FRINGE REVIEW: THE ONLY THING STRAIGHT IS MY JACKET

Micah!, it would seem, is a gay immortal muse to great musical theatre composers. That's pretty much the entire premise of The Only Thing Straight Is My Jacket, a hilarious new cabaret piece, in which Micah! reclaims all of the love songs that were written for him, but performed onstage by female singers.

It makes sense, if you stop to think about it, which you would probably be too busy laughing to do. All of the male composers whose work Micah! performs in the show are or were openly gay, and most likely the emotional inspiration for these beautiful songs came from other men. How must those men feel, knowing that their lovers wrote beautiful music for them, but to reach a wide audience the songs must be sung by women? If we are to judge by Micah!, it must be utterly maddening. Literally. The West Nyack Center for Mental Rehabilitation is credited as a producer.

Tongue firmly in cheek and lasciviously enjoying the vulgar hilarity of his character, the curiously similarly named Micah Bucey gives an intense, funny, and genuinely touching performance as Micah! that ever-so-slightly evokes shades of Edith Piaf and Hedwig. His renditions of the songs are usually very good, and if the choice of some of the selections is a little curious, it's still worthwhile just to hear the very funny interpretations of these classic and nouveau-classic songs. For the sake of maintaining the element of surprise, the song list will remain secret, but pretty much every gay male theatrical composer worth his salt gets toasted and roasted in Paul Hagen's script.

The rest of the cast works wonderfully together to keep the manic energy high, and if they are given far too little to do, they make the most of what they've got. Andrew Edwards, as Micah!'s current protégé and accompanist and (again) curiously similarly named Drew? speaks through his piano very eloquently, and his chemistry with Micah! is very nice. Christian Bester and Jon Crane barely speak in their roles as Micah!'s guards from his current residence in the mental hospital, but it is delightful to watch them tap their toes and snap their fingers while Micah! sings. (It's just something about men in uniform...) And Briana Mandel is adorable in her brief role as Micah!'s doctor.

If you don't mind hearing your theatrical idols dragged through the mud, and if you can appreciate coarse absurdist humor that leaves Mad Magazine and Monty Python in the dust, and if you love all those great showtunes (c'mon, you know you do), don't miss The Only Thing Straight Is My Jacket. Gleeful, raunchy, and delightfully fun, this should be playing at Don't Tell Mama, Mama Rose's, Rose's Turn, and The Duplex for years.

The Only Thing Straight Is My Jacket is part of the Fringe Festival at the Cherry Lane Theatre Studio. The final two performances are tonight at 7:15 and at noon on Sunday.