Nearly nine years have passed since hype and controversy overshadowed the actual content of Boublil/Schonberg's "Madame Butterfly" riff, Miss Saigon. On first viewing, I was stunned by John Napier's set design -- not so much for its furniture and spectacle but its incredible sense of space; the upstage area seemed to extend past infinity. I had quibbles with the sometimes iffy lyrics and the unmoving love story, but every time Jonathan Pryce slithered across the stage, all was forgiven.
While my admiration for Mr. Pryce remains intact, a re-viewing of Miss Saigon (then with Francis Ruivivar) showed the musical to have held up well, perhaps even better, without him; because the Engineer doesn't overwhelm us, there's more room for the real story (for such a "big" production, Saigon's plot is streamlined and intimate). While I was again unmoved by the finale, I found the tragic romance between a Vietnamese girl and an American soldier far more engrossing this time. Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby Jr.'s lyrics still strike me as more simplistic than simple, and the Saigon score is no Les Miz (voices soar, the ballads don't), but unlike most sung-through, opera-style works, this one really moves and we can follow it. A terrific show.
