‘Miss Saigon’ retains spectacle

Funny how people tend to exit “Miss Saigon” with visions of helicopters and Cadillacs in their heads, rather than the musical’s crisp assessment of America’s impact on the world. But ideas don’t stand much of a chance when surrounded by so much spectacle.

The conundrum continues in a Fullerton Civic Light Opera version, which is the first in the area to be staged by a local presenter rather than the Cameron Mackintosh empire. Painstakingly patterned after the original 1989 production, this version remains resolutely focused on the visual.

And it looks great. Thanks to designer Dustin J. Cardwell and hard-working builders, the last helicopter out of Saigon appears to land and lift as realistically as in the original, and a vintage Cadillac once again materializes in a small-time wheeler-dealer’s vision of the good life in the U.S.A.

From the backdrop of rice-paper blinds to the seedy-bar skin show that launches this Vietnam War-era tale, the similarities continue in the Fullerton staging by director Jan Duncan and choreographer Ray A. Rochelle.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, to note that Rochelle and several of the principal performers are veterans of various companies of “Miss Saigon.”

A retelling of “Madame Butterfly” by the “Les Miserables” team of Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (working with co-lyricist Richard Maltby Jr.), “Miss Saigon” witnesses the repercussions of a rash romance between a 17-year-old South Vietnamese woman, compelled by war’s hardships into a life of prostitution, and the American soldier who encounters her shortly before Saigon’s fall in 1975.

Kristine Remigio portrays Kim, the story’s heroine, with the imperturbable resolve of a woman intent on protecting what she loves. Similarly, her steely yet shimmering voice lends backbone to the musical’s through-sung, operatic style.

Matching her note for note is Blake Pullen as Chris, the lovelorn GI. Though his performance is robotic at times, his high, tightly focused voice is shot through with electricity.

Franc-Anton Harwart provides comic relief with his wily portrayal of the self-interested entrepreneur known as the Engineer.

Hollow miking tends to mar some of the music, but the score -- a lively if only intermittently distinguished melange of American pop and Asian themes -- is confidently performed by an orchestra of 18, under Todd Helm’s command.

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‘Miss Saigon’

Where: Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton

When: 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Thursday and next Friday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; 2 and 8 p.m. March 5; and 2 p.m. March 6.

Ends: March 6

Price: $22 to $45

Contact: (714) 879-1732 or www.fclo.com

Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes