[NEohioPAL]Berko review: MISS SAIGON at Allen Theatre

[Roy Berko]

‘MISS SAIGON’ PROVES THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


There is a motto in the theatre that the show must go
on.   In the opening night performance of the road
show production of ‘MISS SAIGON,’ which has a short
December 14-19 run at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse
Square, reality confronted the myth.  It seemed
obvious as the first act proceeded that Jennifer Paz,
who was portraying the leading female role of Kim, was
losing her voice.  After an extended intermission an
announcement was made that in the second act the role
would be played by Laurie Cadevida.  Cadevida plays
the role at matinee performances so this was not a
case of someone unfamiliar with the part taking over,
but it was a first in my many years of acting,
directing and reviewing theatrical productions in
which a switch took place mid-show.  Yes, the show did
go on!

‘MISS SAIGON’ is set in 1975 during the final days
leading up to the American evacuation of Saigon.  The
multi-award winning play is from the hands of Alain
Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg who also  wrote
‘LES MISÉRABLES.’‘   

It is the story of two young lovers torn apart by the
fortunes of destiny and held together by passion and
the fate of a small child.   As one of the authors
said, “We have an epic tale still to tell, but we also
hope that when we focus on the passionate longing of a
woman for her lover, and her unconquerable love for
her son; when the Saigon pimp hurls himself
demoniacally into action; when we are with real
people: spurned lover, helpless children, the ones who
matter, then the surroundings are put into
perspective.”

The score contains "The Heat is On in Saigon," "The
Movie in My Mind," "Why God Why?," "Sun and Moon,"
"The Last Night of the World," "I Still Believe,"
"Bui-Doi," and "The American Dream."

One of the problems confronting theatre  organizations
such as Playhouse Square is that some of the road
shows touring the country are non-union groups which
travel with minimal orchestras and performers who
haven’t quite cut their teeth on professional stages. 
This means that audiences are paying to see
mid-professional level shows.  The shows are often
peopled by recent college grads who are willing to
take on the hard task of performing for a couple of
days in one city and then packing up and dragging
their weary bodies off to another short stopover. 
It’s wonderful experience for the cast, but not always
such a wonderful experience for the audiences, who
often think they are going to see experienced
professionals.

‘MISS SAIGON’ is a case-in-point.  The show is quite
acceptable.  In fact, in places it is very good, but
it is not equal to earlier professional productions. 
In fact, the script has been released for local
production and Beck Center staged a production this
past summer.  It was excellent and, in some cases,
superior to the non-union show that is performing at
the Allen Theatre.  

The cast is quite uneven.  Both of the women who
played Kim were effective.  Both had fine singing
voices.  

A pivotal character, The Engineer is supposed to be a
slimy guy who will do anything to make a buck and
reach his goal to become part of the American dream.  
Johann Michael Camat is much too young to play the
role and lacked the necessary sleaze factor.  His
singing voice was excellent.  His rendition of “The
American Dream” was a show stopper.  

Alan Gillespie, who portrayed Kim’s lover Chris, has a
nice singing voice but has not developed the acting
skills to pull off the role.  His face showed a
constant grimace rather than emotional texturing and
there was a shallowness in his character development. 
D. J. Oliver, as John, who both makes arrangements for
Chris to meet Kim and then reconnect with the son he
fathered, lacks the charisma necessary to
make”Bui-doi” the potent song that it should be. 
Tadeo is not menacing enough as Thuy the man to whom
Kim has been promised in marriage and whom she kills
when he searches her out and attempts to hurt her son.

Highlights of the show were the beautifully sung “Sun
and Moon” by Paz and Gillespie, the powerful “You Will
Not Touch Him” as rendered by Paz , and “Now That I’ve
Seen Her” as performed by Rachel Kopf, who portrayed
Chris’s American wife.   The chorus was excellent and
the choreography quite effective.

This production has a stripped down set which makes
for some awkward staging.  The famous helicopter
flight is done with projections.  Actually, the effect
is quite good as are the pictures used during the
emotionally heart-effecting song “Bui-Doi” in which
pictures are shown of orphaned children born to
Vietnamese mothers and U.S. GIs.   

Much of the musical accompaniment was produced by a
sinfonia, an electronic musical instrument which
substitutes for many of the instruments used in a
complete orchestra.  This saves on costs but also
produces less than a full orchestra sound as only ten
musical instruments are actually playing in the
orchestra pit.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Though this production of ‘MISS
SAIGON’ is quite acceptable, it is a non-union show
which should be advertised as such.  It is unfair to
lead potential audience members to believe that they
are seeing a Broadway-level production when that is
not the case.  

Tickets to this production of ‘MISS SAIGON’ and all
other Playhouse Square productions,  can be obtained
by calling 216-241-6000, 800-766-6048 or going on line
to www.playhousesquare.com.


=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! 
http://my.yahoo.com