Miss Saigon - Theatre Royal / Prince Edward / UK Tour

I think Rachelle Ann go as Gigi and Kwan Ho Hong as Thuy were better than the current cast.

I loved Alistair Brammer and I love Chris Peluso, very different but both good.

It's mainly Ellen that was a total miscast in the original revival cast.

Edit: If they spend 2 days to shoot extra material with the original cast, I hope they fix the wrong melody lines of Eva too. I mean, this is the chance to do certain parts justice and use multiple takes.

For anyone who's interested, some more tickets have been released for closing night (mainly premium...)

I'm going tomorrow, could anyone direct me to where the cast board is, if there is one?

Thank you very much for your help!

I will i'm sure see this before it finishes. I would wait until the tour but i imagine it will be scaled down and so better to go for the full effect and production.

I've been looking at seats. Dress Circle, how is that for this this show? Centre mid dress circle is what i'm looking at.

I hope they scale it up a bit for the Broadway version, I feel the sets are too simple and not intimate enough at times.
It looks like a tour set indeed, with some props on an empty black stage.

"Dreamland" is just a black stage with a little round piece in the middle and some chairs on stage.

"Last night of the world" is a black hole in the show to me now, I really don't understand why is has to take place on the back of the tiny turning Dreamland bar.

I also don't like the "Sun and moon" and "why god why" sets, which are also just a black stage with the bed upstairs in the steel pipe construction.

Same goes for "Room 317" just a chair and a bed on an empty black stage.

I really feel this show benefits enormously from the smaller stages rolling down the actual stage. It made it much more intimate and dynamic (Dreamland, Kim's bedroom, last night of the world, back in town, room 317, etc). It made the show look more interesting as they could play with it, walk around it, sometimes in front of it, which meant a different location (I still taste your kisses, when the set was slowly moving backwards, also in Dreamland and last night of the world).

I think that important scenes such as Kim and Chris' first night and I still taste your kisses actually happen centre stage and not somewhere way up in the back and that certain scenes such as sun and moon and lnotw are not in some kind of stockroom or on the street. Also, I miss the stage on the stage in Dreamland when the girls present themselves, now they are just standing on a prop chair. This "toning down" of the show also tones down the impact and emotions for me, therefore this production is less raw. Because when I see "last night of the world", I want to feel the illusion of what Kim and Chris feel, I want a romantic atmosphere, with orange, better than life lighting, a fan on the bamboo ceiling, a muggy feel and a bed with a gently flowing mosquito net, this is their fantasy, a storage room won't make the emotions of the scene more real for me. The director and Cameron really need to adjust their views of what "real and raw emotion" in theatre as well as in film actually means. There is much more you can use to heighten emotions for the audience. Toning everything down and pretend it is more raw is not the solution.

This is also the big mistake they made in the Les Mis film, which is basically a theatrical performance on a pavement. I hope that when they make a Miss Saigon film they go all the way with the execution of the scenes. For example after Kim shoots Thuy, don't do it in an alley or storage room between a bin and a clothes line. Make it theatrical, it is the end of Kim's world in her mind, so show it, create a haunting fantasy space with a choir of ghosts singing "This is the hour". Etc. 

Theatre and film are a triumph of the fantasy. Especially with musical which should never be too literal, because per definition it is not. (sung thoughts etc).

When you say the GC loges were very restricted, how bad were they? I'm in one for the final show, it was the only seat available when I booked

ah ok thanks. I've seen it twice before, I just wanted to be there for the atmosphere of final night so should be alright. I've just looked at the 'view from my seat' facility on the website and it's not too bad

Quick question from a long time lurker (onlly just found the forum's new home), I think I'm going to be unable to go to the last performance, where would the best place be to try and sell the ticket? Do people buy tickets on Ebay these days?

What seat do you have for the evening? A friend may be interested!

Hey folks, I still have tickets for the final 2 shows on Saturday 27th February...1 ticket for Matinee and 1 for the Evening.
Both centre Row B in the Stalls

Message me if you're interested.