The Fall of Saigon
Rhode Island theaters have been rushing to present first runs (for RI) this year, and Encore Rep is the latest entrant in the sweepstakes as they deliver one of the classics of late-20th Century musical bloat, 'Miss Saigon.' Usually mentioned as an afterthought as the second cousin to 'Les Mis', 'Saigon' has its own storied reputation, mostly involving helicopters and Actor's Equity disputes. Honestly, most people write off this re-imagining of Madame Butterfly before they've even seen it. But someone must have liked it, since its longstanding tenure puts it firmly in the Top 10 of the longest Broadway runs and there's a slew of Tonys sitting on mantelpieces everywhere attesting to the brilliance of the original performances. However, a glance at that list of awards is revealing - judges liked Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce an awful lot, but there aren't many prizes doled out for the Book or Score. Indeed, aside from the ubiquitous "Movie in my Mind", there aren't many tunes from the show that can be identified by any but your most hardcore musical buffs.
Does a lack of famous songs denote a less than spectacular show? Certainly not, and More Teeth is hoping that Encore can take what is described as a "director's and designer's...field day" and give Rhode Islanders what they have apparently been waiting for since 1991. With no movie version to cloud anyone's perceptions, we can see 'Saigon' fresh and hope that the producers and artistic staff have a vision for this spectacle and that they've assembled a cast that can live up to the reputaion of a show better known for its early cast and expensive special effects than its story.
October 13, 2010
Before even deciding whether or not $19 is too steep a price to see any non-union show, consider it as an entry fee into the majestic Stadium Theatre itself. More Teeth is all about the overall experience, but we were not prepared for the majestic beauty of this space. Picking your way through Woonsocket is tough for the uninitiated, but to arrive and find that there is more than enough free parking surrounding the venue and what appears to be ample food and drink choices within walking distance...it seems easier to put up with almost any level of entertainment. Once inside, the opulence increases and the Stadium shows its true colors. Why is this not the theater of choice for every unaffiliated company north of Cranston? The fact that the next big offering in the space is a Led Zeppelin tribute band shows that this palace is woefully underbooked.
Unless, of course, Stadium is looking to specialize in bloat and pomp, in which case 'Miss Saigon' seems a perfect partner to the tired grandeur of Kashmir. Encore Rep's Eric Desnoyers chose 'Saigon' to pay homage to his past remembrances of a favorite show from years ago. Time tends to make pebbles seem like boulders and perhaps his memory of 'Saigon' grew rosier with age. However, Desnoyers clearly had a vision for what he wanted to present and, despite a crop of meandering melodies and characters that fail to resonate, this particular production is crisp, beautiful to watch and sounds wonderful. Indeed, when the storyline itself starts jumping back and forth in time with little exposition beyond the program to tell us when/where we are and the rhyme scheme teeters dangerously toward Seussical proportions, we can fall back on the gorgeous sets and mostly excellent voices (aided by a capable and wisely unreinforced orchestra led by Stephen DeCesare) to get us through.
'Saigon' follows the Madame Butterfly story very loosely as a doomed last days of Babylon romance that apparently blossoms from first glance to marriage proposal faster than a Vegas hookup... we're never quite sure why American GI Chris (played with earnest gravity by Kevin Hanley) is so disenchanted with his state of affairs leading up to his bordello matrimony to the somber yet perky Kim, but the effect of the rapid attraction is one of desperation on the part of both of them. She wants out of Vietnam to escape her own circumstances, but also to escape the memory of her butchered family and live The American Dream (more on that later). Chris is smitten, but is it because of her innocence and youthful beauty? He's bored with having whatever he wants in Saigon for the price of a Big Mac but this prize is taking it up a level. He claims that he'll take her away from all this, but that cliché holds just as true for men as the "first time" line reeks of falsehood for the Engineer's stable of worn-out dancers. So, we wonder if he promises love and marriage just to see how far he can go with the game and hold the butterfly until its wings are tattered.
But we do not have the luxury of this reflection until long afterwards. During the actual show, it appears that one night in the sack leads to songs of "you are the sun" and rushing-to-meet-in-the-middle-of-the room-love redolent of high school hallways. We believe *they* believe it in that moment - because they tell us they do. But we have no belief it can last or survive. Despite clunky contrasts of decadent GI's and prostitutes with the seeming wholesomeness of Chris and Kim (as evidenced in the awkward opening number "The Heat Is On in Saigon"), we never escape the feeling that each one of them is slightly, perhaps unknowingly, using the other.
We're given enough chance to try to believe, as Kim still and always does. She has more than enough solo numbers that demonstrate her pining and anguish. Helena Rabasco does a remarkable job at delivering this material without the self-important diva descent she could have taken, but no amount of intent delivery can distinguish most of these numbers from each other. As we indicated earlier, much of this material washes over you in a pleasant haze and becomes background noise while you consider the ingenious textures of the proscenium flats or the clever use of package pallets as decorative arches. For whatever is lost in dramatic effect is gained in aesthetic. Everything from the hidden portals in the walls to the embassy gates to the inevitable helicopter are designed to stunning effect by Desnoyers and Technical Director Michael Carey. Lighting designer Nate Wheatley would appear to have run out of time to finish what has all of the makings of a lush, amber-washed dreamscape. The intended effect may have been a noir-ish, side-lit menace, but often winds up obscuring the performers in murky gloom. (This may have been touched up subsequent performances, but was an issue in the preview). The spotlight does come out, however, for the Cabaret-style musings of Neil Santoro's Engineer. Santoro is given free reign to chew this wonderful scenery and he does so with evident joy, stepping outside of the moody realism of the majority of the characters and presenting a puckish self-assuredness that most of this young cast was missing. His "What A Waste" and "American Dream" numbers serve less to advance the storyline than to deliver a comedic exegesis on the corrupt yet desirable aspects of American capitalism and all for sale approach to perceived happiness. The "Dream" number in particular breaks through the hazy tableau and slaps us with a Ziegfeld lampoon that is part tribute, part jeer and comes complete with glitter, kick lines, fake cars and even a shower of money. We're left with the impression that this is what it's like to live inside the Engineer's head making this cartoon villain one of the more fully fledged characterizations in the play.
And again, it's not as if Rabasco, Hanley and even Chris's conflicted buddy John (Brian Lopes) deliver flawed performances. To the contrary, it is Kim and John's duet in the second half, "Please," where we get a few spine tingles that hint at what could have been. Instead, we're inundated with an hour's worth of Chris singing his grocery list in a litany of couplets that made us think he would soon break out into "Fugue for Tinhorns" and start telling us the name of his horse.
We're vacillating here between damnation and praise, but that's the point. There is so much that is good here, and it bears repeating that Desnoyers apparently envisioned most of this by himself and even painted the scenery. At 23, he's managed to mount a consistently inspired vision of what is arguably a mediocre script and score. And he's managed to gather a crew around him that supports that vision despite reported setbacks in casting and other difficulties. Lauren Schmidt's costumes are gorgeous and tacky in all the right places. Though, More Teeth spent some time discussing the overtly American flag-inspired resort attire of Chris' stateside wife, Ellen (Jess Andra). (Without making this drag out by discussing the pros and cons of Chris taking a wife back home knowing he had just been married in Saigon, we wondered what concept drove Ellen to wear this Yankee Pride ensemble to a hotel in Bangkok, knowing she was about to encounter the estranged Vietnamese wife of her husband? Was it the unconscious representation of how she must look to Kim? Or is Ellen truly a bitch? We hoped for the former.)
The ensemble are strong enough, though we're sure Musical Director DeCesare was hoping for a soprano to round out the sound, which lacked high end for many of the larger numbers. Every appearance of Chris' son Tam upped the shows sympathy factor as Annabelle Hood merely had to walk on stage to elicit a sigh from the audience. And, Lucky Rattan's Thuy, the frustrated would-be lover, is in fine voice and mostly believable as a hard-edged representative of the Minh brigade who serves as Saigon's Javert in relentlessly tracking down Kim.
All of which is to say, yes...if you have the means, it's worth seeing this production of 'Miss Saigon' if only for the spectacle, the appreciation of a realized vision, and a gorgeous theater. Tickets are cheaper in the upper balcony, and nothing is lost by sitting a little further away. If you come away feeling that you didn't care about any of these people except for the villains and the children... well, that can be said of Shakespeare, so there's worse complaints to be made. It's unfortunate that the show has such a limited run, for this is the type of show that will gather steam through word of mouth and not take hold until after Sunday's closing. Perhaps that will only serve to lend it more mystique and the tale will grow larger in the retelling. It is that kind of revisionism that may have inspired this Director's vision in the first place. We look forward to see if Desnoyers can deliver for Encore again with stronger material and a longer residence at the Stadium.
Encore Rep presents the RI Premiere of 'Miss Saigon' at the Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Centre in Woonsocket October 15th - 17th. Tickets can be purchased online at the Stadium Theatre website or by calling the box office at 401-762-4545 . Tickets are $19 ($16 for balcony) .
