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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Miss Saigon



Eric Schaeffer directed the revival at Signature next door. For a small theater, the show seems a bit too bombastic. I suppose one should not expect anything less from Schonberg and Boudlil. "Les Miserables" is even more bombastic.

Overall the show is very competently done. It is a bit squirm inducing for me, getting a full blast of the imperialistic symbolism through the romance between a white American soldier and a devoted Asian woman, Asia/colony as feminine and US/military as masculine, he is the sun and she is the moon, etc., etc. At least it's not a complete glorification.

The set design is quite complicated and intricate for a small stage. Actors/actresses are good, but in terms of singing not quite Broadway quality. 

Coincidentally a Cameron Mackintosh (of "Les Miserables" fame) production of "Miss Saigon" is about to go on London's West End. 

I watched the show with a friend who has a Ph.D. in theater directing. We talked about Shakespeare, family blood feuds in Greek tragedies, and directors who have their actors act naked and half naked on stage. :)  A funny thing she mentioned was an actor she had cast in a production in school who was from Kansas. He was put in some Shakespearean plays and apparently the Kansas accent is closer to English spoken in the 17th century than modern English English. Interesting ...

2 comments:

CAVA said...

老有个印象西贡小姐和蝴蝶夫人有什么联系,一查,原来前者是根据后者改编的。

Little Meatball said...

基本一样,只是把时代改成越战,把日本改成越南。帝国主义的暗流说来说去还是一回事儿。

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