Journey to Saigon

I guess you could say musical theatre is my passion, my "thing". I’m that loud girl that stands on stage and belts notes as loud as I can. I'm that girl that lives for a good story to completely loose myself in. When I sing musical theatre that's only time where I feel like I understand myself. I don’t think I would have figured that out if I hadn’t seen the show Miss Saigon.

This is the story of a love brought together and ripped apart by war. The musical theatre story of Miss Saigon, with music by Claude-Michael Schönberg and lyrics by Alain Boubill and Richard Maltby Jr. is based off of Giacomo Puccini's Opera, Madame Butterfly. It is the story of an American GI named Chris who is sent off to war in Vietnam and falls madly in love with a Vietnamese girl named Kim.  Chris is forced to leave Vietnam and he marries another woman named Ellen.  The story follows Chris’s return to Vietnam and the surprise for the lovers that Chris is now married and that Kim has Chris’s child.

I remember it was the song “I Still Believe” that made me start practicing the passionate ballad and belt songs. Kim and Ellen sing this song approximately 3 years after he has left Vietnam. What I find so extremely beautiful and heart wrenching is the setting and text. Kim sits awake in a room full of strangers and hasn’t seen or heard from Chris in 3 years, but yet she reminisces in the middle of night about their nights together. She sings about her memories, her undying love, and her confidence in his return to her. At the same time in America, Ellen lies awake in bed troubled about her husbands nightmares- that are actually about his concerns over Kim’s safety. Yet Ellen sings about her promise to remain a devoted wife despite the secrets he keeps from her.

In particular, it was the actress playing Ellen whose voice drew me in.  The beginning was so hushed as Kim was singing that you could almost hear a pin drop. The song completely intensified when the women began to sing together and you could hear the pain of Ellen not being able to comfort her husband, and for Kim crying out for Chris in the midst of the night. During their duet Ellen’s voice was so resonant and powerful. I could her hear her pain, but I could also hear strength and her confidence that they would get past this. I remember sitting in amazement with my friends, jaws dropped, and the roar of applause when the song finished.

I had liked musical theatre before I saw Miss Saigon, but this show motivated me to practice songs that had power to them, that had multi-dimensional characters. Ever since this performance I’ve had one goal as a performer, and that is to have everyone so completely engaged in my performance, that they feel like their living it with me. 

I like the vocals in this video more…However,

 The staging and set of this particular production is closer to how it looked when I saw it.
(I liked the people I saw better!! But enjoy anyway!)