse. I’m not sure what’s going on; Chris seems like a part that would be pretty easy to cast and the production should have had a lot of great options." I'm not sure what's going on either, but there is a very unfortunate tradition of casting this part very poorly, beginning with the first Broadway Chris. |
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| re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 03:42 pm EST 01/15/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Miss Saigon (spoilers) - Michael_Portantiere 08:18 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
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| I remember hearing the Complete/International recording and thinking 'oh, I see the Chris's in Australia are bad too.' Not sure why either. |
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