By Megan Ma

David Allen/special to the Town Crier Francis Jue stars in “M. Butterfly” at TheatreWorks.

The sheer magnitude of a true-life mistaken identity between a French spy and a Chinese opera singer originally ignited the idea for David Henry Hwang’s Tony award-winning play “M. Butterfly,” TheatreWorks’ latest offering.

Now, more than 25 years after “M. Butterfly” premiered, the play still manages to crack open audience expectations through its sweeping reflections on gender stereotypes and characterizations of East versus West.

Given the play’s rising popularity over the years, the compelling thrust of the play lies not only in its meditations on race and sexuality, but in the playwright’s almost noxious ability to both repulse and attract viewers with the idea of Orientalism.

Carefully, without irony, “M. Butterfly” draws much of its audience appeal from the very ideal it seeks to indict: the vision of the East as feminine, romantic and exotic.

Like the doomed Frenchman, Gallimard (Mark Capri), who prefers in the end to accept the fantasy of his love rather than the sad truth, we, too, fall precariously into the surreal vision of the play’s tragedy and yet still, perhaps, are offered the chance to recover our wits by Hwang’s final, breathtaking scene.

With awe-striking finesse and a silky playfulness, Francis Jue reprises his 1994 TheatreWorks’ performance as the delicate and intelligent young opera singer Song Liling.

One of the standout scenes comes halfway through the play when Song performs a sprightly and dazzling transformation into an Armani-suit-clad man. Under a hazy white light, gilded strings mimic his quick gestures as the opera maven scrubs and preens his made-up face bare.

Another impressive scene involves Gallimard’s brief fling with a buxom Russian exchange student, Renee, played with bawdy generosity and humor by Jennifer Clare. The younger woman advises the Frenchman that the wars of the world can be blamed on insecure men afraid to reveal the true size of their, ahem, manhood.

We are able at some point to look past the incredulous fact that Gallimard, a French diplomat, continues to insist that he did not know his beautiful opera singer/lover - and alleged mother of his child - was a man.

But whether it’s the precision and almost cinematic quality of Hwang’s writing or the play’s magnetic string of reversals, this TheatreWorks’ production pulls off the ambitious work with elegant sets, sparkling direction, and, above all, experienced and nuanced actors.

“M. Butterfly” runs through Sept. 17 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. Performances are scheduled 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays (except next week); 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and/or 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and/or 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $20-$55. For tickets and more information, call 903-6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org.