MISS SAIGON

---

at The Wang Theatre in Boston

A Cameron Mackintosh musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg

Cast

(in order of appearance)

Act I
Saigon - 1975
The Engineer - Joseph Anthony Foronda
Kim - Elizabeth Paw
Kim (Wed. and Sat. mats.) - Kristine Remigio
Gigi - Mika Nishida
Mimi - Krisi Tomooka
Yvette - Joyce M. Bautista
Yvonne - Brenna Quan
Bar girls - Kim-e J. Balmilero, Ai Goeku, Kym Hoy, Maryann Hu, Traci Toguchi
Chris - Steve Pasquale
John - Raymond Patterson
Marines - Hallam Banfield, Michale Scott Bright, Michael Flanigan, Kurt Andrew Hansen, Lonnie L. Henderson, Curtiss I' Cook, Damian Keenan, Brian McDonald, Christopher Lee Michaels, Robb Edward Morris, Robert Orosco, Christopher Strauss
Barmen - Amado Labez Cacho, Andrew Djang, Manu Narayan
Vietnamese Officers - Orville Mendoza, Moni Veluz
Hustlers - Johnny Frenandez, Jee Teo, Niall M. Yoshizumi
Bartender - Lucy Vance
Thuy - David Kater
Embassy Workers, Inhabitants of Saigon, Vendors - The Company


Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) - April 1978
Ellen - Andrea Rivette
Tam - Shara Batson and Corrine Nguyen
Assistant Commissar - Amado Labez Cacho
Guards - Johnny Fernandez, Orville Mendoza
Dragon Acrobats - Lonnie L. Henderson, Robb Edward Morris, Christopher Strauss
Vietnamese Soldiers - Michael Scott Bright, Johnny Fernandez, Manu Narayan, Jee Teo, Moni Veluz, Niall M. Yoshizumi
Citizens of Ho Chi Minh City, Refugees - The Company


Act II
USA - September 1978
Conference Delegates - The Company

Bangkok - October 1978
Hustlers - Andrew Djang, Johnny Fernandez, Jee To, Moni Veluz, Niall M. Yoshizumi
Owner of the Moulin Rouge - Orville Mendoza
Inhabitants of Bangkok, Bar Girls, Vendors, Tourists - The Company

Saigon - April 1975
Shultz - Christopher Lee Michaels
Marines, Vietnamese Civilians - The Company
Kirk - Hallam Banfield
Johnson - Curtiss I'Cook
Rodriguez - Robert Orosco
Roberts - Michael Flanigan
Jenkins - Christopher Strauss
Clinton - Damian Keenan
Kluzuski - Kurt Andrew Hansen

Bangkok - October 1978
Inhabitants of Bangkok, Customers of the Moulin Rouge - The Company

SWINGS - Dorothy Andres, Johnny Fernandez, Brien Keith Fisher, Matt Jankowski, Robert Orosco, Raleigh Raganas

UNDERSTUDIES
For the Engineer - Andrew Djang, Orville Mendoza, Niall M. Yoshizumi
For Kim - Kim-e J. Balmilero, JOyce M. Bautista, Kym Hoy
For Chris - Michael Flanigan, Brien Keith Fisher, Christopher Lee Michaels
For John - Hallam Banfield, Curtiss I' Cook
For Ellen - Ai Goeku, Lucy Vance
For Thuy - Johnny Fernandez, Manu Narayan
For Gigi - MaryAnn Hu, Traci Toguchi

Production Staff

Music and Book by Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. & Alain Boublil
Book, Lyrics and Orgiinal French Lyrics by Alain Boublil
Additional material by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Musical Director - Annbritt Gemmer
Associate Producer - Martin McCallum
Executive Producter - Peter Lawrence
Casting by Johnson-Life Associates
General Manager - Alan Wasser
Associate Directors - Fred Hanson & Peter Lawrence
Associate Choreographers - Jodi Moccia
Musical Supervision - David Caddick & Robert Billig
Orchestrations by William David Brohn
Costumes designed by Andreane Neofitou & Suzy Benzinger
Sound designed by Andrew Bruce
Lighting designed by David Hersey
Musical staging by Bob Avian
Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Miss Saigon Sizzles!

Miss Saigon is as phenomenal as Les Miserables and more impressive with the special effects.. They actually have a nearly full size helicopter land on stage!! An article in Forbes ASAP by Richard Rapaport entitled "Theater IT Moves Center Stage" says, "In many ways Miss Saigon is the culmination, the biggest technotheatrical production in Broadway musical history. The show incorporates the most elaborate computer-choreographed sounds system used in theater to date." (p. 104) The on-the-road Broadway show cost an $11 million dollar initial investment of which 25% was spent on computer technology, (p. 105) but the results are first class.

This was my first exposure to Miss Saigon and I loved it! It seems to require more attention to plot the first time viewed, but it is understandable. This is an absolutely huge production and it is amazing how everything comes together so well. Every scene of this show was wonderful, but there are definitely some show stealing huge numbers here, particularly the songs "The Heat is On in Saigon", "Morning of the Dragon", "Fall of Saigon" and "The American Dream".

The opening number, "The Heat is On in Saigon", shows the call girls performing and introduces us to the Engineer who runs the club, the new call girl Kim, and both U.S. Marines, Chris and John. This one song covers most of the evening at the club. Another particularly impressive number was "Morning of the Dragon" in which an 18 foot gold colored Ho Chi Minh statue towers over the successful marching Communist army moving in time to a very menacing beat. They hold huge "Reunification" signs with Ho Chi Minh's face for part of it and then after hold masks of a distorted Uncle Sam image while others do a complex ribbon dance in perfect unison. Very nice.

In the second act "The American Dream" shows another of the typical Boublil/Schonberg skills of starting a song as a quiet solo and building til it's a huge number complete with dancing and special effects. The song begins very quietly with a humbled Engineer singing wistfully and builds as his fantasy grows to involve a full size 1959 white Cadillac flying in on stage with fantasy characters including a beauty queen. The technical stagecraft involved in this effect is stunning. The car is actually in two pieces and the front half glides down over the back half giving the appearance of flying and driving forward on a cloud.

The Ghost of the jealous and resentful Thuy, played by David Kater, is extremely eerie and a spooky echo-reverb sound effect adds drama during "The Guilt Inside Your Head". It is an intense moment full of fear and guilt when he speaks to Kim. It is her memory of Thuy which brings the action back to the past where we finally learn what happened to Chris during the fall of Saigon.

The heartbreaking story of the couple being forced apart as the marines are evacuated and the gates closed to any more Vietnamese is told in "The Fall of Saigon". This is a very emotional scene when Kim can't get through, nor can any of the Vietnamese who have been left behind. Chris is trying to go back for her and is forced onto the helicopter without being able to reach her. In addition to the passion and drama of the story, this is also an extremely complexly choreographed number with amazing special effects. The set angle changing three times, 90 degrees at a time and all very smoothly like different camera angles in a movie. At the beginning of the song, the Vietnamese are behind the fence and facing the audience with the U.S. Marines on the other side. With the near blinding flashes of strobe lights from the approaching helicopters they move the huge gate so it's vertical with the Vietnamese looking through it towards stage right. At another point in the music, the strobe lights go off again and the set changes nearly unnoticeably one final time so that the gate is horizontal again and the Vietnamese are looking towards the back of the stage at the Marines and the helicopter as it dramatically lands.

The effect of this chopper on stage is simply astounding and the sound effects add to the realism immensely. I was in awe sitting there wondering HOW did they get this helicopter on stage and how do they fit all the soldiers into it. In truth the helicopter uses hydraulics and is lowered with a mechanical arm. The rotor blades are actually balls attached to ropes which appear to be solid blades when they spin. There is even an animatronics type pilot named Virgil. The real pilot is sitting above the stage overseeing the computer program. Even knowing how it works doesn't spoil the effect, which is truly amazingly realistic and incredibly difficult to perfect and make happen night after night.

Joseph Anthony Foronda is phenomenal as the evil, conniving Engineer. He has his own dreams and clearly does everything to get in a better position for himself. After his coarseness to Kim and the other girls it is satisfying to see him taken down and begging for his life, and he does the part with such panache and extremity that it's very humorous and the audience titters at his insincere mewling. Foronda does an exceptional job showing us all the facets of his well fleshed out character.

Elizabeth Paw stars as Kim, the Vietnamese girl who falls in love with American Marine, Chris, and bears a child by him. She is the lead actress and appropriately has an excellent voice for the part. She was perfectly in character throughout the show and completely believable. She is also the tragic hero of the show. Her most dramatic moments are during the encounter with Thuy when he tries to steal her child, and when she goes to Chris's hotel room and finds his wife Ellen. The romantic "Sun and Moon" duet with Kim and Chris earlier in the show is also memorable and very well performed.

Steve Pasquale stars as Chris, or at least he did for the first half of the show on press night, at which point his illness forced him out of the show. His understudy, Brien Keith Fisher, did an excellent job filling in. He was very good, but seems to lack the same vocal energy and the extra ounce of charisma that was evident in Pasquale even during his under-the-weather first half performance. Had we not seen Pasquale at the beginning I doubt we'd have noticed Fisher's lack of anything. The midstream change of characters was disruptive to the unity of the show, but the actors did an excellent job in their circumstance and we are fortunate to have seen Fisher's talent and ability to jump in at the last minute as well as the professionalism of the rest of the cast to deal with the change so smoothly.

Raymond Patterson as John, Chris's superior officer and friend, is a wonderful supporting actor. He has a very strong resounding voice. He played very well against Pasquale. The opening of the second act was confusing - John leads the Bui Doi song like a gospel trying to raise money for the poor children who are the son of soldiers and are now the Bui Doi, meaning "Dust of Life", who no one cares for and are kept at minimal survival in a camplike orphanage. The song is accompanied by a huge screen above the podium on stage and a video of the Bui Doi children. It was realistic enough that it seemed like they were going to come out into the audience and collect money for them, except that the children they were singing about are now adults. This song makes more sense after seeing the show completely through at least once - and to clarify, they do not come to collect from the audience.

Andrea Rivette shines in the role of Ellen, Chris's American wife. Rivette has an outstanding voice of incredible dramatic power and range which is slightly deeper than Paw's. I definitely felt for her predicament even though she is introduced very late in the show. It is surprising to find I didn't hate her as it seems would follow from being so deeply involved with Kim's story, but instead I felt her pain also, which is definitely a compliment to Rivette's acting talent.

When Kim meets Ellen she insists they will take her son, Tam, with them and it's really obvious that they will - somehow have to. She fulfills her tragic hero role wonderfully. There is excellent foreshadowing of this result in the song, "I'd Give My life for You" and her later reference to it after meeting Ellen and realizing she doesn't fit into the equation of an American life for Tam. Unfortunately the show ends on a sad note, which seems unusual for a musical, but not for a Boublil and Schonberg show. Despite this tragic ending, it doesn't detract from the overall effect of the breathtaking show in its entirety.

I hope to get to go see this show again before it leaves town, even though this time I'll have to pay full price, if I can even manage to get seats at all! This is one extremely professional Outstanding production worthy of time, money, and effort to get to see! Don't miss this spectacular Cameron Mackintosh show!!

Pointer - Keep your eyes open for the newest musical by Boublil and Schonberg --Martin Guerre!

~ÅNGEL

In big dance numbers everyone moved in sync and the complex choreography, especially in "Morning of the Dragon", was exceptional. Lighting was done perfectly to highlight characters - with spots coming on subtly at the exact moments, shading moving across the stage to give the illusion of movement in the evening, flashing strobes and neon signs at the right moments. Nice job Lighting Designer, David Hersey. The orchestra had no noticeable errors and did an excellent job with the show. Steve Pasquale (Chris) had some technical difficulties with his microphone and had to tap it a few times to get it to work. The huge set changes are so fast and extremely smooth. The stage, designed on a slant to give the illusion of greater depth, also has practically invisible tracks to slide set pieces in very quickly without stage-hands onstage. This is noticeable when chairs and couches and huge pieces of walls swing in without any visible assistance (Does the role of "swing" have anything to do with this?) The technology running these set changes along with outstanding blocking allows almost constant onstage performance.

In the "Fall of Saigon" scene I noticed even more changes of perspective of where the Vietnamese were in relation to the U.S. Marines and the gate than I had before - there are at least five changes, not three as I had reported before. I noticed that the helicopter isn't as impressive at a distance. Tonight it swung from side to side as it descended and I could actually see the shortened missing backside at one point. Perhaps it was just a difficulty tonight, or perhaps that angle of the theatre just makes that more obvious. The wonderful sound effect of the helicopter moving out over the audience was missing, too - I think because we were sitting too far back in the theatre to notice it.

David Kater is still playing "bad guy" Thuy with great stage presence and style. I love the eery effect of his ghost rising as well as his menacing presence during the song "The Guilt Inside Your Head". Joseph Anthony Foronda as the Engineer knocked my socks off again! What a dynamic actor he is! Andrea Rivette is still there as Ellen and continues to impress with her strong singing.

In the program we received cast change notices. One said that at this performance the role of John will be played by Curtiss I' Cook. Another said that at this performance the role of Gigi will be played by Traci Toguchi. I'm unsure if these are temporary changes or not. Cook is not as powerful a singer as Raymond Patterson, who previously played John, but he put more noticeable drama into his acting. Toguchi does a good job as Gigi, which is a larger part than I recalled and includes a solo at the beginning.

Another program insert states, "The role of Club Owner is now being played by Niall M. Yoshizumi", as well as the following changes: Tito Abeleda- Swing, Thomas C. Kouo- Ensemble, Karissa Tabtieng- Tam, Emily Zhang- Tam. Apparently these are permanent changes, by the sound. I'm not sure which Tam we saw tonight, but whoever, she did a good job in her part. Yoshizumi was effective as the nasty club owner. I'd comment on the "Swing" if I knew what that meant. Perhaps someone will write and tell me. The Ensemble performed very well and smoothly during their parts.

I truly enjoyed the show as much or even more this second time around. This time I was the experienced viewer sharing it with someone who had never seen it before. He was very impressed with it, also.
This show is very emotionally moving, includes outstanding music and lyrics like all Boublil and Schonberg shows, is well sung, and is technically oustanding. In my opinionMiss Saigon is worth the ticket price.

~ÅNGEL

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