Miss Saigon

The unabashedly tragic love story "Miss Saigon," by the team who gave us the unabashedly tragic epic family drama "Les Mis�rables," returns to the Pantages theatre this year in the sparkling revamped revival that premiered in London in 2014.

With new sets, choreography, and staging, "Miss Saigon" feels new yet familiar. Fans of the original incarnation of the show might be a bit perplexed at the extensive lyric changes that pop up song after song, a rewritten ballad using the melody of "Please" and an added song for the character of Ellen that comes too late to care. The show itself is still a rabidly romantic wild ride of heightened passion that can often time feels over the top, but thanks to the beauty of the music, is tolerable despite the melodrama.

The clearly gifted Emily Bautista plays Kim, a 17- year old Vietnamese girl whose village is destroyed and she must find work. Taken under the wing of a man named "The Engineer" (Red Concepion), she ends up at a bar that houses prostitutes that cater to U.S. army men. There the virgin Kim meets sweet yet intense soldier Chris (Anthony Festa) who protects her, takes her home, and sleeps with her. But the two connect and within a few duets, the two have fallen so much in love that they have a small unofficial wedding ceremony. But as the war rages on the two are separated and Chris ends up back in the U.S. leaving Kim alone.

Three years go by and Kim – now with a 3- year old son fathered by Chris – is living on the outskirts of town waiting for Chris to come back to her. Meanwhile back in America, Chris is married to a woman named Ellen (Stacie Bono) yet continues to have nightmares about the woman he used to love. This sets in motion a finale that is devastatingly powerful.

The current tour of the revival is certainly spectacular, even more so than the original production. The sets, (including the big helicopter set-piece), and the elevated choreography are all very strong here and makes the production dazzling to the eyes. The performers all excel vocally, in spite of the numerous reworked – most of which lack the poetry of the original version. Even so, the cast firmly sells the emotions of the characters.

That said, my biggest complaint is that – compared to the original production – songs feel rushed and every emotional beat starts at an 11 and stays there – battering the audience with a ferocious intensity that can be exhausting. During the romantic "The Last Night of the World" the couple practically throws each other around the stage in a passionate portrayal of their overwhelming feelings for each other. Throughout most of the show, the characters yell/sing their lyrics at each other, illustrating their escalating sentiments to a point where it just feels everyone is constantly screaming their songs even when it's not necessarily called for.

I've seen productions where this direction is similar, but I've also seen productions where there are more moments of quiet sensitivity that isn't found in the growling lyrics. This is the only real problem I have with this new mounting of one of my favorite shows and I do hope that when a movie version finally arrives, the theatrics of the stage show will be toned way down for the big screen. And yes, I realize there is a difference between theater acting and movie acting, but after watching this tour, I swear the audience down the street at the Cinerama Dome was well aware of how Kim and Chris felt about each other.

"Miss Saigon" runs through August 11th at the Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028. For more information and tickets please visitwww.hollwyoodpantages.com.

For upcoming dates in the "Miss Saigon" tour, visit the musical's website.