just saw Miss Saigon high school edition... pretty long and no elipses!!

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/23/07 at 6:16am

which i'm kinda hoping isn't really the edition they use because there were some rather dumb cuts that i thought were horrible that i'll discuss later... but anyways... without ellipses

Overall, I really enjoyed this production. I will try to stray away from disucssing specific actors because I keep reminding myself it's just a high school production and I don't want to hold them in the same level as a broadway performers.

Miss Saigon, as many of you may or may not know is my all time favorite musical, having seen it over 30 times on tours and regional productions. So I was worried about a high school production doing it. So when the chance to see it was offered (my cousin played Tam), there was no doubt i wanted to see it.

Well, watching this production made me think that high schools should NOT put on this show unless they really go all out and put it on. Kinda like RENT. If they have a high school production of RENT, they can't dumb it down or make it PG or else it loses its essence. Miss Saigon takes place during the war, and you need to have that gritiness and sexuality (where it needed to be) oozing all over the place in that opening number and other numbers. I hate that they took words like ass and changed them to sass. Drove me nuts. And instead of sh** they said crap. Just doesn't have the same affect to me. And don't get me started on WHAT A WASTE. The best line for me was when they sang "don't be a lump you can hump for a small extra fee" it was changed to "don't be a chump you're a champ for a small extra fee." ARGH! And they also turned THE HEAT IS ON and WHAT A WASTE into freaking dance numbers. Those numbers should not be choreographed in any way. I think this is where the term musical staging works better. You don't dance "the heat is on in saigon" as if it were some LUCK BE A LADY TONIGHT shooting craps number. It honestly looked ridiculous and my friend and i were laughing hysterically in our seats. If high schools do this musical i want them to realy do these numbers and just let loose instead of hoping not to offend people. I'm guessing they don't want kids acting like this, but it's how things were in those places.

With that being said, despite those flaws, they did an amazing job with the sets, music, and singing and acting for a high school production. Direction could have been WAAAAY better, though. But the kids worked their butts off and did a great show!

The big change I felt shouldn't have been made (so i didn't know if this was part of the high school edition deal or if they decided to do it) was the fact that they pretty much got rid of most of the Engineer dialogue. It was weird. In act 2 it seemed like he appeared out of nowhere. The American Dream just sorta began out of the blue. He didn't interact with KIM right before the nightmare sequence and after the song PLEASE, nor did he interact with KIM right before The American Dream, and he was nowhere to be seen in the finale bringing Chris to the place. It was weird. He got the final bow but I felt like they ruined his character arc or his role in the play as the narratorish catalys person between the characters. It was weird. Also, Last Night of the World just sorta began out of nowhere as did the Wedding Ceremony. Once again, I can't tell if it was a director's decision or if this was part of the Miss Saigon high school edition like Les Mis, but it just didn't work for me at all.

Oh and if you're wondering, they did construct a helicopter and it looked really amazing. It was pretty exciting.

So i was impressed and I do look forward to seeing how this does in future high schools.

Posted: 3/23/07 at 10:21am

Just like rent...should not be done by a high school.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/23/07 at 2:19pm

"don't be a chump you're a champ for a small extra fee."

I actually like that. it's pretty good. it has the same sort of feel but it's much more subtle.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 3/23/07 at 6:26pm

This was at a performing arts high school in Las Vegas, right?


I've already seen two high school productions of Miss Saigon and I have to say, they lacked energy as a whole, but were still good and enjoyable.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/23/07 at 9:10pm

it was actually at a regular high school here in los angeles (la canada area to be more exact)

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:42am

Wait, so it was an official "High School Edition" of Miss Saigon? Or just a production that took place at a high school?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 3:43am

MTI is workshopping a Miss Saigon School Edition, COOOOLkid.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 3:54am

I know, but Las Vegas High School of the Performing Arts (I think that's what it's called...) is doing the premier of the official "High School Edition" of Miss Saigon, but many other schools are simply doing the normal version of Miss Saigon, but they've probably edited the script on their own.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 4:48am

go to the website link... the show i watched was an MTI show... i didn't see a las vegas one in there...

anyways... is there a difference between MTI and the high school? i just hated the PG changes they made to the script as well as the removal of a lot of key scenes as i mentioned in my original post...

also... in the heat is on in saigon they used the original version where John and Chris are introduced to the audience without the use of the Engineer... basically the OLC recording version and not the CSR version...

so i was confused as to what show i was watching... which when i saw a regional production in san diego, they used the OLC lyrics to some of the songs which was weird to me... oh well
Miss Saigon MTI Information

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 2:11pm

The information you have posted from MTI is for the original version of Miss Saigon, not a high school edition. I played The Engineer in a production of Miss Saigon over the summer last year and our score was identical to that on the CSR.

[carlodowd]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 7:14pm

Did u do the school edition BrdwyThtr?

[garrett_levis]

Posted: 1/19/16 at 11:38am

Hi! I realize this may be a very late reply, but my high school is just now doing Miss Saigon as our musical. I know that we are cutting a few things short, we are not allowed to say sh*t, we do change it to crap. We say don't be a lump, you can bump for a small extra price, and the only big dance numbers we have worked on right now are American Dream and The Morning of the Dragon. (Both of which are AMAZING.) I promise you, not all high schools are like the one you described.