Something that annoyed me about Miss Saigon...

[BroadwayStar4]

This might be a nitpick, but was anyone else bothered by the ending of "Miss Saigon"?

After Kim shot herself, Chris ran to her and held her in his arms, which is all fine and dandy, but then he decided to kiss her on the lips...

Now, if I'm not mistaken, Chris is married to Ellen. So...did he just cheat on Ellen?

This irritates me because this is suppose to be a touching, heartbreaking scene.....but to me, it just made me want to say "Wow, Chris is such a douchebag".

I understand that Kim is dying and all, but kissing her (in the version I saw, it was a passionate one) on the lips? I mean, on the forehead would have been more appropriate....but on the lips? This just further proved Ellen's accusation that Chris was still in love with Kim.

If the scene didn't end right there, I'm pretty sure Ellen was furious and ended up divorcing him.

Anyway, what do you think?

[LizzieCurry]

Wow.

I'd like to think Ellen would be a little more forgiving than that.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I wouldn't consider kissing someone cheating.

[HorseTears]

Christ. Can we please make this place 21 and up?

[StageManager2]

Fvck off, HorseTears!

[TheatreDiva90016]

I think HorseTears may have something.


And SM2, cursing is against board rules....


Troll alert

[BroadwayStar4]

Well how would you feel if your spouse was kissing someone behind your back?

[CATSNYrevival]

^If I was Ellen, and my husband had a kid with another woman, and she was dying, and my husband was trying to comfort her in her final moments - I don't think I'd mind much. Hell I'd kiss her.

[jimmycurry01]

That annoys you? Really? A dieing woman is given a final kiss from the father of her child who has chosen another woman, and that annoys you? Huh.

[BroadwayStar4]

Look at Ellen's side of the story. Her husband kept a huge secret from her, which was the fact that he married someone before her. So there's dishonesty and deception. Not only that, but Kim then commits suicide, and now Ellen has to help Chris take care of a child who is not even her own. Also, Ellen had to witness her own husband kissing another woman on the lips, passionately, and he didn't even consider how Ellen would feel about it. This just proves that Chris is still in love with Kim, not Ellen.

I'm pretty sure Kim would have been fine with a kiss on the forehead.

[TheatreDiva90016]

You joined to post this?

[darquegk]

What annoys me is that the staging makes it clear that she shot herself in the HEAD... Giving her enough time to sing a final song before dying?

[dramamama611]

How simplistice your world is BroadwayStar. A kiss in not something that breaks up most marriages. Might hurt feelings, sure, but marriages can survive it. And since he did it in front of her, it's honest and open.

LOTS of people raise children that aren't "theirs". Even at this time in history.

Does it raise questions for the couple? Sure. But do musicals (or movies, etc) have to end with a perfect bow on them? I think not. They likely WOULD have to work on their relationship -- but most couples do.

We don't know near enough about Ellen to know how she feels or how she would react. After all: THEY ARE FICTIONAL.

[henrikegerman]

Broadwaystar, if even an extramarital kiss (post-mortem) bothers you, you should avoid Camelot, A Little Night Music, Follies, Company, Promises, Promises, How to Succeed, City of Angels, Chess, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Pal Joey, Fanny, House of Flowers, Candide, Irma la Douce, Do I Hear A Waltz?, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Stop the World I Want to Get Off, High Spirits, Pipe Dream, I Do, I Do, I Love My Wife, Seesaw, Chicago, Ballroom, Into the Woods, Falsettos, Nine, Steel Pier, Ragtime, Parade, The Wild Party, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, The Boy From Oz, Passion, The Gay Life, Two by Two, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene (among countless other musicals).

Because you will find them to be teaming with philandering "douches" who do a great deal more than just kiss.

And definitely forget about Madame Butterfly. And just about any other opera.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Well how would you feel if your spouse was kissing someone behind your back?

You've moved the goalposts. Chris didn't do anything behind Ellen's back.

[adamgreer]

Appropos of nothing, but every production of Miss Saigon I've ever seen (including the Broadway production) has made it explicitly clear that Chris IS still in love with Kim. Much of act 2 is framed around this moral dilemma- he'd gotten used to life with Ellen (though never forgetting about Kim) and was very much in love with her, but the moment he returns to Saigon, all of those feelings return. That being said, I don't tihnk he'd ever cheat on Ellen (which further drives his dilemma), nor do I think a kiss to a dying woman is cheating.

Maybe I've been misinterpreting it all these years.

I always found the most unintentionally funny part of Miss Saigon (a show I really enjoy, by the way) to be the scene where Kim shows up at the hotel room, and Ellen immediately assumes the Asian woman at her door must be the maid.

[SporkGoddess]

Yes, I think all of the stuff Chris says to Ellen about how he was all confused and Kim was the only good thing he found in Vietnam etc etc was trying to convince himself as much as Ellen.

Also, then I guess Raoul divorces Christine after Phantom. Oh wait, no, he just becomes an alcoholic with a gambling addiction!

[CarlosAlberto]

Now, if I'm not mistaken, Chris is married to Ellen. So...did he just cheat on Ellen?

He didn't *just* cheat on Ellen. He cheated on her prior to the kiss at the end. Kim bore him a child. It wasn't an immaculate conception. I'll leave you to figure the rest out.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Well, he impregnated Kim before he met Ellen. And he "married" Kim before the fall, so really, if anyone's been cheated on it's Kim.

[CarlosAlberto]

Thanks for refreshing my memory Phyllis. That is true. Haven't listened to this show and my memory is a little fuzzy on all the details.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Tonight you will be Miss Saigon, baby.

[AEA AGMA SM]

"And definitely forget about Madame Butterfly. And just about any other opera"

Though, to be fair, Pinkerton and his wife are a pair of world class a-holes in Butterfly, returning with the sole intention of taking the son back to America.

[BroadwayStar4]

So to make this clear. Chris told Ellen that he is still in love with Kim. Am I correct? So I guess Ellen wouldn't be so surprised if she saw that he kissed Kim. But then again, she must have been pretty hurt to know that her husband of 2 years was never really in love with her. So I'm pretty sure her feelings got hurt when he kissed her.

I've only seen Miss Saigon once last year, so my memory on this isn't that great.

[PattyO'Furniture]

SporkG, POTO was the exact same example comparison that initially came to my mind. And I still don't understand why Christine kisses him in such a romantically passionate way...and twice, to boot.

[LizzieCurry]

Come to think of it, I've seen three different productions of Miss Saigon and I don't think Chris even kissed Kim during the finale in all of them.

[StageManager2]

but the moment he returns to Saigon, all of those feelings return.

He doesn't go back to Vietnam. They meet up again in Bangkok (Thailand), where Kim is a refugee.