Miss Saigon at the Music Circus

The final offering in the Music Circus 2011 lineup is the international spectacular “Miss Saigon.”

The stirring and visually stunning production is a solid reinterpretation of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly,” relocated to Vietnam on the eve of the fall of Saigon in April 1975.

This is a modern retelling of unexpected love found in an unlikely way, of the tragic separation of lovers and the dreams that sustain them through adversity, and the uncontrollable twists of fate that bring them back together under even more tragic circumstances.

Orphaned bar girl Kim (played by Ma-Anne Dionisio) meets American G.I. Chris (Eric Kunze) at the Saigon bar owned by The Engineer (Kevin Gray). The bar girls dance, Kim and Chris fall in love and the entire convoluted and desperately wrenching story unfolds from their one night of passion. The U.S. forces scramble to get out of Saigon, leaving Kim behind with only her unshakable faith in Chris’ love, his gun and their embryonic love child.

Gray is marvelous as the scheming, dreaming Engineer. He threads through the story like a snake in the bath: One can neither trust nor ignore him. His voice is big enough to handle the role, insinuating smarmily into everybody’s business in “If You Want to Die in Bed” and then booming in triumph in “The American Dream.”

Kunze has a versatile, powerful voice and is believable in the passionate “Why, God, Why?” and in his tender duet with Dionisio, “Sun and Moon.” He conveys strength and anguish in the first act and is convincingly defeated in confrontation with his wife near the end of the second.

Dionisio packs her role with emotion, power and ferocious tenacity. Her raw anguish in the dream sequence where she relives the Night of the Helicopters is heart-wrenching. She has a voice which is able to sustain the drama of the song with strength, yet which is capable of subtlety and nuance when it is available in the score.

Josh Tower delivers a strong presence as John, Chris’ Marine friend who later runs a program designed to reunite the children begotten by American soldiers with their fathers. One of the most moving numbers in the show is “Bui Doi,” which is the name these mixed-parentage children bear. It is said that a single photograph of such a child was the initial inspiration for the show.

Misty Cotton, as Chris’ wife Ellen, and Michael K. Lee, as Kim’s doomed fiance Thuy, are also believable, with voices well suited to their roles. Cotton shines on “Now That I’ve Seen Her.” Anne Fraser Thomas strikes a perfect balance between bawdiness and despair as the bar girl Gigi.

The audience was thoroughly won over by newcomer Aiden Kusaba, even though he did not speak or sing a note: He is a charming 5-year-old who ably plays the role of Tam, Chris and Kim’s child.

The Music Circus production is complete with all the theatrical spectacle one would expect from the creators of “Les Misérables,” Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr.

In true Music Circus style, the sets are spare and evocative, the staging innovative and the ensemble players talented and versatile. The costumes are lush and inventive, whether the rags of the post-occupation villagers or the risqué glitzy sequins of the bar girls.

The offstage helicopter effect was loud, disturbing and startling — exactly as it should be during the frenzied escape from a doomed city. Otherwise, the sound was consistent and worked well with the stage and lighting effects. The orchestra handled the score with complete grace.

“Miss Saigon” played on Broadway for nearly 10 years. Both Kunze and Gray played their roles on the Broadway stage, and Dionosio played Kim in London and Canada. The show is big, moving and well worth revisiting.

Performances of “Miss Saigon” continue at the Wells Fargo Pavilion, 1419 H St., though Sunday.

For showtimes and ticket information, please visit www.CaliforniaMusicalTheatre.com, or call (916) 557-1999.