Big Boyz: with its hilarious takes on boy bands and Christian pop, Altar Boyz is heaven

Altar Boyz * Conceived by Marc Kessler and Ken Davenport * Score by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker * Directed by Stafford Arima * Dodger Stages, New York City (open-ended run)

Boy bands are largely absent from the pop charts these days, but at New York City's Dodger Stages their spirit lives on--and satirically soars in the 'N Sync-ily sexy new musical Altar Boyz. With Backstreet Boys bravado, the five fresh-faced performers portray the show's fictional singing group with infectious abandon, easily wooing the audience with their 90-minute concert-style mission of Christian salvation. In a dozen songs sung by the characters Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham (he's Jewish), openly gay composers Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker have crafted some seriously funny spoofs of both the pop genre and contemporary Christian messages of faith. Can I get a witness for "Jesus Called Me on His Cell Phone" and "Girl, You Make Me Wanna Wait"?

While the show could be a one-note joke, what adds hilarious adrenaline to Altar Boyz is its astute subplot. (It's a boy band--it's homoerotic, stupid!) Mark, played by the willowy Tyler Maynard, fawns constantly (if unconsciously) over Scott Porter's hunky lead singer, Matthew--providing Altar Boyz with its most inspired comedic moments. "I was hiding my true self," Mark says, describing a tortured adolescence. "Beat up by Episcopalian thugs because of my voice. My walk. And"--he expertly pauses--"my attention to detail."

Although I won't reveal Mark's climactic confession in the eleventh-hour number "The Epiphany," I will say that the song--with Maynard's delirious spin on Jennifer Holliday's act-1 finale in Dreamgirls--had me laughing well after I'd left the theater.

Drake is a writer-performer whose works include Son of Drakula and The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.

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