Word: saigon
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Imagine a duet of dueling megastars: the chandelier from Phantom of the Opera and the helicopter from Miss Saigon. Or a dance number that redubs Tommy Tune's somber, doomy Grand Hotel as Grim Hotel. Or a patter song to the tune of Brush Up Your Shakespeare, in which I Hate Hamlet star Nicol Williamson celebrates the joys of humbling his co-stars. This sort of humor -- a cunning blend of insiderish wit and broad clowning -- has made Forbidden Broadway an institution. Since 1982 it has played off-Broadway, enjoying the goodwill and legal cooperation of the very creators...
...them, as for more than a third of the tourists who visit the city, the lure was the Broadway stage. They had already seen Cats twice and Les Miserables three times, mostly in London and San Francisco, so they headed straight for The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon. They emerged elated -- and ready, despite the $60 ticket prices, to go back and see the shows again...
...more income than on Broadway, the Big Three were even more dominant: of $449 million in ticket sales, they commanded about 54%. (For investors, these shows are better than striking oil: they pay annual returns of up to double the amount originally put in.) Among newer offerings, only Miss Saigon, which arrived in March to a record $37 million advance sale and has already paid off half its $11 million start-up cost, is regarded as a solid contender to join the gilded trinity...
This popularity seems unwavering. Cameron Mackintosh, who produced all three and also Miss Saigon, projects that Cats "will run another two years or so in New York." He predicts "four to five years" of additional life for Les Miserables and "certainly at least five years" more for Phantom. About Saigon, he says it is too soon to tell, especially because the show is so elaborate. "With weekly operating costs close to $500,000," says Mackintosh, "Miss Saigon only breaks even when it makes what Les Miz does selling every seat...
...insignificant even by Third World standards, let alone Washington's. The purpose, to buy artificial limbs for disabled war veterans, is unexceptionable. Only one thing made the donation noteworthy: the recipient. The $1 million happens to be the first U.S. aid extended to Vietnam since the fall of Saigon...