Jennifer Paz returns to San Diego in the lead role of Kim – a role she last played here in the national tour that came through the Civic Theatre in 2004. A marvelous singer and actress, she and local actor Robert Townsend as Chris manage to generate emotion out of a script that doesn’t really build the foundation of their love very well, their tenderness towards each other saying more about their love than does the story. Sadly, Robert’s microphone died before his critical first scenes as he and Kim share their first night together, but for those of us fortunate enough to be down close enough to hear, it beautifully conveyed the love that would last for two weeks before the confusing evacuation of Saigon in 1975, tragically separating the two by an ocean, but leaving Kim with a part of him that would eventually reunite them in 1978.

Adding great comic relief to the tale is the charismatic Victor Chan as “The Engineer” – a clever but unscrupulous entrepreneur who in a way acts as matchmaker to the first meeting and the eventual reunion. It is his house of ill repute that brings young and nervous Kim together with the reluctant American GI Chris, and it is the Engineer who, upon learning of Kim’s child by Chris, arranges for them to reunite in Bangkok. Naturally, it is pure selfishness that drives him – his dream of making it big in the USA. His hilarious American Dream number practically steals the show, injecting it with some welcome humor and sarcasm with help from the ensemble and Victor’s natural sense of comedy.

Other strong performances include Jim Chatham as John, Chris’s friend in Vietnam who pays for Kim and Chris’s first rendezvous and who becomes a leader in reuniting soldiers with the children they fathered in Vietnam – his strong voice and impassioned plea making for a powerful Bui-Doi scene. Heidi Meyer, a recent San Diego transplant who made her professional debut in Broadway’s Miss Saigon, delivers an excellent performance in her Starlight debut as Chris’s emotionally torn wife whom he met and married after the evacuation of Saigon, and who must now try to accept her husband’s former lover and a son neither of them have met. Carlos Mendoza is riveting as Thuy, Kim’s fiancé arranged since childhood who refuses to shake his dangerous obsession for her. And last but not least, young Parker Shyu is both adorable and comical as Kim and Chris’s young son.

Although the huge helicopter scene might be a bit anticlimactic if you’re used to the Broadway or tour versions, overall the staging and visuals are exceptional – especially in The Engineer’s establishments in Saigon and Bangkok that include sets designed by Michael Anania, lighting by Trisha Schleicher, and choreography by David Brannen.

Performs through September 18, 2005.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill

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