Miss Saigon runs until Nov. 20. Buy tickets at http://www.cfrt.org
Story by James Johnson
Miss Saigon, the first musical of the Cape Fear Regional Theater’s highly anticipated 50th season had a lot to live up to. The CFRT has after all, built its reputation on its ability to bring big city quality musicals to our small town, and since 1962, it has done so with nary a misstep. Thankfully, though the story carries with it some inherent flaws, Miss Saigon is without a doubt another rousing success for the theater on the hill. The only question is whether Miss Saigon marks the start of something new, or a last attempt to cling to the familiar and comfortable. The thematic parallels haven’t gone unnoticed.
Currently the Cape Fear Regional Theater is going through a regime change, with its founder Bo Thorp having announced her retirement as artistic director, and newcomer Tom Quaintance being immediately announced as her replacement. Its still too soon to say whether this change is going to be a quick and painless one, but early signs are pointing to “no.” The evening I attended, Miss Thorp was still introducing the show, as always, and though her title has been changed from “artistic director” to “director/producer” in the program, she is still being billed above Quaintance.
Miss Saigon takes Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and sets it during the Vietnam War. We’re intoduced to Kim (Shannon Tyo), a 17-year-old girl whose family had been killed in the war, and who now must take up work as a stripper to survive. On her first day of the job, she meets an American G.I. named Chris (Daniel S. Hines), who she quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) falls in love with. However when Saigon falls two weeks later and Chris is evacuated, Kim is left to spend the next three years mourning a relationship that never was and (spoiler alert), raising their out of wedlock child (played by arguably the cutest kid known to man). Deep stuff, right?
Guns don't kill people, puffs of stage smoke kill people.
Miss Saigon, even on a preview night, manages to succeed in every area the CFRT is known for succeeding in. The cast is entirely on point, with no real weak links to be spoken of. This is particularly noteworthy, as Miss Saigon can’t be an easy show to cast. There just aren’t that many Asian actors living in Fayetteville, North Carolina, meaning that going in the CFRT likely realized that they would have to cast professionals for their lead roles. Leads, Shannon Tyo and Daniel S. Hines give powerful and emotionally raw performances, that at times will make your skin crawl. Meanwhile actors Billy Bustamante (as the Engineer – a cooler name a pimp could never ask for) and Kendrix Singletary (as John, Chris’ army buddy) take turns stealing the show. Bustamante’s role is tailor-made for show stealing. He is comical, over the top, and not without his own level of depth. Singletary, meanwhile, plays the “best friend,” which basically means it was written with the intention of simply fading into the background, and yet through sheer stage presence, Singletary managed to be impossible to ignore. Note to whoever it is that is currently in charge of the CFRT: Let Singletary carry his own show next season.
Another area where the show succeeds is in staging. Yes, they didn’t actually have a helicopter fly onto stage as in the Broadway version – but these are the sacrifices local audiences have to make if they don’t want ticket prices to skyrocket. Nonetheless, the tech folks find a way to still blow our socks off without blowing their budget, and for that I am thankful.
The show’s most glaring problem is one that can be found in a lot of shows chosen by the CFRT (more evidence that little has changed). Miss Saigon has an inherently flawed story. Our two lovebirds fall in love while off stage (presumably “doing it”), and no matter how many Disney movies we may have been subjected to in our childhood, the idea that a couple can fall so love in two weeks of knowing each other that they would hold onto these strong feelings for three years makes Wicked seem like a gritty documentary. Tyo and Hines have to sell their parts twice as hard to evoke the emotional response needed by the end of the show, simply because the only believable relationship in the entire play is that between Kim and her son.
Another issue that plagued the show was the sound. Don’t get me wrong. The music in Miss Saigon is classic. The show’s orchestra is probably one of the best orchestras I have witnessed in a musical. Unfortunately, part of my witnessing them, involved them being on stage during the whole show, which is only a bad thing when the orchestra’s sound is overpowering that of the singers, which was often. I can’t however detract too many points for this, as sound problems are usually fixed within the first weekend of a show’s run, and I would be shocked to find that this is still an issue during the second and third weekend.
Miss Saigon is a safe bet for the CFRT. It is a safe bet in a long line of safe bets. With the announcement of a new artistic director, I had hoped to see the theater do what Miss Saigon’s Kim did when faced with putting her child’s future in the hands of someone else. Take risks, sacrifice everything and regret nothing. Let go, and hope for the best. Unfortunately for those of us who love to watch chaos in motion (or just want to see the CFRT return to making ballsy moves, as they did with The Full Monty), this new transition will involve a lot more hand-holding and calculated decision making than fearless leaps of faith. There will likely be more productions of The King and I, and White Christmas, than Spring Awakening or Urinetown, but at least we know that whatever direction the theater goes, the standard of quality set by Bo Thorp won’t be going anywhere.
