Music Circus: Miss Saigon

If it were phrased as a qquestion "Miss Saigon?" I would have to answer "Yes, thank God.  I did!" or "No, I really don't."  You see, I missed going to Vietnam courtesy of Uncle Sam by the very skin of my teeth.  So I did, in fact, miss Saigon.  But I don't regret missing out.

Watching the Music Center's performance of Miss Saigon didn't bring back any false pleasant memories, or any memories for that matter.  More of an opereta than a musical, the libretto of Miss Saigon was difficult for me to  understand even though I had read the plot summary.  None of the songs were "hummable" and the ending is just plain tragic.

Technically, the play was over-the-top from the opening dirty disco routine to the helecopter flying the last American't to safety.  It wasn't so easy to pick out the good and bad guys so the political side of the war didn't play prominently in the production.  Pretty, listenable music, just not singable or memorable.

Music Circus - I Do! I Do!

When we moved to Sacramento almost 10 years ago, one of the first things we did was subscribe to a full season of plays at the Music Circus.  We quickly found out that seeing a Broadway quality production every week for 6 or 7 weeks is too much.  It's costly to the pocketbook and the body.   We much prefer the costs of the Davis Musical Theater Center where 6 shows of a season are spread throughout the year.

But still we will take in a Music Circus show from time to time.  Recently we saw their production of "I Do!  I Do!"  It has a two person cast and portrays in song and dance the joys and trials of marriage from almost the beginning to almost the end.  With actors in their 50s I found it stretching credibility at the beginning.  And since she has aged faster than him, for most of the play, I found myself thinking it was a mom and her son rather than man and wife.  The story line has aged, also.  When they sang the lovely duet "A Man and a Woman were meant for each other, were meant for each other as husband and wife" it sounded like a low key advertisement for Prop 8 or the Defense of Marriage Act.  There were no such overtones when we  we saw the play 40 years ago in Utah.  It's been a favorite of ours.  I have the piano music.  "My Cup Runneth Over" popularize by Ed Ames in the early 60's has always ben a favorite love song of ours.

I was impressed with something the Music Circus does for people with walkers and wheelchairs.  Volunteers follow you to your seats then politely request that they "store" your equipment.  They tag it with what must be the oldest tags in the business world then whisk them away.  They show up again at intermission and again at the end of the show.  It didn't look like they were expecting a tip of any kind.

The Secret Garden

Imagine being an only child, and a fairly spoiled one at that, living a life of luxury in far off India as one of the English occupation families. Now imagine that, seemingly overnight, your entire family is wiped out by cholera, a disease whose symptoms are both swift and horrible. You now have not a friend or advocate in the world except some little-known uncle back in Yorkshire, England who has enough troubles and sorrows of his own to care about you or for you. You are literally dropped off at your uncle's house after being told all the way there that you will not be welcome. And indeed, you aren't.

Now imagine as a playwright trying to portray the sense of loss and abandonment, of betrayal. The attempt at closing a gap in a family without knowing anything about that family. The writer has attempted to show background and flashbacks by using ghosts with white hankies signifying life and red hankies signifying death. It comes off surprisingly well. All the singing is in tune and in time except perhaps young Collin who can be excused if he's been cooped up in his bedroom for 10 years.

The scenery is sparse as DMTC almost always is. But by careful manipulation, the sight of the secret garden bursting into bloom is glorious. Carolyn thought the musical was "dark" but I think that's just the way you have to tell a story as complex and deep as this one. I highly recommend this for all, even kids 8 and over. Our two visiting grandsons ages 8 and 11 seemed to enjoy it.