Miss Saigon (Highlights) - Original Cast (CD 1993)

For some reason, I have avoided "Miss Saigon", which ran on Broadway from 1990-2000, until now. I bought the highlights cd rather than the full length recording to see if I really liked the show enough to spend the extra money later. I just don't think I do. Perhaps, it is because the show's score was written by the same team that created the score for "Les Miz", to which the music to "Miss Saigon" bears more than a passing resemblance. The score is fairly good-not great as it's classic forerunner. Most of the hoopla centered on the famous helicopter landing onstage (a bid to out glitz "Phantom of the Opera's" falling chandelier) and the casting controversy concerning the stars' from England coming to Broadway to do the show, and all the problems that entailed with Actors's Equity Assoc.
"Miss Saigon" lost the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, three losses that ought to give one an idea that this is really not one of the great musicals.
Jonathan Pryce is not as prominent as you might expect the role would make him. But he does have one of the two most memorable songs in the show-the finale, "The American Dream." It is incredible, but if you are a red state voter, you won't like the politics of the song. Keep in mind, this is the end of Viet Nam. However, the most thrilling song is for one of the supporting players and the marvelous men's ensemble-"Bui Doi". It means "half breed" in the patois of the show's location, referring to the children of American GIs and Vietnamese women-some of them only children themselves. It is
haunting, touching, finger pointing and the most enduring song in the show. If you love the music of the theater, this one song is a keeper.
You receive all the lyrics to the songs within the liner notes, but no story line, which is problematic when you are listening to an unfamiliar show. It's "Madame Butterfly" but with modern twists and turns.
All in all, I'm glad I bought this cd for a very low price on ebay.