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In Gypsy, stage-mama Rose promises her daughter their next act will be better than anything they’ve ever done before. Then said act appears: chorus girls decked out in all-new costumes—but singing the exact same tune. After Bailiwick’s four-year run of Naked Boys Singing!, this follow-up is like Rose’s “new” act, but in reverse: Many of the costumes are the same (namely, birthday suits), but the writing and songs have all changed. Without question, the changes are for the better.
NBS relied heavily on its gimmick: men, naked. Here, Zak smartly hired Second City instructor Eninger, who alternates between the kind of goofy SNL-type sketches that make us laugh despite ourselves and the kind that don’t. Barring the earnest, ill-judged finale—whose title is, suffice to say, “In My Body”—those who witnessed NBS will share the surprise: Much of Lads is chuckleworthy.
Mahler has clearly imbibed contemporary musicals’ breezy style; “I’m in Love with the Girl Next Door” is a bona fide delight. But fear not: “The girl” becomes “the boy,” and the addition of a female (always clothed) actor doesn’t deflate the full-frontal homoerotica. While the cast doesn’t have much by way of singing chops, fortunately what it really needs, it’s got in spades: utter shamelessness. As long as paying customers share Bailiwick’s penchant for lithe, youngish, all-white guys, we can only paraphrase Rose: Naked boys finished? Why, they’re just beginning.—Novid Parsi
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