Still and all, Miss Saigon isn’t my favorite musicale

Bulletin’s Shirley Pizarro adores Miss Saigon. Shirley is adorable both as a friend and as a human being. If I can carry all of Tita Shirley on my frail, overworked back and bring her to the center of the mad scramble for Miss Saigon, I will, because she’s a friend and I respect her taste and opinion. I am truly happy about her fortune of having been able to watch a gamut of musicales abroad. I am in revelry that it is still Miss Saigon that moves her the most. That Miss Saigon is Tita Shirley’s favorite musicale makes me jump with joy. I look forward, Tita Shirley, to humming and singing the songs of Miss Saigon with you – for as long as you promise to have a little patience with me. If you want to pat the back of the organizers, I think you should and no one has the right to stop you from being appreciative and grateful. There is no argument about the pride that these actors, led by Lea Salonga, gave this country so gloriously. I will not dare question the sterling performance of Salonga that won her the Tony, Olivier, Critics Circle Awards. Not I, who would not even qualify for an alternate role in the Greek chorus of Trojan Women or an understudy of one of the giggling girls of Mikado. I even respect her admiration for the local organizers of Saigon for a job well done. I also respect her opinion about the producers of Miss Saigon not "stooping down to the level of some people who don’t feel good about Miss Saigon – simply because they cannot approximate the success of the musicale."

I shudder in anguish at this opinion (that I still respect), which could mean that the level of Bibot Amador, Celeste Legaspi, Audie Gemora and Behn Cervantes is so low – you’ll have to crawl to actually understand their message. Lord, I want to join the weeping women of Jerusalem.

But Tita Shirley, I’m not even into the debate as to whether it is politically correct to stage Saigon here or not. In that piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I only said that I didn‘t like it as a musicale. Now, if it is a crime, cast the first stone or bread and I swear you still have my respect and love.

Well, this could also mean that we are a free world – where everyone can like and dislike things at the same time. This is what diversity is all about. In spite of differences of opinion, we can all live together. This to me is essentially what humanity is all about – being able to cohabit in a world despite differences of colors, strength, sexual preferences and whether Saigon moves you or not.

The grand poetess Maya Angelou clearly points it out when she declares, "there is strength and beauty in diversity, life is like a tapestry, made of different threads, regardless of color and strength, everything is equal."

Miss Saigon is one of the few things Tita Shirley and I will disagree on. By a stroke of fate, the people we chose to grow old with, have even the same names. And I wouldn’t be surprised if in our previous lives, we were both Kims.

Thank you to Chito and Jeanette Cabalu. Because of them, I got to see Miss Saigon last Sept. 26 at the CCP Main Theater.

Let me enumerate very clearly my comments about the show.

1. Miss Saigon is worth your P4,000.

2. The production design is magnificent.

3. Musical choreography and stage traffic are seamless.

4. Lea Salonga is predictably brilliant.

5. Jon Jon Briones (as The Engineer) is world class.

6. Isay Alvarez is seasoned and sexy!

7. Will Chase (Chris) is bland! He should star in a Roger Corman movie!

8. Lisa Capps (Ellen) is competent. Arvin Quirante (Thuy) can be better. He has difficulty sustaining the role.

9. The chorus is superb!

10. The helicopter scene is awesome.

It is a better version of the West End and Broadway productions that I have seen. It is an expensive production and it looks it. But it‘s still not my favorite musicale. And I am not apologizing.