Pittsburgh Asian American Young Professional Association

Miss Saigon by the Pittsburgh Musical Theater
By Louis Luangkesorn

This was a performance by the Pittsburgh Musical Theater (PMT). Back in November, we (PAAYPA) heard from Patricia Knapp letting us know this was coming up and also looking for local thespians for ensemble roles. And being the Pittsburgh Musical Theater, the cast had strong Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania roots, with even the Actor's Equity members of the cast having regional connections.

The story of Miss Saigon can be found in many places. At its core are Chris and Kim, an American Marine in Vietnam at the time of the fall of Saigon and a Vietnamese girl from the country who has just arrived in Saigon at the time of the fall to work the bars catering to American Marines. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love. World falls apart and they are suddenly separated. Boy (and girl) are scarred for life. Years later they find each other.

So, on to the show. The main characters of Chris and Kim were sung well. But the strength of the PMT and the Byham Theater is the smaller venue, and being able to see Mr. Christian Delcroix and Ms. Jihyen Park act their roles adds a strength to the performance. In particular, Kim's character goes between periods of uncertainty and tentativeness and periods of strength and resolve, and Ms. Park communicates this in body and voice. Frankly I've always missed this before. Kim's transitions between weakness and strength ends up driving the story.

The Pittsburgh Musical Theater suffers somewhat from being the second theater in Pittsburgh, with the big local production being those that play at the Benedum Theater, in particular the Phantom of the Opera which is playing concurrently as part of the Broadway in Pittsburgh series. It's focus on developing local talent gives it a community feel to it (at least two groups sitting near me commented on this being 's show, meaning they knew a cast member). But this would be community theater polished beyond most community director's dreams. There were a few production problems, like mikes not picking up when a character or member of the company initially began participating in the lyrics. Mr. Binotto plays a serviceable engineer. It is a part that demands a strong presence as it sometimes ends up carrying the entire production. It is played well, but in this case it was not necessary for the weight of the production to be on his shoulders.

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