Theater Review : ‘Miss Saigon’s’ Tragic Symbolism Hits Home

Part political theater, part love story and all mega-musical pizazz, “Miss Saigon” bravely--if, occasionally, misguidedly--uses a romance fraught with misconnections as a metaphor for all the misperceptions and good intentions gone bad that resulted from America’s involvement in Vietnam.

A creation of French, English and American talents, it met with controversy when it arrived in New York in 1991, when underemployed Asian American actors decried the casting of Caucasian actor Jonathan Pryce in the leading Eurasian role. Some actors also expressed annoyance with what they regarded as the show’s condescending depiction of its Vietnamese characters.

In the long run, though, the show has proven to be a crowd-pleaser and has provided steady employment for Asian American actors. Presented so far in Los Angeles and San Diego, “Miss Saigon” has returned to the Southland for a four-week run at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa--the only area touring stop that is currently scheduled. Peopled with gifted, emotionally committed performers and executed with as much clean, crisp precision as when it opened in London in 1989, it grabs hold of your heart and doesn’t let go.

Written by “Les Miserables” creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, “Miss Saigon” is based on the same source material as the Puccini opera “Madama Butterfly”--its tale of war-torn romance transferred to Saigon’s fall in 1975.

As Kim, the young South Vietnamese woman who endures the humiliations of prostitution as well as the postwar brutality that engulfs her land, Mika Nishida gives a grippingly complex performance--sweetly insinuating when delivering her power-pop arias, galvanized with steely resolve when protecting what she loves. (Michelle Nigalan alternates in the role at some performances.)

Possessor of a supple and expressive singing voice, Greg Stone touchingly captures the conflicted emotions of Kim’s American lover, a strapping football hero of a Marine who finds himself entirely out of his depth in a country whose people and history he will never understand.

In the flashiest role, Joseph Anthony Foronda crackles as the small-time South Vietnamese entrepreneur, drunk on capitalism, who opportunistically sticks with Kim throughout much of her ordeal. Though he starts out a bit too brashly, he quickly settles into the spirit of irreverent mischief that makes his slimy character so unexpectedly appealing.

As impressive as ever are Nicholas Hytner’s fluid staging, John Napier’s evocative design (with its clever use of rice-paper “curtains”) and David Hersey’s artistic lighting (pay attention to the blue morning sky, ominously tinged with fiery red, which bathes the lovers’ first duet).

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* “Miss Saigon,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; also Sept. 20, 8 p.m. Ends Sept. 25. $41-$66. (714) 740-7878 or (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Joseph Anthony Foronda: The Engineer

Mika Nishida: Kim

Michelle Nigalan: Kim (matinees and Thursday evenings)

Greg Stone: Chris

Eugene Barry-Hill: John

Johnny Fernandez: Thuy

A Cameron Mackintosh production. Music and book by Claude-Michel Schonberg. Book, lyrics and original French lyrics by Alain Boublil. Additional material Richard Maltby Jr. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Production design: John Napier. Lights: David Hersey. Musical director: Charles Stewart DuChateau.