REarVIEW: Miss Saigon Tour

And so begins my journey of blogging about shows that I as a #theatrenerd see either here in my own city or, honestly, anywhere else! I am calling this thread "REarVIEW: A Review from the Mezzanine that no one asked for". I usually sit really far back in theaters because those are the cheapest seats, and I think that's where you can get an honest sense of how much a production has taken their audience into consideration while they were producing the show.

So...let's begin.

I saw the Miss Saigon Tour on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago. This was truly an experience from the nose bleed section. I was in the last row of the balcony, but still this show moves me. The idea that in the end of a show no one gets what they want has such a beautifully haunting quality.

I saw this particular production during it's Broadway run at the Broadway Theater in NYC and this touring cast did not disappoint! The stellar performances from top to bottom kept me engaged and truly feeling for the characters I was watching. Standout performance for me was by Stacie Bono in the roll of Ellen. Although a smaller supporting role, Bono made me feel that she had a great intuition and a deep affection for the people in her life. She drew me in and I couldn't help but root for this woman who was essentially standing in the way of our protagonist. I also absolutely fell in love with Anthony Festa's voice as he sang the show stopping Act I number "Why God".

The set by Matt Kinley is beautiful and so multi-functional. As you can expect in the Balcony of a touring production, there are some sight-line issues but the direction and the actors seem to navigate those challenges so smoothly that I didn't much notice or care when I did.

The audience is my absolute favorite part of any production that I see, and this audience did not disappoint from an entertainment stand-point. I will warn you that if you are going to see Miss Saigon that this production has some nearly naked people and is very sexual in tone at the front. When I saw it over a year ago in NYC, a family of 9 with some young ones walked out during the first song. So please, do your research! But this time around I sat next to a cranky older couple who came in moments before the show started and complained that their seats weren't available and someone must be in their seat. They drank through the whole first act and didn't return after intermission. During intermission, a woman probably in her 50s was vigorously researching on her phone and in the program what was happening in the show she was watching and loudly exclaiming that she couldn't understand the time hop, and that she wasn't even sure that it happened in this production. I assure you, it did and very nicely handled with large signs that tell you when the time hop has happened.

Lastly, I just want to reflect on the idea that Miss Saigon brings about. This is a show primarily about the failures of one American Marine in his quest for love and for justice. He tries to do right by a Vietnamese girl, but ultimately fails her and leaves in his wake an even larger burden in her life. I thought it was so poignant in today's social climate that Chris says "Christ, I'm an American. How could I have failed to do good!" This really struck a chord with me, because we as a culture have a God complex where it is our job to save everyone, not to do right by the person (or people) who we come in contact with every day, but to save the human race. If we can't do that we have failed and by extension man kind has failed. I think that this heart-wrenching story of what is ultimately human suffering drives home this point without a powerpoint and a pulpit (although the set and the projection give us both during the song Bui Doi).

If you get a chance to see this on tour, I highly recommend that you do your research and then take the opportunity!

Until the next nose-bleeding theatre adventure!