Such a fuss about a small musical. When playwright David Henry Hwang dared to shake the dust from "Flower Drum Song" in 2002, you'd have thought he had spit (or worse) on the graves of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Critics howled that he had ruined a classic -- a classic, mind you, that critics in 1958 had dismissed. Funny how perceptions change for the needs of the argument.

Mu Performing Arts last night opened "Flower Drum Song" at the Ordway Center's McKnight Theatre in a production that reinforces the original's intentions and serves as a sly satire on the American Dream. Rick Shiomi's staging looked ragged in a Friday preview, but his actors brim with irresistible heart and charm.

Through its generation clashes, its assimilation struggles and its cold-eyed view of capitalism, "Flower Drum" remains at its heart an immigrant's story. Sara Ochs portrays Mei-Li, a timid refugee from Mao's China and a mirror for the aspirations of Chinese-Americans. They include Wang (Randy Reyes), a traditionalist whose Chinese opera is irrelevant. His son, Ta (Sherwin Resurrecciion), wants to change the place into a nightclub and highlight the object of his affections, Linda Low (Laurine Price), who in turn wants nothing more than to shed her cultural baggage and become a Hollywood star. Chao (Kurt Kwan) bristles at the menial work that is the immigrants' lot and wants Mei Li to flee for Hong Kong.

The ground shifts for each of these characters. Wang gives in to the nightclub idea when he realizes the money and fame that can be had by zealously pimping Chinese stereotypes -- best exemplified by "Chop Suey." Ta comes to terms with Linda's rejection and sees that he has chased the wrong dream.

Gaps still exist and as is the wont of musicals, love is the anodyne. As corny as Kansas in August? Sure. But Hwang invests the story with deep affection and sardonic wit.

Mu's production rests on the meek, winsome visage of Ochs. Shiomi resists sentiment, and Ochs achieves both an indomitable spirit and a fragile vulnerability. Resurreccion too does the actor's necessary interior work to make Ta an everyman who wants love and success. Price is perfect as a charismatic, gorgeous Linda Low ("I Enjoy Being A Girl"), and Reyes is made for Wang's comic evolution. Mu's homemade production (particularly Ochs' Mei Li) strikes so squarely in the heart that chatter about author's intent seems like hollow noise.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299