‘Rags’ Makes a Warm Musical Quilt

“Rags” is like a number of other musicals that have hit Broadway in the last decade. It doesn’t have one song you can hum on the way out of the theater, and the largest portion of the score is almost purely recitative.

In addition, the book tells tales that have been told before, about the waves of Jewish and other immigrant groups that crowded into this country’s Eastern Seaboard in the decades before World War I.

Fortunately, such potential shortcomings don’t keep this 1986 show from being a touching look at some profound building blocks of the American spirit, a strong lesson about the necessity of assimilation by immigrants, the injustice of big-business practices and a heartfelt dramatization of the adventures of one small segment of these new arrivals.

Jack Millis’ staging of the Joseph Stein, Charles Strouse and Stephen Schwartz musical drama, at Newport Theatre Arts Center, makes the piece look very good indeed. Millis obviously has affection for the show and a rich understanding of its theatricality; he has cast generally good actors who also have the vocal ability to bring the score to life.

The action begins in the steerage of a ship bringing our protagonists to New York. It’s narrated by young David in the same breezy manner that Neil Simon gave his alter-ego, Eugene Jerome, in “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” Frankie Marrone carries off his performance as David with sincerity and large dollops of humor. His bright clear voice is perfect for his vocal chores.

His mother, Rebecca, is played warmly but with a bit too much maturity by Kathy Simmons; they have come to join her husband, who preceded them to the States.

Amanda Loomer is charming as Rebecca’s friend, Bella, bubbling with youthful ardor, both for her new country and for a young man she met on the ship. As Rebecca’s father, Brian Harvey has a good sense of the old-country blinders that keep him from seeing the New World correctly and yet enough charm to make believable his burgeoning relationship with the widow Rachel, played not too broadly by Janet McGregor.

BE THERE

“Rags,” Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $15. Ends June 27. (949) 631-0288. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.