[Jennifer Lynn]

My boss at the library does the costumes for a small theatre company called The Road Company. I saw their production of Miss Saigon last night. It was a small, intimate scale--but it was GREAT!

The talent was phenomenal. The actress who played Kim should seriously have Lea Salonga worried. And the Engineer...he was an African-American actor who'd played Che in the company's Evita. Now, at first I was admittedly a bit jarred by an African-American playing a character who's supposed to be Eurasian. But then I thought, why not? His father could have been a black Frenchman. And his talent wiped out any doubts I had. He sprinkled the performance with all sorts of ad-libs--during "What A Waste", he tried to push two tourists together. The woman shrieked, "He's my SON!" The Engineer retorted: "So what?" And later on, he pointed to one of the white-suited chorus boys during "The American Dream"-- "Look, it's the Good Humor man!"

So how did they do it with no helicopter? They had a video screen on the back wall which occasionally showed backround clips throughout the show. (The only jarring moment was when they just showed a few generic Vietnam battle clips during the nightmare sequence when Chris is trying to reach Kim by phone.) They had video footage of an approaching helicopter--then, they cut out the video and shone a blindingly brilliant light over the audience like a helicopter's headlight, with a convincing chopper sound effect. It was so bright it reduced the actors to shadows. Proving what I've said all along...that sometimes, it's best to avoid the spectacle, show a few simple but convincing effects and let the audience's mind fill in the gaps.

The only quibble I had was the staging of the finale. In every other production I'd seen or read about, the Engineer was onstage to witness Kim's death. (In my book on Miss Saigon, there's a very moving close-up shot of Jonathan Pryce looking on sadly with his hands on little Tam's shoulders.) I always liked that staging...it leaves the question in our minds of where the Engineer will go from here, now that he's witnessed the kind of love that lays down its life for another.

The other thing I didn't really like about the finale is that Ellen just...stood there. No going over to comfort Chris, no tending to Tam...she just stood there.

And to get back to this production's Engineer--there were a couple moments that showed a little more humanity than we might be used to. When Kim sang that little snippet of "Please" to her parents' shrine, the Engineer's counterpoint part was cut, except for "I'm on my way"--he just watched her. Maybe it was just me, but I could almost see him thinking "No one has ever loved me like that."

Then, right before "The American Dream," he came onstage playing "airplane" with Tam. As soon as Kim entered, he set Tam down quickly, almost as if he was ashamed at being caught in an act of tenderness.

All in all--a terrific production!

[Fantine]

It sounds really good. I wish I could see something like this!