Love and loss in turbulent times

Musicals are traditionally known for their upbeat themes and happy endings, their promises of true love and every bad situation can be fixed by the end of a song. So you can imagine what a challenge it was for producers and directors to create a musical love story with the Vietnam War as its backdrop that people would want to go see more than once. What they came up with was "Miss Saigon," a story of love and life during a turbulent era in world history. After a successful run on Broadway and in London, the show finds itself at the historic Starlight Theatre in Balboa Park.

Chris (Robert Townsend), an American GI, is set up with Kim (Jennifer Paz), a Vietnamese bargirl, and the two fall in love. Vietnam falls, Chris leaves and Kim is left behind with his memory as the only thing to hold onto while her country falls apart around her. Will Chris return to find her? That is the burning question at the heart of the show.

With wild dance numbers that capture the gritty underbelly of Southeast Asia and romantic ballads that fill the crisp Balboa night air, this show should have been a surefire hit, but something was missing from this particular production - energy. Energy and chemistry are essential in order to make an audience believe that love can happen during the most unlikely and tragic of circumstances.

Call me a skeptic, but it's hard even for the biggest musical theatre fan to believe that Kim and Chris can fall so helplessly in love in the course of a few days. Given the fact that there would be an obvious language barrier and the travesties of war around them, their meeting seems highly dramatized and corny. While sap is usually the glue that keeps a musical going, it seems out of place in a story dealing with such dark and heavy themes.

Also distracting for the audience is Lindbergh Field. While the theatre company has come up with a freeze action way to make sure no one misses a line, having jets fly overhead every 10 minutes is frustrating and sends you reeling out of Vietnam and back into reality.

There are two aspects of this production that stand out and make it worth checking out - the elaborate and detailed sets and the on-par singing of the leads. Townsend nails each of his numbers and Paz's voice and demeanor is perfect for the naïve and innocent Kim.

The real show stealer, however, is Victor Chan as the sleazy and conniving Engineer. While scamming and bargaining his way to America his two solo numbers, "If You Want to Die in Bed," and the incredible "American Dream," perfectly capture the feelings of many people during this era.

-"Miss Saigon" plays Sept. 15-18. Curtain goes up at 8 p.m. Go to www.StarlightTheatre.org for more information and ticket prices.

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