Run and Tell That: Miss Saigon 25th Anniversary Performance/Gala

Note: Again you guys know I'm terrible at organizing my thoughts, but this is one of my better reviews if I do say so myself. Also please excuse the lack of editing.

Many shows have been filmed on stage. The most notable examples are Rent, South Pacific, any Sondheim show and a few other gems. The most anticipated one was that of the critically acclaimed, cult heavy show known as Miss Saigon and that day has had finally come. September 22, 2016 I walked into the movie theatre that would change my life. A day that I predicted would come. Miss Saigon is written by the same composers who wrote Les Miserables and is based off of Puccini's tragic opera Madame Butterfly. Ok blah, blah, blah information that we all know and if you don't Google it. Saigon has been with me since about early 2015 I think. It all started when I was looking for Broadway bootlegs *Gasp* (Get over it we all do it) an ad came on and I could not skip it. I was annoyed by that part, but then

12 words changed my life "Dream the dream I long to find, the movie in my mind" I stopped. I practically cried. I then frantically looked up that ad on Youtube and I just listened to those 10 seconds over and over and over again. I was so mesmerized by the voices that sang the song. Those voices were Rachelle Ann Go and Eva Noblezada two ridiculously talented women. That was my introduction to Miss Saigon. Around that time both my brother and I were having health problems. (We’re both great now. Please don’t worry.) At that time I had basically hit rock bottom and was about to go even further, but those 12 words changed my life. The vocal intensity in those 12 words was breath taking, the vocals were breath taking. At the time nothing connected with me. Every time I heard those 12 words things just got better. I felt connected with this song. The song described what I was feeling, what my life was like and what I wanted my life to be like. Anyway I’m not trying to leave you all vaguely depressed. Long story short I found out the title of the song was "The Movie in My Mind" and whenever I was upset I would listen to the amazing rendition these two women give and I would strangely feel a lot better. I eventually listened to the rest of the score, but I still kept going back to "The Movie in My Mind" it was just so beautiful and so heart wrenching. I honestly wish that I could personally thank both Rachelle and Eva for helping me fight back and get control of my life again. (If either of you happen to read this know that you changed my life for the better. You are amazing.) Ok anyway back to the actual review. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Most of the problems (Which were few) I had were technical/production problems. The first one was at the very begin. The lights darken on the theatre and I was so happy when I saw tiny Eva in her little hat look up, but then a bunch of pictures came on the screen. The pictures and clips were all from the Vietnam War and were shown over the "Overture". That wasn't the only time that happened and it was annoying. When the pictures or war clips were shown over the action it made me feel like I was watching a documentary and not a musical masterpiece. However as soon as the pictures left the screen I was happy. Let's start with the woman whose beauty and voice knows no bounds Rachelle Ann Go who portrayed the very brief, but (In my opinion) crucial character of Gigi. Go is a superb actress and has a set of killer pipes. I just don't think it's possible to describe the journey and growth as an actress she has had because of this experience. Go's voice can fill up a theatre and she has enough star power to light up every marquee on West End and Broadway. Even her character choices were brilliant. I loved how she portrayed Gigi as this head strong, young adult who has had a terrible life, but does what she must in order to survive.

Rachelle Ann Go

I love the little looks that she gives and the touching moment after the bar fight with Kim where she and the other girls shield her from it. I also loved how to keep with Gigi having this tough Amazonian exterior she gave Kim a little shove after the song. I am given chills every single time she belts out "Dream the dream I long to find!" Her voice is so powerful and it gives more meaning to these lyrics. I also loved the little older sister moments that she had with Kim especially the bar moment I mentioned before and during "The Wedding Ceremony" how she was basically running it and was watching Kim and making sure Chris wasn’t gonna hurt her. I loved the little things like that which Go portrayed to perfection! I honestly would be okay with a spin-off musical with Gigi where she opens "The Smoothie in My Mind" I would be completely okay with that musical. I just want to hear Go belt to the rafters. I think what makes Go even more astonishing in this role is English is her SECOND did you hear me? SECOND language. She has better diction than most professional stage actors and English is her SECOND, I'm gonna repeat that, her SECOND language. I would love to see Go take on the title role in Miss Saigon I think it would be thrilling! Go in my opinion is the only Gigi worth mentioning. No one will ever top her performance. In the beginning of the show Gigi begs a marine to take her to America. That marine was John played by the friendly giant Hugh Maynard. This is not Maynard's first round in the Miss Saigon ring. He previously portrayed the role of John in the UK Tour.

Hugh Maynard and Male Ensemble

Maynard was a beautiful John he had the right amount of anger/carelessness that John needs (In my opinion at least.) In my opinion John is the complete opposite of Chris. He is loud, careless, does drugs and loves to have a good time. Maynard portrays the perfect John. Maynard also owns some amazing vocal powers which proved him well throughout the show. They especially helped him on "Bui Doi" (This is the best rendition of that song by the way. That opening crescendo is orgasmic for lack of a better word.) However I feel Maynard went too far into church for "Bui Doi" I think he just got too into it. That's not a bad thing it's easier to pull back an actor, but I did thing that for a song like "Bui Doi" it was a little inappropriate to have some of those big riffs. The riffs weren't bad. I'm going to repeat that the riffs were NOT BAD he hit all the notes and sounded great on them and they worked perfectly in the song, but in my opinion it was a little inappropriate for that song. Maynard still did a great job as John and his "Bui Doi" was sung beautifully. Other than that one note his portrayal was fantastic! Next we have the very controversial role of Ellen. It's very difficult to critique this role, because you can’t have expectations for it. It is also a very difficult role to play because everyone hates that character and the character could be portrayed in so many different ways and all of them would be right. The role of Ellen was given to Tamsin Carroll and Ellen was also given a new song "Maybe" (We'll get to that in a little bit.) I think Carroll did a great job in what I consider to be one of the hardest roles in musical theatre. (I'll talk about that in another post.) The only problem I had was Carroll's portrayal of Ellen felt older then everyone else. I'm not sure if it was how she held herself/acted, but

Tamsin Carroll

Ellen felt older than the other characters. Carroll still gave an excellent portrayal do not get me wrong, but I don't know what it was about her performance she just felt older. Now about the new song Maybe it's a beautiful song and I loved it, but it felt out of place tone wise. I felt the music changed too drastically from "Room 317" to "Maybe". I am giving credit to the composers though they have been continuously working on the character of Ellen since the musical's inception. There have been multiple songs and multiple rewrites of said song so they're trying. I don't think there will ever be a song that perfectly fits for this situation. That's because there are so many different emotions that Ellen is feeling or could feel and you can't convey them through song. It’s hard to convey them at all. I give major props to Carroll though she did a phenomenal job. Ellen was not the only third wheel in Chris and Kim's love affair. We also have Thuy played by Kwang-Ho Hong who is basically giving a performance that is the male equivalent of Rachelle Ann Go. Hong gave a thrilling performance as Kim's cousin. His best moment in my opinion was when he didn't even speak. It was right after his entrance in "Thuy's Arrival/Thuy's Intervention" he was about to leave and Chris still had his gun pointed at him. Hong just walked right up to the gun so it was right on his forehead. I just find that moment so powerful. All of the other Thuy actors place the gun on their forehead using their hand while Hong just walks right up to it. I think that just shows that Thuy will stop at nothing to get Kim. I also loved how during "Back in Town/Coo-Coo Princess" you could see it pained him to have 

Kwang-Ho Hong and Eva Noblezada

Kim hurt in this way. I believe that Thuy really does love Kim and he just wants her to have the best life she can have (as long as that life is with him.) I love that about Hong's portrayal of Thuy he shows the emotional side of him. I think this really came across in "Thuy's Death/You Will Not Touch Him" when it looked almost painful for Thuy to have to kill Tam, an innocent child. I just think that adding that touch of humanity to Thuy makes him an even scarier character. Just like Go English is not Hong's first language. You could tell that by his accent, but I mean the diction he had. I'm actually starting to question if Go and Hong are even human. They learned a whole new language and still have better diction then most English speaking actors/actresses. It’s ridiculous how crazy talented they are. The main man in our love triangle is a young lieutenant by the name of Chris portrayed by Alistair Brammer. Brammer was an amazing Chris and he had a great set of vocals, but there was something about his Chris that was off putting it came around during "The Confrontation". It may have just been more of that’s how the character was written, but to me it came across as way to violent. I think Chris

Allistair Brammer, Eva Noblezada and
Female Ensemble

is supposed to be angry, but it felt more like rage and more of something The Engineer would do and not Chris. Other than that one moment Brammer was an amazing Chris. Now speaking of The Engineer let’s talk about the best performance of the night which goes to another Saigon veteran Jon Jon Briones. The Engineer is the character you love to hate, but you can only love him with an adorable man like Briones playing him. Briones was a part of the original cast and probably holds the most performances under his belt out of any Engineer. I think that helped him greatly with this role and with every performance (at least from what I’ve heard) he just gets better and better. Briones has the perfect comedic timing. Most Engineers go overboard or they don’t show any, but Briones makes you laugh and laugh and it fits perfectly. I think he showed just the right amount of abuse towards the bar girls without it being too much. He also did the one thing no one else has done in my opinion. HE WASN’T CREEPY! A lot of the actors who portray The Engineer make you feel very uncomfortable and that takes away from the story and Briones was creepy at times, but it was a good creepy not an “I’m gonna have nightmares about this” creepy.

Jon Jon Briones and Ensemble

WHERE THE HELL IS HIS OLIVIER?!?!?!?! Not only has Briones got the acting chops, but my god his voice! Briones has a spectacular set of vocals on him and he’s 51. Briones could easily play the role of Kim in a gender bent Miss Saigon. I’d see it and so would other people. I'm just gonna say one last thing about Briones and that's his rendition of "The American Dream" oh my god I could not stop laughing! Now for the titular character of Miss Saigon portrayed by the stunning Eva Noblezada who is the best Kim I have ever seen. Noblezada is absolutely stunning and I love her portrayel of Kim. She makes Kim a fierce character which not many actresses do. She portrayed Kim as a very strong and powerful woman which she is. Kim has to be a strong woman because of everything she has gone through. Noblezada’s belt gives the songs the power that they most often lack especially during "Thuy's Death/You Will Not Touch Him" you see that she didn’t want to shoot Thuy, but she also couldn’t see Tam die. You could see Kim struggling over what to do and struggling to actually pull the trigger. Her strong belt also intensified the song "I'd Give My Life for You" which was strong and haunting. Noblezada was like an exploding supernova for her entrance. Kim doesn’t say a word for a good 5-10 minutes and then she sings “I’m 17 and I’m new here today the village I come from seems so far away…” and is timid and shy, but she gradually builds confidence “all of these girls here know much more what to say, but I know” until “I’m so much more then you see! A million dreams are in me.” Her voice fills the theatre during that moment. You can feel the heartbreak during "The Movie in My Mind" and you can see the fire and anger in "This Money’s Yours" and you then see her sweet and tender side during "Sun and Moon". She has so many different tones in her voice for the exact same score and switches perfectly between them in a matter of seconds. However this

Eva Noblezada

supernova lost her impact for a brief moment which was disappointing. Before Kim sings "Little God of My Heart/This is the Hour (Reprise)" she enters with Tam and they walk around the stage for a brief moment. During that brief moment Noblezada looked dead. Her expression was completely blank if it was a look of boredom that I could have dealt with, but she had nothing. It was as if she was just going through the motions and then she realized “Wait I’m doing a show” and she switched right back into character. That was Noblezada’s only fault in the entire show other than that this young star has a very bright future if she plans it right. I cannot wait to see more from every single one of these truly talented people. I still cannot believe that I have been a part of theatre history. Overall this production is amazing and if you didn’t see it you missed one hell of a show. There were a few times that they had some funky camera angles, but that’s beside the point. The cast that Cameron Mackintosh created for this production was fantastic. Every single one of them brought something new to the table and every single one set higher standards for their parts. When this comes out on DVD I’m gonna tell you once go buy it! I’ll tell you twice go buy it! I’ll tell you thrice JUST BUY THE DVD FOR GOD’S SAKE THESE PEOPLE HAVE THE MOST AMAZING VOICES AND THE SETS ARE SO PRETTY AND SO IS THE LIGHTING AND JUST BUY IT! I’ll see you soon dearies, momma has to do some homework.