A couple of key things you couldn’t really see in the video… The first song is Bui Doi which meant “dust of life” and it was referring to all the kids that the American soldiers fathered while in Vietnam. These were kids that were obviously “half breeds” as everyone could tell they were not full Vietnamese and they were outcasted. Tam is one of them. They showed a bunch of these kids’ pictures on a slideshow in the background as John sang that song. In the last scene, you can’t really see the full, life sized helicopter that comes down, picks up the soldiers, and then takes off. In real life, it’s so spectacular and so powerful. Regardless, I can see that you’re still enjoying it, and that’s the most important part!! Can’t wait for the finale!
You should really see this in the theater. I can still remember my seat vibrating when the helicopter lands and takes off and feel the whoosh of the propellers. It’s a complete aural, visual, and emotional experience like no other musical can offer.
True. I saw the recent Australian-Asian revival tour in Manila. The sound of the chopper lifting off was actually near deafening, the headlights shone directly in my face, and you could feel the propellers' wind from the orchestra section.
What I love about this show is that the intimacy among the characters, especially between Kim and John, is not lost or diminished within all the spectacle and hugeness of the show.
There are historical documentary films about the fall of Saigon which are heartbreaking but also supplement information about what happened. No one won that war. It was a terrible, tragic chapter in history for pretty much everyone involved. Seeing the helicopter live onstage is so powerful. I was fortunate enough to see Lea Salonga in the closing cast on Broadway in 1999 and it was really powerful to see. Stunning show. So happy you are watching it and appreciating alll the details.
Vietnam and Korea are two Wars that it is widely acknowledged having no winners🥺😢 in many ways Desert Storm as well we did what we had to do. But that doesn't mean we won. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those that think it's about baby killers. Although I know that there are those out there that feel that way I will never blame the soldiers that did what they thought was right. But I acknowledge that there are wars, and there are battles, and just because we didn't lose on the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean we won. But we can never blame the soldiers for doing what they were told to believe in order to defend the country😔
The music right at the beginning of this video is what's known as the entr'acte. It's a somewhat old-school thing -- most older musicals have one, but a lot of newer ones don't. It's the music that plays at the beginning of the second act, after intermission. It serves a few purposes -- it gets the audience back into the mood of the show, and sometimes introduces some new musical themes that will be used in the second act, or connects it musically to the first act. Also, from a more practical, less artistic perspective, there are usually some people still making their way back to their seats then, and it's the cue that those people need to hurry up because the second act is starting.
This was one of the last of the eighties trend of big "spectacle" musicals. There were a lot of big advances around that time in terms of the technical stuff that could be done in a theatre, with better sound systems and new computer-controlled stuff, as well as some new bigger theatres being built and audiences starting to expect more (since movies and TV were also advancing a lot in terms of special effects then), and so a lot of the shows in the eighties had some kind of big "thing" that they were known for, some kind of technical wizardry that just wowed everyone. For Les Mis, it was the revolving stage. For Phantom of the Opera, it was the chandelier. And for Miss Saigon, it was that helicopter. It was an actual (very small, but real) helicopter that would fly down onto the stage and fly up and carry Chris away, and people who knew nothing else about Miss Saigon at the time would at least know, "It's the one with the helicopter." For the song "Bui Doi" at the beginning, that was John working for a non-profit that worked with the government to try to help the children of US military who were left behind in Vietnam. A lot of other countries at the time had a special legal status for the kids of their soldiers; the US didn't really have anything official, and they were trying to work something out. Some of the fathers in those situations didn't want to claim the kids, if they could even identify who the father was -- Miss Saigon shows a love story, but that's not the story for many of those children. Some of the mothers abandoned them because of the stigma, or the Vietnamese government took them away. There was a movement at the time to try to get American families to adopt those kids, and some were adopted. I'm a genealogist and I do some work with helping adopted people identify their birth parents (it's not my main focus, but I've done some work in that area), and it's still pretty common to see those half-Vietnamese half-American people, who are now in their fifties, looking for someone to help them identify their birth parents.
I confess, MISS SAIGON isn't a favorite show of mine. It's problematic in many ways. But there is no denying that there is some wonderful music and terrifically dramatic scenes in the show. Plus, it brought Lea Salonga her first international attention. After her West End premiere was Lea’s Broadway premiere, then her first Disney princess singing role, and then performing at the Oscars.
It is definitely not problematic. These are real stories of people that existed and it shows the human side of them. Especially the character of Kim is portrayed as heroic and strong and everyone is a victim of war and circumstance.
My wife and I saw this in 1995 when it came to Seattle. I’ll never forget the sense of complete despair on the part of the Vietnamese when the helicopter took off. It was crushing.
I have seen a lot of Broadway Productions. This was one of only two that I did not know the story of before I saw the actual play. Most of the Broadway productions I knew the soundtrack inside out and backwards before I was able to actually see it on stage. This and rent hit me the hardest. Probably because I did not know the story prior to going into the play itself. There are probably at least 10 to 15 other plays that I saw that I knew the soundtrack inside out and backwards before I actually saw them on stage, none of them hit me as hard as those that I did not know before going to see them. I was a teenager. I left the theater and walk down Broadway, into one of those little shops that specifically sells All Broadway related items, and I bought the soundtrack
Having done this show before (played in the pit orchestra for a semi-professional production) I can tell you the Fall of Saigon sequence is a logistical nightmare for a director. She was practically pulling her hair out during rehearsals.
In the original US tour of the show, in the evacuation scene, there were light towers on either side of the stage. As the scene cut between Chris at the embassy and Kim in her various places, all the lights would shine into the audience so that it gave the illusion of a movie cutting back and forth. To me it was more impressive than the helicopter landing (which was more spectacular in the Eva version). I have never seen the effect used in any later productions.
Bui Doi was done a disservice in this version. What the audience sees on the screen are photos of the actual bui doi. There's not a dry eye in the house at the end of the song. Imagine the Sarah McLaughlin Animal Cruelty video......but with children and the Bui Doi song. Rips your heart right out. And that last scene with Chris leaving - I'm bawling. (btw - it's ok to cry during these. Part of musicals is letting yourself feel the emotions and just be in the moment). What makes that scene even more impactful is that is pretty much exactly what happened when the US left the Saigon Embassy. A good documentary about the Fall of Saigon: ua-cam.com/video/rRyiVgHw3fE/v-deo.html
I'm SO glad you're watching this twice. I found myself yelling at the screen saying to you : "LISTEN!!!" LOL. Seriously, you miss stuff when you talk over it. I nagged you on Patreon too, to please pause rather than talk over it. The good thing is, you will see the other version, and see some of the little intricacies. This is a wonderful story, told SO well.
The night he left is known as The Fall of Saigon - when America had to evacuate and leave loads of people behind, this was the end of the Vietnam war. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the time the 3 years had passed (hence Uncle Ho)
He's talking about the children fathered by American soldiers in Viet Nam. Their mere existence in communist controlled Viet Nam is considered a crime.
As much as I have always loved musicals, I never considered the impact of the timing. After reading through the comments, thank God I was someone to enjoy musicals in the late eighties / early 90s. I never considered before what a magical time that was to truly fall in love with the genre Rent gave me an idea about the turn of the millennium, but even at the time I didn't understand what it meant for musical history Yet another reason to be glad to be a gen-xer. As if the idea of playing until the street lights came on wasn't enough😉
The American Dream was cut in this version and rewritten as the first song. I prefer it . Man this show gives me all the feels, don’t want to spoil anything
A couple of key things you couldn’t really see in the video…
The first song is Bui Doi which meant “dust of life” and it was referring to all the kids that the American soldiers fathered while in Vietnam. These were kids that were obviously “half breeds” as everyone could tell they were not full Vietnamese and they were outcasted. Tam is one of them. They showed a bunch of these kids’ pictures on a slideshow in the background as John sang that song.
In the last scene, you can’t really see the full, life sized helicopter that comes down, picks up the soldiers, and then takes off. In real life, it’s so spectacular and so powerful.
Regardless, I can see that you’re still enjoying it, and that’s the most important part!!
Can’t wait for the finale!
You should really see this in the theater. I can still remember my seat vibrating when the helicopter lands and takes off and feel the whoosh of the propellers. It’s a complete aural, visual, and emotional experience like no other musical can offer.
In smaller theatres they have to use a projection, which still works but not as good as the actual helicopter
@@nicluc135 I think all of the current productions use the projection now instead of the large model.
True. I saw the recent Australian-Asian revival tour in Manila. The sound of the chopper lifting off was actually near deafening, the headlights shone directly in my face, and you could feel the propellers' wind from the orchestra section.
@@Skraith No, they actually do have a physical helicopter in the current revival.
What I love about this show is that the intimacy among the characters, especially between Kim and John, is not lost or diminished within all the spectacle and hugeness of the show.
As intense as this section was, the rest of the show will ramp up. Miss Saigon is such and underrated show.
There are historical documentary films about the fall of Saigon which are heartbreaking but also supplement information about what happened. No one won that war. It was a terrible, tragic chapter in history for pretty much everyone involved.
Seeing the helicopter live onstage is so powerful. I was fortunate enough to see Lea Salonga in the closing cast on Broadway in 1999 and it was really powerful to see. Stunning show. So happy you are watching it and appreciating alll the details.
Vietnam and Korea are two Wars that it is widely acknowledged having no winners🥺😢 in many ways Desert Storm as well we did what we had to do. But that doesn't mean we won.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those that think it's about baby killers. Although I know that there are those out there that feel that way I will never blame the soldiers that did what they thought was right.
But I acknowledge that there are wars, and there are battles, and just because we didn't lose on the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean we won.
But we can never blame the soldiers for doing what they were told to believe in order to defend the country😔
The music right at the beginning of this video is what's known as the entr'acte. It's a somewhat old-school thing -- most older musicals have one, but a lot of newer ones don't. It's the music that plays at the beginning of the second act, after intermission. It serves a few purposes -- it gets the audience back into the mood of the show, and sometimes introduces some new musical themes that will be used in the second act, or connects it musically to the first act. Also, from a more practical, less artistic perspective, there are usually some people still making their way back to their seats then, and it's the cue that those people need to hurry up because the second act is starting.
Telly from Matilda is a sung version of an entr’acte. It’s ‘ok get back to your seats, the second half proper is starting soon’.
My favorite musical. Lea won a Tony award and so many more for this role.
You need to hear Lea sing “On My Own” live. Mesmerising.
This was one of the last of the eighties trend of big "spectacle" musicals. There were a lot of big advances around that time in terms of the technical stuff that could be done in a theatre, with better sound systems and new computer-controlled stuff, as well as some new bigger theatres being built and audiences starting to expect more (since movies and TV were also advancing a lot in terms of special effects then), and so a lot of the shows in the eighties had some kind of big "thing" that they were known for, some kind of technical wizardry that just wowed everyone. For Les Mis, it was the revolving stage. For Phantom of the Opera, it was the chandelier. And for Miss Saigon, it was that helicopter. It was an actual (very small, but real) helicopter that would fly down onto the stage and fly up and carry Chris away, and people who knew nothing else about Miss Saigon at the time would at least know, "It's the one with the helicopter."
For the song "Bui Doi" at the beginning, that was John working for a non-profit that worked with the government to try to help the children of US military who were left behind in Vietnam. A lot of other countries at the time had a special legal status for the kids of their soldiers; the US didn't really have anything official, and they were trying to work something out. Some of the fathers in those situations didn't want to claim the kids, if they could even identify who the father was -- Miss Saigon shows a love story, but that's not the story for many of those children. Some of the mothers abandoned them because of the stigma, or the Vietnamese government took them away. There was a movement at the time to try to get American families to adopt those kids, and some were adopted. I'm a genealogist and I do some work with helping adopted people identify their birth parents (it's not my main focus, but I've done some work in that area), and it's still pretty common to see those half-Vietnamese half-American people, who are now in their fifties, looking for someone to help them identify their birth parents.
I confess, MISS SAIGON isn't a favorite show of mine. It's problematic in many ways. But there is no denying that there is some wonderful music and terrifically dramatic scenes in the show. Plus, it brought Lea Salonga her first international attention. After her West End premiere was Lea’s Broadway premiere, then her first Disney princess singing role, and then performing at the Oscars.
It is definitely not problematic. These are real stories of people that existed and it shows the human side of them. Especially the character of Kim is portrayed as heroic and strong and everyone is a victim of war and circumstance.
My wife and I saw this in 1995 when it came to Seattle. I’ll never forget the sense of complete despair on the part of the Vietnamese when the helicopter took off. It was crushing.
I have seen a lot of Broadway Productions. This was one of only two that I did not know the story of before I saw the actual play. Most of the Broadway productions I knew the soundtrack inside out and backwards before I was able to actually see it on stage. This and rent hit me the hardest. Probably because I did not know the story prior to going into the play itself. There are probably at least 10 to 15 other plays that I saw that I knew the soundtrack inside out and backwards before I actually saw them on stage, none of them hit me as hard as those that I did not know before going to see them.
I was a teenager. I left the theater and walk down Broadway, into one of those little shops that specifically sells All Broadway related items, and I bought the soundtrack
Having done this show before (played in the pit orchestra for a semi-professional production) I can tell you the Fall of Saigon sequence is a logistical nightmare for a director. She was practically pulling her hair out during rehearsals.
In the original US tour of the show, in the evacuation scene, there were light towers on either side of the stage. As the scene cut between Chris at the embassy and Kim in her various places, all the lights would shine into the audience so that it gave the illusion of a movie cutting back and forth. To me it was more impressive than the helicopter landing (which was more spectacular in the Eva version). I have never seen the effect used in any later productions.
Bui Doi was done a disservice in this version. What the audience sees on the screen are photos of the actual bui doi. There's not a dry eye in the house at the end of the song. Imagine the Sarah McLaughlin Animal Cruelty video......but with children and the Bui Doi song. Rips your heart right out. And that last scene with Chris leaving - I'm bawling. (btw - it's ok to cry during these. Part of musicals is letting yourself feel the emotions and just be in the moment). What makes that scene even more impactful is that is pretty much exactly what happened when the US left the Saigon Embassy. A good documentary about the Fall of Saigon: ua-cam.com/video/rRyiVgHw3fE/v-deo.html
Excellent point
YAY!! I love these videos, thank you for your work!! Can't wait for the final segment, dreading it but can't wait :)
I'm SO glad you're watching this twice. I found myself yelling at the screen saying to you : "LISTEN!!!" LOL. Seriously, you miss stuff when you talk over it. I nagged you on Patreon too, to please pause rather than talk over it. The good thing is, you will see the other version, and see some of the little intricacies. This is a wonderful story, told SO well.
If you’re looking for a next filmed musical…. I would say Come From Away
The night he left is known as The Fall of Saigon - when America had to evacuate and leave loads of people behind, this was the end of the Vietnam war.
Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the time the 3 years had passed (hence Uncle Ho)
Hopefully part 5 is coming soon!
He's talking about the children fathered by American soldiers in Viet Nam. Their mere existence in communist controlled Viet Nam is considered a crime.
Try to watch a documentary on the fall of Saigon. This will make so much more sense.
THE ONE AND ONLY LEA SALONGA AS MISS SAIGON
Miss Saigon is big productions. They traveled to Asian Countries to find Kim.
Search the making of Miss Saigon.
As much as I have always loved musicals, I never considered the impact of the timing. After reading through the comments, thank God I was someone to enjoy musicals in the late eighties / early 90s. I never considered before what a magical time that was to truly fall in love with the genre
Rent gave me an idea about the turn of the millennium, but even at the time I didn't understand what it meant for musical history
Yet another reason to be glad to be a gen-xer.
As if the idea of playing until the street lights came on wasn't enough😉
Oh God, you're in the homestretch now. You still have some of the most HEARTWRENCHING stuff ahead!
🫣
And part 4 is done… prepare to be gutted. 😭 I recommend having some kitten videos queued up
Bui doi version in the 25th anniversary is unbelievable. Get ready for even more intensity coming …
and they had an actual(sorta) helicopter fly in and out!
I was hoping you'd make it to Room 317!! Next time.
14:15 OMG I never caught that “or if you ever want a boy” line before… I’m going to throw up 15:13 He’s working for a sex tourism operation 😳
20:25 He pronounced it Tam... like how it's spelt.
Is there no part 5 to this? 😢
NEXT PART? 11days now 😅
Yup. I was going to ask the same thing! So eager for the next part!!!
7:01 One does not simply cut off a singer's high note! 🤦♂
The American Dream was cut in this version and rewritten as the first song. I prefer it . Man this show gives me all the feels, don’t want to spoil anything
Huh? American Dream is coming near the end. Right where it's always been. 2nd to last song, I believe.
@@rodb9275 Oh shoot, I was thinking it was the beginning of the second act!
@@michelleconcannon7584 Yeah, it's basically The Engineer's finale in the show. Great scene, too, Live.