Blog of the Month - The Death of the Sound

It’s been ten years and yet my friends can not help but still rage on about the Miss Saigon incident back in high school… To be honest I, myself still go on about the whole thing. I don’t know why but that whole incident still rankles. You know, like it still pisses a lot of people probably due to the unanswered question, Why? I mean why did we lose?

Talking about the whole Saigon thing also allowed me to explore why until now I am still annoyed at the fact that we lost. I mean if this is plain sour graping then this is too much and “so melodramatic.” I guess at that time I was angry because yeah, we lost and I was frustrated and I so badly wanna win. But now, looking back, and exploring my current feelings I feel rather indifference vacillating with anger and indignation that stems more from a sense of injustice and betrayal.

Injustice. At the fact that the effort we made on the whole production was not recognized. I mean, I can safely say that at that time everybody cooperated and did their part. Yes, there were squabbles and hurt feelings but all in all the whole section worked. We worked as a team. Even the boys are present and accounted for during practice and dress rehearsals. They even provided and looked for their own costumes not waiting for the others to provide them with what they need. They memorized their lines and practiced their choreography until such time as they deemed it perfect. Classmate would coach and help other classmate memorize their lines and dance routines. The production staff and the props people were able to produce the bed needed for a scene, an “iron and steel fence” that we have to borrow from, I believe, the gym. The people assigned to produce the background and other stuff were able to produce a relatively good helicopter and the props people were able to make it “move” as if ready to take off. And let’s not forget we had to “import” a child that acted as Kim’s son. That kid that we had to coach and “train” to cry and act his part. Oh, and yeah the change in scenery was highlighted by the fact that we have background changes and I must say the transition from one background to another was rather smooth. I feel that an injustice was done to us at the fact that we poured our hearts into making this production the best that we could.

Betrayal. I feel betrayed at the fact that the very people we thought would be there to guide us and help us were not there.( I’m not trying to blame people here this is just what I feel.) And if the whole thing is just a students only production then why did the other group had a “coach” from the Drama Club adviser herself! And why is it that the other group is composed of students from more than one section! And if the case is that all students of one teacher can be “merged” then why were we made to shoulder all the expenses of the production ourselves? Why were we not given or at least there was a suggestion of names of students that could’ve helped us, like in the making of props, background and such? Betrayal at the fact that nobody “defended” us when there was a question of why they won. I feel like we were left to fend for ourselves. (Now I’m getting pissed again) I mean people tell us our play was good and that some teachers even shed tears during the dramatic parts of the scene….but why? Why is it that nobody defended us at that time? And everybody knows that one of the crucial elements for a good story is a climax…and the other group did not have a climax! (for crying out loud!) what was their climax? The kissing scene? Which I must say looked pretty awkward. I must also mention that there was a change of one judge in the middle of the contest…

These days I try to shrug the whole thing off and think that it never happened…but I still don’t wanna interact with, you know, them.


See also:

Janice's Blog of the Month

Eduardo's Blog of the Month