I have just finished reading your review of the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre's production of 'Miss Saigon' and I have to say I am quite offended. As a cast member, someone who is very familiar with the show and who went through the process himself, I feel it necessary to point out some of your inaccuracies.

First of all, you begin by saying, "The script is nearly perfectly in tact." This may or may not be true, depending on your definition of the word "nearly". Much of the dialogue and lyrics have been cut or changed to appease the conservative Mesa audiences. As a result, I feel that a lot of the raw truth in the story has been bastardized, but that is my personal opinion. Regardless, I have to believe that you have never seen a script of the show and for you to say that it is nearly perfectly in tact is entirely presumptuous.

Secondly, you call my performance "distant". I'm a big boy and I can take criticism, but I feel that this remark is accurate to a fault. Almost all of the lyrics Chris sings in Act I explain that he is, indeed, distant. He longs to get away from Vietnam. He is completely reluctant to fall in love with Kim. In Act II, Chris sings an entire soliloquy explaining his distant feelings, explaining that all he wanted was, "to save and protect her." If you think my performance was distant, well thank you. That is exactly the emotion I was trying to portray and I've obviously done it effectively. However, I must admit that there is a large amount of dialogue cut from the first bar scene of the show in which Chris says, "I used to love getting stoned, waking up with some whore. I don't know why I went dead. It's not fun anymore." It goes on, but this gives the audience a glimpse of why he is so detached from the bar scene. Perhaps had the script not been so "perfectly in tact" you would have gotten that.

Thirdly, you criticize the ensemble for not being able to uniformly execute Dottie Lester-White's imaginative choreography. "Imaginative"? Have you seen the Broadway or touring productions of 'Miss Saigon'? Most of Ms. Lester White's choreography was, shall we politely say, "borrowed". And that which wasn't was blatantly bad choreography, inappropriate for the time period, inappropriate for the setting. The fact that the ensemble could not uniformly execute it was no fault of theirs. Poor teaching skills on Ms. Lester-White's behalf and poor choreography lead to poor execution.

The most flabbergasting comment you have made in your review is the one regarding costumes. "John White's costumes are very effective and surprisingly accurate in many ways." This is simply an unresearched and uneducated remark on your behalf. Do you realize that there is not a single Vietnamese costume in the entire show? The dresses the girls wear are Chinese, and the outfits the 'Morning of the Dragon' dancers wear and the Vietnamese peasants wear aren't even Asian! This has been a gripe of the cast's since our first fittings. The fact that one ensemble member wears a suede jacket with lambswool interior in one scene is preposterous. Do you know the average climate in Vietnam? Not to mention that the clothes the Americans wear are ill-fitting and not accurate for the time period. Effective, maybe for someone who has no recollection of the 1970's and no education of any Asian culture whatsoever. But accurate? Not a chance.

I don't mean to tear into you and rip your review to shreds. I was just surprised and offended by many of the things I read simply because they were inaccurate. In the future, please do your research before praising and criticizing things you know little about. Thank you for your time.

Best regards,
Patrick O'Herron

Mr. O'Herron,

Thank you for your rant against my review of your production of Miss Saigon at Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre in Mesa. At first, I thought that this might have been a simple case of sour grapes about my description of you, but I recognize that a professional actor such as yourself would know better against doing something like this, especially knowing that this would be posted on the website where your employers, fellow cast members, and the general public would be able to read it. Therefore, instead of just posting it without a reply, I’ve decided to answer each of your “rips” one by one.

I’m sorry you felt offended at my review and my obvious lack of preparation about reviewing this show. I admit it’s only the second time I’ve seen it (the first was a tour that passed through Phoenix in March 2003), and though it is my wife’s favorite musical, I admit that I do not know it word for word, as I suppose I must before using such nebulous words as “nearly perfectly.” I rather depended on my wife’s assurance as she does know it word for word, as well as a few prominent members of the management at Broadway Palm West to tell me the couple of line changes of yours and the fact that the uses of the word “God” and “Christ” were changed to “Damn” or “Crap” and “Goddamn” was shortened to “Damn.” If that is a larger change than “nearly perfectly” in your mind, then I bow to your superior knowledge of scriptwriting, producing, and direction. I can only guess that you probably were trying to hurt your own contracting company by attempting to get them in trouble with the owners of the rights to the script, and not besmirch my name with your accusation.

As for my using the word “distant” to describe your performance, I thought it more appropriate than saying what I really thought, which was that you had no visceral connection with your Kim and Ellen and that you simply could not “pass” as a heterosexual onstage. If you would rather blame that on the script than your acting abilities, feel free. I, however, choose to be subtler in my accusations.

As I mentioned, I had seen the touring production of Miss Saigon over a year ago, and I cannot tell you how much of the touring choreography was stolen from it. I’m reminded of the phrase “Good artists imitate, great artists steal,” and I applaud your compliment of your choreographer in such a subtle way. However, as a critic in the Phoenix area, I not only base my critiques on the current show, but also on the record of the company (as most audience members would), and, in the context of history, this show’s choreography was better than some of their other recent offerings. The fact that I could not tell that the choreographer was a horrible teacher rather than the idea that the ensemble cannot dance is one of those unfortunate quirks of not sitting through the entire rehearsal process as you were able to do. Until companies allow me to do so, I’ll have to lay blame where I suspect, and since I’ve seen some ensembles successfully performing Ms. Lester-White’s choreography in the past, I thought it appropriate to blame the ensemble instead. Thank you for clearing that up, although I’d now appreciate your teaching me how I should be able to tell the difference seeing the show only once.

I do admit that your deepest and most hurtful comment came in your calling me uneducated. As I am not only a critic, but a theatre historian and Dramaturg for several professional companies in the valley of the sun, being told that I didn’t do my homework is the unkindest cut of all. How horrible of me not to have hit the library to research the difference between Vietnamese and Chinese fashions. And thank you for informing me that it never gets below 70 degrees in Vietnam, so no one would wear suede and lambs wool at any time in that country. How wrong of a dinner theatre company to not spend bundles to get the type of professional details you would expect from a Broadway show. To let you in on a little secret, my reference was not about the nationality of the costumes, but rather referred to the fact that a dinner theatre company with a lot to lose was willing to put prostitutes in rather prostitute-like costumes, showing off T&A as I know a company in a very conservative location is often afraid of doing. Rather than calling attention to that and possibly lowering even more their (and your) paying customer base, I decided to imply. I’m sure the company is very happy that you have asked me to clarify this. I’ll try to be more specific in the future, producing companies be damned. Oh, and I admit that I don’t have much of a recollection of the 70s, as I was six when Saigon fell. However, those hot pants and jungle fatigues looked pretty period-specific to me. I’ll bet, too, that those “uneducated” members of all ages in your audience would probably agree with me.

Thank you for letting me know that it wasn’t your intention to “tear into” me “and rip [my] review to shreds.” I would love to have a theatre professional with your depth and knowledge teach me the plethora of things that I don’t know about theatre performance, design, and production. Perhaps I can trade instruction on how not to deal with critics and members of your employing professional theatre company. I look forward to critiquing you if and when you pass through the valley again.

Sincerely,
Mark S.P. Turvin
Goldfish Publishers, LLC

Mr. Turvin,

I would like to apologize, not because anyone has told me to do so but because I want to do so. I don't know what posessed me to write such a heated e-mail. It is no excuse at all whatsoever but I am currently very, very ill and have been out of the show for over a week. I'm frustrated and angry at everything in the world it seems because nobody can figure out what is wrong with me and I can't seem to get any better. I'm unable to do the work I love and I'm extremely depressed about it. I figure that when I read your review, it lit some kind of spark inside my already depressed mind and I just vomited negativity all over you as a defense. Again, it's no excuse. You were just doing your job. I had no right to bark at you like I did and I am truly, truly sorry. I know that what's done is done and I'll have to reap the repercussions of what I have sown, but for my own peace of mind and I hope for yours I wanted you to know how sorry I am. I also want you to know that despite what I have said about the show, I am very proud of it and extremely happy to be working for Seth Reines and the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre. Anything negative I have said or implied about the production was merely "shop talk" among the cast and should never have been repeated again. The Broadway Palm is one of the best theatres I have worked for and will probably ever work for. So please accept the sincerest apologies of a young, naive, hot-headed New Yorker.

Best Regards,
Patrick O'Herron

Mr. O'Herron,

Your apology is accepted.

Cheers,
Mark S.P. Turvin

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