PATRICIA C. SYAK | Symphony Notes Three Broadway musicals will make stops at Powers

Three national touring musicals are scheduled for the 2004-05 Broadway Series at Powers Auditorium sponsored by the Youngstown Symphony Society in conjunction with First Place Bank Community Foundation. Subscriptions are now available by calling the Symphony Center box office at (330) 744-0264. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
The series begins Oct. 18-19 with an all-new production of "Miss Saigon." Set in 1975 during the final days leading up to the American evacuation of Saigon, "Miss Saigon" is the epic love story of our time. It is the story of two young lovers torn apart by the fortunes of destiny and held together by a burning passion and the fate of a small child.
"Miss Saigon" opened Sept. 20, 1989, on Broadway after much difficulty. First there was the difficulty finding a suitable house. "Les Miserables" moved to the Imperial to make the Broadway available, and while the Broadway is one of New York's larger houses, adjustments were necessary to accommodate the London Drury Lane sets. Once the show opened, Actors Equity ruled that Asian actors must have acting opportunities and that Jonathan Pryce, who had created the role in London, could not play the Eurasian pimp.
Culture clash
"Miss Saigon," from the French composer Claude-Michael Schonberg and lyricist Alain Boublil, grew out of their idea to update Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" to a through-sung musical.
The creators explained that seeing a news photograph of a Vietnamese woman giving up her child to an American GI gave them the idea for a modern operatic story showing the clash of two cultures. There the similarity to Puccini ends.
Beginning at the fall in Saigon in 1975, Miss Saigon crosses time and place between 1975 and 1978 in Saigon, Bangkok and the United States. Superimposed on the love story of Kim, a young Vietnamese woman, and Chris, a Marine guard at the U.S. Embassy, and their innocence is the engineer, the pimp, the fixer, and the sleazy epitome of greed who can survive under any circumstances.
'42nd Street'
On Jan. 24 and 25, the Broadway Series continues with "42nd Street," the Broadway musical for people who love Broadway musicals. Re-creating the classic backstage movie musical of the same name, "42nd Street" follows the timeless inspiring tale of small town girl Peggy Sawyer's rise from chorus line to Broadway star.
When "42nd Street" plays the Powers Auditorium with the original Broadway sets and a company of 80 including 48 performers, 12 musicians plus the production's technical crew and staff, it will be the largest show touring, taxing the technical prowess of the Youngstown crew and using every possible space imaginable as dressing rooms and costume areas.
Despite the heavy demands placed on facility and staff, "42nd Street" promises to be a tap-happy show with such songs as "Lullaby of Broadway," "We're In The Money," "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," "I Only Have Eyes For You," "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me" and the spectacular title number danced down a flight of steps that will light up as brightly as the faces in the cast.
'Crazy For You'
The Series concludes April 18 and 19 with "Crazy For You." Playwrights Ken Ludwig and Mike Ockrent used music and lyrics previously used in the George and Ira Gershwin play "Girl Crazy." In addition to such Gershwin songs as "Bidin' My Time," "Embraceable You," "I Got Rhythm," "Someone To Watch Over Me" and "Could You Use Me," the creators added a dozen more songs of which two were rediscovered in a warehouse in Secaucus, N.J. in 1982.
"Crazy For You" opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on Feb. 19, 1992, by first-time Broadway show producer Roger Horchow of the mail order chain.
It is the hilarious story of boy-meets girl when banker Bobby Child who would rather be in show business is sent by his overbearing mother to foreclose a mortgage on a property in Deadrock, Ark. The property turns out to be a theater.
Bobby falls for the postmistress who just happens to be the daughter of the man with the mortgage. As the charade continues, boy loses girl and for a while there are mistaken identities, a la Marx Brothers.
At the end, the theater is saved and boy get girl back in spectacular Gershwin style.
XPatricia C. Syak is executive director of Youngstown Symphony Society.