Reviewed by:

• Miss Saigon by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
• Jayoon Byeon and Jodie Passey

Miss Saigon, despite being one of the most popular megamusicals, has met with significant criticism regarding racial stereotypes and the objectification of women. The original West End and Broadway productions notoriously included the use of yellowface for the role of the Engineer, and recent productions have endeavored to address such racial misrepresentations by hiring actors of appropriate ethnicities. While the regenerative capacity of enduring musicals gives Miss Saigon recurring chances for reinvention, the effectiveness of these efforts is debatable. Some believe it should be maintained in its original form as proof of its problematic past, while others believe that an innately flawed show should be retired. Protests greeted the original West End and Broadway productions in opposition to the damaging portrayals of Vietnamese people, and this protest culture continues today. New Earth Theatre, a company of British East and Southeast Asian artists, pulled their play Worth from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffiel following its decision to stage Miss Saigon. As the issues run deep—both textually and contextually—the very concept of deproblematizing is seen by many as problematic. The brand-new revival at the Crucible chose to pursue an intermediate option between preservation and permanent withdrawal: revision, where changes add a provocative new dimension to the material.

The production’s endeavor to revise the racial dynamics of the original show was evident from the casting. While past productions have typically cast white actors as Chris (Christian Maynard) and [End Page 89] Ellen (Shanay Holmes), none of the regular or understudy actors who played these roles in this production was white. This change diverts the dynamic between Kim (Jessica Lee), Chris, and Ellen away from the white savior theme, instead highlighting Chris and Ellen’s US nationalism.

Christian Maynard (Chris) and Jessica Lee (Kim) in Miss Saigon. (Photo: Johan Persson.)

Shane O’Riordan (John) and Joanna Ampil (The Engineer) in Miss Saigon. (Photo: Johan Persson.)

Gender-swapping the Engineer (played in this production by Joanna Ampil) was a change that transformed the character in the context of 1970s Vietnam. The female Engineer’s brassy persona became legible as a necessary defense mechanism in a world signi cantly more dangerous for her than for any male version of the character. Her gender performance negotiated and parodied the Engineer’s toxically masculine traits; her adoption of wigs, leopard print, and extravagant suits suggested a carefully constructed femininity that was transgressive and empowering. Ampil’s Engineer rejected the classic red jacket in favor of a high-glamour look, and while the character typically mistreats the women in his club, she defended them against the GIs. There was something altogether more tactful and interesting about this Engineer.

“The American Dream,” a spectacular depiction of the Engineer’s hypermasculine fantasies of money, cars, and sex, was staged as comically feminine in this production. Here, the Engineer’s obsession with money was coded by a camp, stereotypical interest in material beauty as she executed an onstage costume change into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic pink dress, an image that seemed to invoke the pertinent lyrics of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Tell-ingly, while male Engineers never change costume during this scene, believing themselves ready-made for the US, this female Engineer was compelled to physically conform to US beauty standards. The replacement of scantily clad dancers with dancing dollar bills in this production demonstrated the Engineer’s desire for financial independence rather than sheer lust. She may perform the same reprehensible acts as other Engineers but nonetheless contributes to a more complex spectrum of female characters alongside Kim, Gigi (Aynrand Ferrer), and Ellen.

The helicopter scene is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated scenes in any production of Miss Saigon, and the Sheffiel production proved that it does not take a full-sized helicopter...

 审阅者：

• 
  阿兰·鲍伯利 (Alain Boublil) 和克劳德·米歇尔·勋伯格 (Claude-Michel Schönberg) 创作的《西贡小姐》
• 
  Jayoon Byeon 和朱迪·帕西

尽管《西贡小姐》是最受欢迎的大型音乐剧之一，但它还是遭到了有关种族陈规定型观念和对女性的物化的严重批评。众所周知，最初的西区和百老汇作品中使用黄脸来扮演工程师的角色，而最近的作品则通过聘请适当种族的演员来努力解决这种种族歧视问题。虽然经久不衰的音乐剧的再生能力为《西贡小姐》提供了反复重塑的机会，但这些努力的有效性值得商榷。一些人认为它应该保持原来的形式，作为其过去有问题的证据，而另一些人则认为一部有先天缺陷的节目应该退役。抗议活动针对西区和百老汇的原创作品，反对对越南人民的破坏性描绘，这种抗议文化至今仍在继续。由英国东亚和东南亚艺术家组成的新地球剧院 (New Earth Theatre) 在决定上演《西贡小姐》后，将其剧作《值得》从谢菲尔克鲁斯堡剧院撤下。由于问题在文本和上下文上都很深入，许多人认为解决问题的概念本身就是有问题的。克鲁斯堡的全新复兴选择了保留和永久撤回之间的中间选择：修订，其中的变化为材料添加了挑衅性的新维度。

从演员阵容中可以明显看出该剧试图修改原剧的种族动态。虽然过去的作品通常由白人演员扮演克里斯（克里斯蒂安·梅纳德饰）和[完第 89 页]艾伦（沙奈·霍尔姆斯饰），但在这部作品中扮演这些角色的常规演员或替补演员都不是白人。这一变化将金（杰西卡·李饰）、克里斯和艾伦之间的动态从白人救世主主题转移开，转而强调克里斯和艾伦的美国民族主义。

《西贡小姐》中的克里斯蒂安·梅纳德（克里斯）和杰西卡·李（金）。 （照片：约翰·佩尔森。）

《西贡小姐》中的肖恩·奥赖尔丹（约翰）和乔安娜·安皮尔（工程师）。 （照片：约翰·佩尔森。）

工程师（在这部作品中由乔安娜·安皮尔 (Joanna Ampil) 饰演）的性别互换是在 20 世纪 70 年代越南背景下改变角色的一个改变。在这个对她来说比任何男性角色都危险得多的世界里，女工程师的黄铜色角色变得清晰可见，成为一种必要的防御机制。她的性别表现协商并模仿了工程师有毒的男性特征；她对假发、豹纹和奢华套装的采用表明了一种精心构建的女性气质，既叛逆又充满力量。安皮尔的工程师拒绝了经典的红色夹克，转而选择高魅力的外观，虽然这个角色通常会虐待俱乐部中的女性，但她却保护她们免受美国大兵的侵害。这位工程师有一些更加机智和有趣的地方。

《美国梦》精彩地描绘了工程师对金钱、汽车和性的超男性幻想，在这部作品中却被演绎成滑稽的女性化。在这里，工程师对金钱的痴迷被一种阵营所编码，对物质美的刻板兴趣，她在舞台上将服装换成了玛丽莲·梦露标志性的粉红色连衣裙，这一形象似乎唤起了“钻石是女孩最好的朋友”的相关歌词。 ”很明显，虽然男性工程师在这个场景中从不换装，相信自己已经为美国做好了准备，但这位女性工程师却被迫在身体上符合美国的审美标准。在这部作品中，衣着暴露的舞者被跳舞的美元钞票取代，这表明了工程师对经济独立的渴望，而不是纯粹的欲望。她可能会做出与其他工程师相同的应受谴责的行为，但尽管如此，她与 Kim、Gigi（艾兰德·费雷尔饰）和 Ellen 一起塑造了更加复杂的女性角色。

直升机场景无疑是《西贡小姐》的所有制作中最令人期待的场景之一，谢菲尔制作证明它不需要全尺寸的直升机......