The Dreamland Battle: Miss Saigon, Representation and Opportunity On March 23, 2017, Miss Saigon, one of the most beloved and most protested musical, returned to New York at the Broadway Theatre, the same venue the show debuted and played for 10 years from 1991 to 2001. Both productions moved from West End to Broadway, creating numerous casting opportunities for Asian-American actors in New York, where Asian productions are rarely produced. The last Asian Broadway production, Allegiance, ended its run February 2016, starring Lea Salonga, the first Asian actor to win a Tony Award for her groundbreaking performance as Kim in Miss Saigon in 1991 — twenty-six years ago. Not until 2015 had Ruthie Ann Miles won a Tony for The King and I and …show more content…
When the show was announced to move to Broadway, the yellowface was strongly protested by the Asian-American community. The show’s critic initiated the protest, saying that the production had created “an unwelcome view of Asians.” However, Pryce was so greatly praised by the West End audience, who seemed not to be bothered at all about his yellowface, that the producer was not willing to give in, claiming Pryce is the star of the show, as one of the British stage’s most admired actors. The yellowface performance was not even considered to be abandoned until the Actors’ Equity refused to approve Pryce’s Visa “as they cannot condone the casting of a Caucasian actor in the role of [an] Eurasian” that was going to destroy the fabric of the country. This angered the producer who even threatened with a cancelation on the Broadway production. It took a turn when Equity backed down and rescinded its decision and Pryce brought his “The American Dream” to New York and won a Tony Award for his brilliant performance — the yellowface was later removed. The audience was mesmerized by the glorious music and stagecraft as nobody had seen a helicopter landing on Broadway. The audience also discovered that, Jonathan Pryce was not the only one dictating the spotlight: Lea Salonga, who came form Philippine, was the rising star. Salonga, with her magnificent
In her book The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990, author Marilyn Young examines the series of political and military struggles between the United States and Vietnam, a nation that has been distinctively separated as the South and the North. Young chooses to express the daily, weekly, monthly progresses of the affairs collectively called the Vietnam Wars, focusing on the American interventions in the foreign soil. She seeks to provide an answer to a question that has haunted the world for years: What was the reason behind the United States interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign country in which it had no claims at all? Young discloses the overt as well as covert actions undertaken by the U.S. government officials regarding the foreign affairs with Vietnam and the true nature of the multifaceted objectives of each and every person that’s involved had.
The collapse of South Vietnam is proven to be very chaotic throughout the poem “Saigon Is Gone” and the transcript “Forgotten Ship: A Daring Rescue As Saigon Fell”.The word choices of these passages help contribute to the meanings of the two texts.The vocabulary and details from these narratives illustrate a scene of devastation and disorder for the reader.
He feels Yanagi’s pain through the connection but he does not draw attention to it. To be in the heat of a powerplay game such as the one boiling over in Konoha right now is a moment of extreme delicacy and ruthlessness; attachments are withheld, persons numbed down. The rampant mentality is this: eliminate those who are likely to get in one’s way, even if they are friends, or valuable allies. Nobody who lived through the Warring States Era would be unfamiliar with this tenet: do what must be done. And if Tobirama was forced to choose among the Yamanaka twins, he would keep Yanagi alive, simply because she is now the more valuable of the two, even though Yanagi herself and most definitely, not Osamu, would admit it. For to dabble in politics is to know who has value, worth and utility, and who do not.
The authors of these texts want to show that the fall of Saigon was traumatic to the people of South Vietnam. One reason to support this idea is that in the poem Saigon is Gone, Ha and her family are on a ship heading towards safety when a helicopter begins circling the ship when Mother is seasick, “People run and scream, Communists! This is not helping Mother” (Lai 67-68). This is showing that the refugees are frightened of the helicopter, believing it to be North Vietnamese. The loss of their country and home has been a traumatic experience. Later the commander of the ship says, “Do not be frightened! It’s a pilot for our side who has jumped into the water, letting his helicopter plunge in behind him” (Lai 68). Furthermore, in the transcript
Gonyea, D. (2014). LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/300836769/civil-rights-act-anniversary-may-polish-lbj-s-image
The Fall of Saigon on April 30th, 1975, marked the end of nearly two decades of fighting between the Russia and China backed communist North Vietnam and the US backed right wing South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese army entered Saigon, the free world was horrified at what it believed to be major drawback in its attempt to defeat communism around the world. In accordance with the domino theory, that same year, the capitals of neighboring former french colonies, Cambodia and Laos, both of which were also run by right wing regimes supported by the US, fell to communist insurgencies Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao respectively. It took the communists three decades, millions of lives, and the destruction of billions of dollars in infrastructure and assets overthrow these western backed governments. So what gave these people, especially in Vietnam, incentive to sacrifice so much to “free” themselves from those governments and embrace communism as their system of governance? As this question is answered, it is important to identify aspects of the communist ideology that appeal to the general population, as well as how it goes along with Vietnamese culture, the actual practice and execution of the ideology.
Theatre has evolved over the many years. As it has grown, it moved to include more diverse performers, crew, producers, and audiences. This is an exploration of the expansion of diverse theatre.
the rest of the century. As you watch these videos notice how musicals come to represent
The role of race and gender in the United States have been a constant social and cultural struggle, but for male and female service members in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War of author Heather Marie Stur’s book "Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era" when she focused more on the Cold War era policies. While her emphasis is primarily on Americans in Vietnam, the framing chapter on Madame Nhu as Orientalist dragon lady. Similarly, she considers the image of the "girl next door" in need of protection in relation to the actual positions of donut dollies nurses and WACs in
directors have stated that they cannot well-finance their film if the name of their leading actor is not mainstream name (Kim). White Americans during this time too, probably believed that if Asians were casted in the film, it would not be as good as they did view Asians as inferior in every way including in the performing arts. Even when Asians actors were casted to play Asian roles, Asian Americans would go out of their way not to watch. David Henry Hwang, who would later go on to write his own version of Flower Drum Song, said as a young man growing up in the sixties, watching how Asian characters were featured made him feel “icky”. All the Asian characters that he saw were either portrayed in an unrealistic or comical way or as a character that was dependent on the leading white character (Hwang). It made it hard for Asian Americans to look to media for role models when they were hardly ever represented and represented in inhumane ways.
The Anti-war movement started during the 1960s and shaped America’s public opinion on conflicts for years to come. As in all American conflicts, the will of the people controls the actions of the military. Without Homefront support, the American war machine dies. American pop culture during the 60s and 70s, sought to change public opinion against the Vietnam War. Through blatant Anti-war lyrics to their actions, the popular artists and musicians of the era changed the mindset of a generation to oppose the military actions in Vietnam.
NPR’s transcript “Forgotten Ship”: A Daring Rescue as Saigon Fall,”tells readers the the fall of saigon was chaotic and desperate. It’s shown as a chaotic time because of the amount of helicopters that were trying to land on the USS Kirk, Mr Paul Jacobs said “it looked like bees flying everywhere”. I’m inferring that the thoughts going through everyone's head is what is happening in Saigon. An example of the desperation in Saigon is when “a chinook came out...Hovers over the fantail, opened up its rear door and started dropping people out of it”. These people were so desperate they jumped out of a helicopter this is an insane example of desperation.
The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars that went on history. It lasted from November 1955- April 1975. According to Historynet, 58,200 members of the U.S. military were killed in the Vietnam War. All for what exactly? In my own opinion, I do not think the U.S. should have gotten involved. Our country is always concerned with being the “big brother” to all countries. When in all reality, this war was no concern of our own. It was between South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. This war goes down in history as the only war the U.S. has yet to lose. All of that could have been avoided, had we just stayed out of others controversy.
Today, our World is a lot safer than 1960s. With emerge of civil rights; The United States was at its own War in 1960s. Despite, the differences and political crisis inside the Country, American politicians denied the fact that Americans were at their own War. Chronically, the Government threatened most of Civil rights Movement leaders to death, but they fought for people’s rights against discrimination. Meanwhile, the United States was unrest with emerging Vietnamese War. With the help from Soviet Union, the Communist Government of Vietnam was trying to destroy Southern Vietnamese. To stop spreading out the Communism in Vietnam, the United States intervention required. In this essay I will talk about how American Government
The Vietnam War started on November 1, 1955. 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era. Those that went into the war zone suffered, not only from wounds but also from a variety of jungle diseases and malnutrition. One of the few sources of clean water came from water purification tanks at Vietnamese refugee camps.Preventive medicine teams worked to control rodent and insect infestations, spray for malarial mosquitoes, and purify unclean water.