#Tweetingit – Rhiannon Reflects in 140 Characters
OMG I AM GOING TO SEE MISS SAIGON IN 4 DAYS
I have been listening to the music from Miss Saigon, for as long as I can remember. I know the songs (and all their harmonies, much to the annoyance of everyone around me) off my heart; I listen to it when I am angry, sad, happy – there is not a time when listening to Miss Saigon doesn’t make everything better.
When I was about 4, my parents got their glad-rags on and, much to my disgruntlement, went off, without me, to see Miss Saigon. I seem to remember not really understanding why I wasn’t going; it was my favourite musical afterall (These Rhiannon Reflects are showing what a madam I was when I was a child)
A few years on, I went to see it for the first time. Having just Googled when John Barrowman was in it (I believe he was the first ‘Chris’ I saw beginning my lifelong love of him), I would’ve been about 8. Perhaps I was a bit young for the show considering the content but I don’t think I really knew what was going on for a lot of it. I was with my dad who loves the show about as much as I do. We got to the end and were both sobbing and we left the theatre still crying. The second time I saw it, I was at an age where I really got it. I was a wreck. Three songs in, knowing what was coming up, I was crying. The people around me probably thought I was somewhat unstable. In the years since then, I have seen it another 5 times, all bar one, with my dad.
We have extensively debated the show – that’s right, we have actually had debates about it. For instance, when thy first changed Ellen’s song from “It’s Her or Me” to “Now That I’ve Seen Her”, we were horrified. What did they do? Ellen now seems more reasonable and understanding. I am not sure I would be terribly happy to be visiting the first love of my husband’s life…AND HER CHILD. The change in song changed the way I had always seen Ellen and I wasn’t sure why they have done it. I am still not sure, and everything I hear “Now That I’ve Seen Her”, it annoys me. But now, they have done the unthinkable and, rather than going back to the original, there is a new song. Ok, I get it, things have to change, we have to move on, but cutting a whole song? Thankfully, they have done it with, as you can see above, my least favourite song but what might this do to Ellen now? I am hoping that this change makes more sense and makes Ellen a more rounded character – I can but wait and see.
I am beyond excited about going to see the new incarnation of Miss Saigon – but disconcertingly I am going on my own…lets hope the 7th time is the time it stops effecting you emotionally and I will be tear free…I think it highly unlikely but, for the sake of those around me, I can but hope.
Have you seen it in previews? Let me know what you think.
Playhouse Pickings 