Bestselling UK Music Review - Miss Saigon [Original London Cast]

Miss Saigon [Original London Cast]
from: Geffen

Amazon.co.uk's Price: £24.98

Prices subject to change.

Used Price: £10.50
Third Party New Price: £19.89

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.

Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 5014636100527
Label: Geffen
Manufacturer: Geffen
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Geffen
Release Date: November 26, 1990
Studio: Geffen
Sales Rank: 3849

Disc 1:

Disc 2:

Related Items:

Browse for similar items by category:

Styles - Music - Bestsellers
Styles - Music - Musicals
Styles - Music - General AAS
Music - Classical
Format (binding_browse-bin) - Refinements - Music - CD Album

Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Miss Saigon rather surprisingly turns out to be a tour de force for its star, Jonathan Pryce. In the midst of Boubil and Schönberg's "girl-meets-boy-with confused-emotions-in-Vietnam" rewrite of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Pryce's Engineer's bright tenor provides a nasty yet humanely pragmatical focal point for more logically tuned minds. Daring to tackle the controversial theme of doomed lovers during the misguided American war efforts, Miss Saigon was a thematic and stylistic breakthrough of the 1980s, just like Jesus Christ Superstar had been in the previous decade. But the lyricist, Richard Maltby, previously a young man with alleged off-off-Broadway street cred, could only do so much with Boubil's French original platitudes--it is Schönberg's music paired with producer Cameron Macintosh's storyboard vision that secured the deserved success of Miss Saigon. On this complete recording, an orchestra on form shows off William D. Brohn's skilful orchestrations, and a fine ensemble supports Lea Salonga's tender yet determined Kim. And in the male camp, apart from the prancing Pryce, Peter Polycarpou (John) is crystal clear as the struggling American marine soldier, curbing all tendencies to over-emotionality. --Yngvil V.G.

From Amazon.com:
It's probably best known for raising the stakes for 1980s blockbuster shows by landing a helicopter on stage, but Miss Saigon is also a good show with good music. As a follow-up to their international smash Les Misérables, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (with an assist from Richard Maltby Jr.) adapted the tale of Madame Butterfly to the Vietnam War, realized here by the original 1989 London cast. While it may seem overheated at times, the despair and passion fit the tragic story, and Schönberg's pop-flavored style receives its most appropriate setting. Leading the cast are Jonathan Pryce as the Engineer (a Eurasian character whose casting generated some controversy when the producers wanted to have Pryce, a Caucasian, reprise the role on Broadway), Lea Salonga (in her first major role) as the young Vietnamese bride, Simon Bowman as her beau, and Claire Moore as his American wife (and a young Ruthie Henshall as one of the sweaty bargirls). The songs include the bawdy opener "The Heat Is on in Saigon," "The Movie in My Mind," "Why God Why," the romantic duet "The Last Night of the World," the female duet "I Still Believe," the male chorus number "Bui-Doi," and the Engineer's mocking "The American Dream." The booklet includes photographs and full lyrics. It's also available in a 58-minute highlights version. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A repeat of the original and the latest tour
Having seen the original show with Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga, I also saw it a year later when the understudy was playing Kim and was not disappointed. All those years ago I brought my 5 year old up with the soundtrack and always promised her that if it came back to the stage I would take her. Now she is 15 and I was able to keep my promise at the Milton Keynes venue of the current tour and she was absolutely blown away. Jonathan Pryce was fab as the engineer in the original show, and I'm ... Read More

Rating:

- Bit Slushy
This was the first show I saw in London, and to my husbands shock I wasn't blown away. The special effects make this show(you hear the helicopter on the CD)but the lyrics are a bit sickly. It is a great musical if you are someone who likes a good cry but not if you like good music.
Certain songs are brilliant like "The heat is on in Saigon, Movie in my mind You will not touch him" and the Engineer is a fab character.
Anyway it is set in Saigon during the end of Vietnam and the soldiers ... Read More

Rating:

- Brilliant
You dont have to see this show to apreciate its music. Each song is as unique as the next with some heart renching ballads, to some immensley powerful numbers that will literally send chills down your spine. ok so its not the kind of show that will be to everyones taste as it is 'thru-sung' (no speaking), but those who are fans of the great genre of 'musical', this is a must for your collection. Its hard to imagine that the same people who wrote this stunning score were also behind the daddy of musicals; ... Read More

Rating:

- The original version is better than what I ended up seeing
have seen "Miss Saigon" twice and have come to the definite conclusion that I like the "original" story contained on this two-disc set a lot more than I like the revised version I have seen on stage. The genesis for this Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schonberg musical was two-fold, the well known Puccini opera "Madame Butterfly" (the main theme of which sounds briefly in the Finale and a haunting photograph of a Vietnamese woman seeing her daughter for the last time before the child goes to America to live ... Read More

Rating:

- What a show!
Miss saigon is the most amazing and powerful musical ever written. Boublil and schonberg are great! It deffenatly beats les mis (and that is saying something). I could listen to this version of the show all day. Lea salonga is great as kim. Her voice is to die for! So if your in doubt about the show, my advice to you is go and see it because you will be blown away. And give yourself a day and then you will be wanting this album.
Take care
Ryan Limb
xxx
(ryanlimb30@hotmail.com)

Music : Miss Saigon [Original London Cast]