Alter Boyz at Runaway Stage - March 2010

The verdict: Fun cast doing its best with the material at hand

So they tell me Altar Boyz is a gas; a rollicking send-up of the boy band phenomenon mixed with a good-natured but humorous take on religious sensibilities. Or something like that.

I guess I just don't get it. Maybe I'm not in the target audience. I was already out of college in the era of 'N Sync and Boyz II Men, and the appeal of such sappiness always eluded me. So maybe what Altar Boyz is best at at eludes me as well, since I don't get the premise they are sending up. I can and do appreciate the harmonies of the songs, and the skill on display is impressive. But interest me? Keep me involved in the "plot" or the story? Not so much.

Alter Boyz was one of this past summer's selections at Sacramento's Music Circus, which was the first time I saw it. I didn't enjoy it. Not for any religious objections - the night we went several seasoned theatre-goers walked out during one of the early numbers (a rap number about Jesus' various miracles) muttering under their breath about sacrilege and abomination and eternal damnation (or so it seemed). Not being particularly religious myself, I found nothing objectionable in the content. But by the end of the relatively short production (it is presented as a single act without intermission) I found myself envying the early departures.

When it turned out that Runaway Stage was doing the show as part of its 2010 season, I didn't plan to attend, but relented at the last minute, deciding to give the show a second chance. Maybe it would grow on me. My experiences with RSP's shows has been largely positive (see my recent review of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), so maybe I'd have an awakening and see the light (please forgive all the religious imagery - it seems somehow appropriate in the present context).

I will say this - I enjoyed the show a lot more at RSP than I did at Music Circus. The energetic and talented cast infused the show with such good will and fun that it made it much more, um, bearable to sit through. I still can't say that I enjoyed Altar Boyz very much, and I can't imagine being talked into seeing it a third time, but RSP did a pretty good job of bringing it to life.

The show takes place in real time, as the five members of the Altar Boyz (Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham - the latter an incongruous Jewish member) close out their national tour attempting to save souls and harmonize to the word of God. Each of the members has a distinct personality, which comes into clearer focus as the concert wears on. The conceit of the show is that the group has a technologically miraculous "Soul Sensor DX-12" that scans the audience and determines how many souls are in need of saving. It's a somewhat forced gimmick, in my opinion,and one which, try as they do, doesn't really generate the emotional heft it is supposed to.

Doing their best with this iffy material are five very talented performers. Scott Woodard, as Matthew, the group's leader and driving force, is typically strong and shines in various featured songs. Joseph Boyette, as Mark (who I recently praised in my review of The Producers at Davis Musical Theatre Company) stands out again as the sexually conflicted Mark. His performance on the ballad "Epiphany" is one of the really funny moments in the show. He draws out the words "I... am..." and the entire audience knows the next word is going to be "gay," but of course it isn't.

RSP regular Benjamin Herrera plays Luke, the group's tough guy with the checkered past, and he manages to generate sympathy for his crotch-grabbing bad boy, particularly with his comic discussion of his past, stressing his "EX-AUS-TION." Peter Giovanni play Juan, an orphan hoping to find, as he tours as an Altar Boy, his lost birth parents. This story line results in what could have been a touching moment, but is undone by Mr. Giovanni's tendency to overplay his emotional reaction to some personal news.

Finally, Tyler Robinson plays Abraham, the lyrically gifted Jewish member of the group, whose motivations for joining and touring with the Altar Boyz is never really made all that clear. Mr. Robinson is very gifted, however, and is a standout performer in the show.

The pacing is, typical for RSP, fast and frenetic, which is a good thing. The onstage band is tight and impressive. The cast is talented and energetic. But, somehow, the whole is much less than the sum of the parts.