Joe Payne

Miss Saigon

by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.

Pioneer Theatre Company 2009

Director/Choreographer Karen Azenberg
Assistant Director/Choreographer Maria Totten
Musical Director Edward G. Robinson
Assistant Musical Director Dan Bailey
Set Designer George Maxwell
Costume Designer K.L. Alberts 
Lighting Designer Karl E. Haas
Sound Design and Media Design Joe Payne
Hair and Make-up Designer Amanda French

After Les Miserables and The Producers, I thought shows couldn’t get much bigger. Boy, was I wrong. As of 2009, the largest musical I have designed. It’s surprising how fast 64 channels gets eaten up.

A hugely collaborative project. While I spent much of the process on the giant sound design, The Director, Assistant Director, and Scenic Designer found much of the source material for the projections, and with their guidance I put it all together.

The following opening sequence included a click track for the conductor to follow. I thought it was interesting, so I kept it in. 

When Thuy comes back as a nightmare, we decided to have his ghostly self on the screen behind. 

For the 2008-09 season, I was asked to create web video advertising. I taped our invited audience dress rehearsals, and created something that would show off the productions on our website. It is no accident that they also showed off a bit of the sound design as well. 

_{Photos by Bob Clayton}