In many ways, “Kismet” – which completed its pleasant if unassuming run at City Center yesterday – is the ideal Encores! show. This success of this good-natured mounting, thanks largely to the dependable star wattage of Brian Stokes Mitchell, may have only sporadically transcended the 1953 operetta’s rickety trappings, but it still served as a sharp reminder of what the City Center concert series can and should be up to.

Encores! was created to reintroduce New York audiences to Broadway musicals that are, for any number of reasons, not legitimate candidates for a proper revival. Things went swimmingly for the first three years, as the series provided invaluable glimpses of treasured but arguably nonviable titles such as “One Touch of Venus,” “Out of This World,” and “Allegro.”

Then came “Chicago.”

After the staggering success of that 1996 production and its subsequent commercial transfer (it’s the longest running revival in Broadway history), the series lost its way a bit. Encores! suddenly drifted toward such potentially salable community-theater mainstays as “The Pajama Game” and even “Bye Bye Birdie.”

Judging from this season, these misguided – and, with the semi-exception of “Wonderful Town,” still unsuccessful – attempts may finally be winding down. Given its clunky book and retrograde stereotypes, the ersatz Middle Eastern “Kismet” wouldn’t stand a chance on Broadway today, but its beguiling score and robust pair of leading roles are tailor-made for Encores! Paul Gemignani, the series’ new music director, has worked wonders with minimal resources in the recent “Assassins” and “Pacific Overtures” revivals; here he proves just as masterful with a 41-piece group at his disposal.

Even with a streamlined book, however, the plot is what Jon Stewart might call a “Mess O’ Potamia.” Our plucky hero, a wily poet played by the effortlessly endearing Mr. Mitchell, finds himself in all sorts of adventures in 11th-century Baghdad. Brigands want him dead, the evil wazir’s wife (the luscious Marin Mazzie, Mr. Mitchell’s “Ragtime” and “Kiss Me Kate” co-star) has designs on him, his daughter is in love with a caliph who she thinks is a gardener, etc., etc.

The whole rickety affair was an excuse to operetta-ize a number of classical pieces by Russian composer Alexander Borodin. This sort of thing had happened as early as the 1920s, when Schubert’s music yielded “Blossom Time,” but Robert Wright and George Forrest cracked the classical code like no other Broadway hands. “Kismet” opened in the middle of a newspaper strike; “Stranger in Paradise” had reached the pop charts by the time the reviews saw print (they were mixed overall but with some prominent naysayers), and the show became a Tony-winning hit.

The only way to make a show like “Kismet” work today is to treat the music very seriously and the story very lightly, a tactic Lonny Price employed with a fair amount of success. His use of the chorus was often awkward, and Danny Gurwin’s pop-inflected take on the caliph proved underwhelming. But old-timers Tom Aldredge and Randall Duk Kim handled their nonsinging roles with dignity, Marcy Harriell was a sparkling ingenue despite a vocal infection, and that orchestra did marvelous justice to Arthur Kay’s resplendent orchestrations.

Best of all were Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Mazzie, who each have that rare gift of making musical-theater stardom seem like a lot of fun. The two can turn even a piece of nonsense like “Rahadlakum” (I think it has something to do with an aphrodisiac) into a comic highlight, and Ms. Mazzie shifted admirably from her husky, brazen alto to a confident soprano as needed. Even with the occasional enunciation problem during his patter songs, Mr. Mitchell’s characteristic warmth, honeyed baritone, and palpable love of performing papered over many of the evening’s slow patches.

The three scimitar-wielding Asian princesses had an unfortunate “Small Harem of Uncle Thomas” feel to them. (These sequences excepted, Sergio Trujillo’s choreography was splashy and enjoyable, anchored by gifted “Movin’ Out” veteran Elizabeth Parkinson.) And despite Danny Rutigliano’s best efforts, it’s a bit odd in this day and age to hear a comic number devoted to the tortures committed by a corrupt ruler in Baghdad. But if cogent political commentary wasn’t what you look for at an Encores! show, another rhapsodic, nonplot-furthering tune like “Baubles, Bangles, and Beads” was never too far away. Which means the series may just be back on track.