Anyone into Miss Saigon?- Page 2

[Justin D]

Posted: 4/21/12 at 9:15pm

I love it also, sadly only got to see it twice, first in London (was not too great, sat at the back of the stalls behind a pillar, and the cast at that time were not very good. Second time was on Broadway close to the end, sat at the back of the balcony (well where they pull that curtain) and the cast and show then was excellent, so much more alive than when I saw it in London. I also love the set design, how the scenery moves on and off to effortless, the use of the blinds at the back and sides and the combination of heavy realistic set pieces with the abstracted, mesh scrims of newspaper print that fly in. John Napier is the bomb!

[Matt2]

Posted: 4/21/12 at 10:38pm

"'Please' is absolutely gorgeous - my favorite song in the score!"

Mine too

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 12:26am

I LOVE "Too Much For One Heart"... the song that "Please" replaced.... love hearing Lea Salonga sing it at her concerts when she does... makes me wish it was still in the show but I can see why they took it out

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 12:26am

I LOVE "Too Much For One Heart"... the song that "Please" replaced.... love hearing Lea Salonga sing it at her concerts when she does... makes me wish it was still in the show but I can see why they took it out

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:14am

What a great thread!!! I also love Miss Saigon and get so frustrated when people act like it was merely a spectacle show. The story is epic and the score is absolutely beautiful. I actually like it more than Les Miz (and yes, I've seen them both numerous times).

I am extremely excited to see it in La Mirada next weekend :)

[Tag]

Posted: 5/2/12 at 10:35pm

Did we know about this?
Maybe

[Eagle3]

Posted: 9/5/12 at 6:37pm

Hello

I just found this thread, so it has taken a while to get to respond since it came on here.
I was actually on the production of the original show in London as crew. It was so exciting back then in 89. And yes the show was new to the eyes of the world, so it had some criticism. But many love it and care for it. I hope it is revived, but such things are expensive. Some of the statements in the thread are heart warming. The way some people think the characterisation of Asians portrayed is disrespectfull needs to be considered in the light and time of the events. I don't think anyone was treated with respect during those difficult times.
I am in the UK. All the best.

[It's a fine life!]

Posted: 9/5/12 at 6:47pm

I love this show. I don't believe it needs to be highly technical to be a good show. I recently watched the Hungarian production with use all white people it was quite good actually even though I had to get over the fact that there were no Asians.

[It's a fine life!]

Posted: 9/5/12 at 7:12pm

I was captivated by it as a teenager and when I saw it for the first time I was amazed. But as I have gotten older I find that the score and plot aren't as great as I used to think they were. The orchestrations and visual design were beautiful

[James885]

Posted: 9/5/12 at 9:50pm

I love the show. Easily my favorite of the 80's megamusicals.

[KylePKJP]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 1:43pm

Miss Saigon has a special place in my heart. When I was a teenage I worked on the creative/behind the scenes end of the show's Toronto production. I only knew the show from the OLC recording and had a great appreciation for it, but watching it come together before my eyes over several months was life changing.

The cast was the finest assembled group of very young talent, many with some classic theatre stories. For example, a girl and her younger sister were both cast in the show - their first as Equity members. The Toronto Kim, Ma-Anne Dionisio (sp?), had been in Canada less than a year whe she was cast. Her dad gave up a high-paying managerial career in Manila to bring his family to Canada so his children, mainly Ma-Anne, could achieve their dreams. He was all too happy to take a low paying job as a factory worker.

The Mirvishes (the producers) built a brand new, state of the art theatre to house the show that was originally intended to bea temporary theatre that would be demolished after the shows Toronto end. However, Drabinsky was pissed that CamMac passed him over for the right to produce Saigon in Toronto so he threw up every road block he could to sabotage the Mirvishes. They retaliated by going back to Toronto city council and ammended their building plans to make the theatre permanent, complete with an underground parking garage for patrons. Drabinsky had no ground to stand on after that, and Canada now had the stunning Princess of Wales Theatre.

It was a beautiful show from start to finish, with the entire original creative team bringing it to life for its run in Toronto. If you look on YouTube there is a CBC documentary of the making of the Toronto production of Miss Saigon.

[kadu335]

Posted: 9/8/12 at 4:25pm

There was a very successful production of Miss Saigon here in Brazil back in 2008. Before watching the show I had very little knowledge about it and I ended up really loving it.

The original cast of that production made a small reunion a couple of weeks ago to celebrate 5 years of the opening of that show. In case anyone is interested, here are 2 videos of that reunion: the first features the actresses who played the original Kim and Ellen singing "I Still Believe", and the second featuring a quite well-humored version of "Please".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEfMFVyLSjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgUPXOAogRo

[bobs3]

Posted: 9/8/12 at 8:15pm

I don't know anyone who has been into Miss Saigon but I have a friend who was in her understudy TWICE.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 9/8/12 at 10:20pm

The show puts Kim in a pressure cooker and sanctifies her. That always made me uncomfortable--the show relies on the female characters being abandoned and abused, or used as emotional placeholders.

[Andreas3]

Posted: 11/26/12 at 3:32pm

Exciting moment. I maybe was humming a melody a few month ago. I even can't remember. But I was reminded of my favourite Musical. Miss Saigon. Many years ago I first saw it in Londons Theatre Royal Drury Lane, than on Broadway and last I saw the German version in Stuttgart/Germany. After that 15 or 20 years of "Miss Saigon silence"...
Remembering all these moments I downloaded the original tracks to my mobile phone, surprised still knowing all these lyrics.
I looked throughout the web hopefully finding more informations about the show and was disappointed that all shows have been stopped and that there was no ambition of making a movie (just like the Les Mis DVD I own). So I read all Your posts here and watched all these small utube films (like Leas audition..) and was sadly remembering this wonderful stage show - unable to watch it anywere.
And now. Just several weeks later. An exciting moment. Unprepared. There just closed an audition at Manila theatre to find the new Miss Saigon cast for a planned restart at Londons West End. And Mackintosh is (in case of Les Mis movie success) going to plan a movie about Miss Saigon.
Sometimes moments are magic. And somtimes magic moments come together. However...