'Miss Saigon' just as strong in second Gateway staging

Dear old David Belasco. Where would we be if he hadn’t decided to dramatize John Luther Long’s short story “Madame Butterfly?”

No Puccini masterpiece. No “Miss Saigon,” the modern musical masterpiece by the “Les Miz” boys, Alan Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Answer: We’d be at quite a loss in all three cases, for the romantic tale of the innocent Asian victimized by the casual westerner remains touching and tragic and real, no matter the form or the year or the location.

The current production of “Miss Saigon” by the Gateway Playhouse in the 1,200-seat Patchogue Theatre is a repeat of its spectacularly successful mounting of the show in 2003. This year’s spectacle is as eloquent and gorgeous as the Gateway original, and enjoys the triple advantage of two repeat leads—Alex Lee Tano as Kim and Raul Aranas as The Engineer—and the inspired direction and choreography of Gateway icon Bob Durkin.

The transplant by Mr. Boublil and Mr. Schonberg (with an assist from Richard Maltby Jr.) of “Madame Butterfly” from Admiral Perry’s incursion into medieval Japan to the American involvement in 1970s Vietnam is a valid and valiant one. It works naturally, boosted by a surging and richly melodious score, adequate lyrics, and an arc of a story that sweeps the audience smoothly into its multiple levels, from clashes of politics and tradition to the human toll brought on by these collisions.

Mr. Durkin keeps the stirring, multi-locale story moving with sweet fluidity and variety and sensitivity to its tragic elements, and Andrew Graham’s musical direction is varied and sure and at times thrilling.

Michael Anania’s setting is a feast for the eye (and, yes, includes the famous helicopter evacuation of Saigon) and Doug Harry’s roving and multi-hued lighting design is loving and mood enhancing.

The large ensemble is electric and exciting and able to ring the rafters. Six-year-old Dakota Asuncion is adorable and heartwarming as Tam, the child of Chris, the American Marine, and Kim, his misused young Japanese bride. Allen D. Wong, as Thuy, the commissar who tries to claim Kim, is rock solid and formidable. Collin Lyle Howard is warm and substantial and rich of voice as Chris’s buddy John.

Mary Mossberg, whose vibrant singing lit last year’s “Will Rogers Follies” at the Gateway, does as much for “Miss Saigon” as Ellen, Chris’s American wife. She makes of the second act’s wistful “Now That I’ve Seen Her” a poignant moment.

Scott Laska turns Chris into more than a pleasure seeking marine. His is a finely shaded performance that gives dimension to the character, and his duets with Kim, “Sun and Moon,” and “Last Night of the World,” are gloriously sung.

Raul Aranas, in the forcefully cynical role of The Engineer, is magnetic and marvelous, and more than worthy of the cheers he brought about on opening night. His first act number, “If You Want to Die in Bed,” is delivered with bitter humor, and his 11 o’clock number, dragged in regardless of the plot obviously by original director Nicholas Hytner to give Jonathan Pryce his Tony-winning moment, is given a show stopping, brutal and devastating delivery by the fiercely talented Mr. Aranas.

In 2003, in Patchogue, Alex Tano removed and replaced all memories of Broadway’s Lea Salonga as Kim, the tragic heroine of “Miss Saigon.” She does the same and more in 2009. Currently one of Korea’s most popular singers, she was Gateway casting director Robin Jay Allen’s dream choice to repeat her first starring local appearance. But Ms. Tano was booked solidly in Korea for the summer—until the North Korean missile crisis happened.

So it took an international incident to free up Ms. Tano to re-create the role of Kim in Patchogue, which she does, with heartrending sensitivity and a glorious, multi-mannered voice. She only has to stand on stage to shine. Luckily for Gateway audiences, she does far, far more than this.

Once again, the Gateway has brought in a must-see musical, a spectacle for the eye, the ear and the heart. It continues every night but Monday and in several weekly matinees through July 25 at the Patchogue Theatre. The box office number is 286-1133.