Megahit "Miss Saigon," one of the most successful musicals of the last 15 years on both sides of the Atlantic, has the same internal chemistry that made "Cabaret" a hit: a dynamite female lead and an ingratiating, insolent anti-hero.

Lovely Emy Baysic has played the steely, tragic Kim on Broadway, and Raul Aranas originated The Engineer for the First National Company of "Miss Saigon" as well as doing the role in London. Collectively, that's a lot of talent and experience, and it shows.

Lucky for us. Without star power like this, "Miss Saigon" as a musical score doesn't offer much vocal variety. The majority of its songs are written in crescendo mode; they don't build to a climax, they begin as one. "Miss Saigon" is like a musical Olympics with every singer going for the gold.

Loosely based on Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," the show is set in South Vietnam's capital city of Saigon, days before its collapse in April 1975. The play follows the fortunes of Kim, a young, naïve woman from the provinces, and Chris, a disillusioned American soldier. The war brings them briefly together in a shabby Saigon nightclub and separates them even faster when the Americans pull out of the city and the country.

Tacoma actor Louis Hobson plays Chris, and his clear, ringing tenor nicely matches Baysic's pristine soprano. Their two duets in Act I "Sun and Moon" and "The Last Night of the World" catch both the surprise of newfound love and its fragility.

Act II takes up their story three years later. Kim is steadfast in believing her husband, Chris, will return for her and their son, Tam (a very cute Isabelle Tully). Hounded by her former fiancé, Thuy (Brandon O'Neill), who is now a high ranking Communist soldier, Kim tries to keep body and soul together. Back in the States, Chris, uncertain of Kim's fate and without knowledge of her pregnancy, marries another woman.

Two wives — one guy is not going to cut it with either lady, and Kim finds a way to give her son a better life.

"Miss Saigon" is given the royal treatment by 5th Avenue artistic director David Armstrong and his enterprising technical crew. Michael Annania's glorious sets, Tom Sturge's eye-popping lighting effects and Stephen Hollenbeck's brilliantly colored costumes sweep across the stage, highlighting the epic qualities of Vietnam's tumultuous recent history.

Director David Bennett tries to amplify and update the show's one political issue — mixed race children of war — with some video of kids in refugee camps. The accompanying song "Bui-Doi" (English translation: The Dust of Life) is well sung by Kingsley Leggs and the ensemble chorus, but the scene plays like those earnest Save The Children commercials you see on TV at 2 in the morning.

But why quibble with a proven cultural phenomenon? Enjoy two terrific performances and some stunning visuals. Baysic is a pure flame of passionate devotion. Aranas' Engineer, pimp, inventor of the Miss Saigon contest, is a child of Cain. His triumphal number "The American Dream" is the best song and best single moment in the show.