Review:

Male nudity is show’s point, yes, but there’s more

PUBLICITY PHOTO

By Joe Brown (contact)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.

What: “Naked Boys Singing!”
When: 10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through July 4
Where: Onyx Theatre, inside the Rack fetish shop in the Commercial Center plaza, 953 E. Sahara Ave.
Admission: $30; 732-7225, onyxtheatre.com
Running time: About 90 minutes without intermission
Audience advisory: Full frontal and back-al male nudity, obviously

Naked Boys Singing

What comes after the full monty?

That would be “Naked Boys Singing!,” a musical revue with seven men singing and dancing in the altogether.

Certainly there’s no shortage of bare men in Las Vegas, with at least four male dance revues on tap on the Strip. The difference is that “Naked Boys Singing!” is not a tease.

And its focus is not really entirely on what comedian Doug Benson calls “penuseses.”

Oh all right, yes it is. But only for about the duration of the first song, “Gratuitous Nudity,” which is a cheerful open invitation to ogle. “Tonight there’s an atmosphere where it’s all right to stare,” the seven-member cast sings. “Tonight you won’t wonder what’s under our underwear.”

After the novelty of seeing man-bits in motion wears off (the jiggly kickline is particularly hilarious), attention turns to personalities, bodies, faces and voices.

The off-Broadway musical revue just marked its 10th anniversary, and was turned into a movie in 2007; current stagings in London and Provincetown, Mass., are primarily aimed at gay men, but the show is also marketed toward bachelorette parties.

The 16 clever songs were contributed by more than a dozen writers with showbiz pedigrees, including creator Robert Schrock, Ben Schaechter and Bruce Vilanch. A pastiche of styles, they alternate between silliness and substance, but each song is essentially a debriefing about the meanings of nakedness: emotional (“Window to the Soul”), commercial (“Perky Little Porn Star”), comic (“The Naked Maid”) and — not only and not merely — sexual.

Mostly, these songs address the poignancy of men in unguarded moments. One of the most affecting, a wistful lament to a late lover, is sung while getting dressed. Another number, called “Fight the Urge,” comically depicts the pathos of gay boys in the high school gym locker room, hoping their anatomy doesn’t betray them as jocks parade around in the buff.

Ably accompanied by pianist Spencer Baker, who keeps his pants on, the actors are endowed with pleasant voices, and with one spectacular exception (yes, Paul Pratt, we’re all looking at you) they all have normally attractive bodies.

On the show’s first weekend, the performers still seemed a little uncertain with the material, but that should improve with more performances under their (nonexistent) belts. Director Hank Emerson and choreographer Brad Barnes keep things simple, and seem to have slowed the tempos a bit, stretching out what is usually a 65-minute show.

“Naked Boys Singing!” is scheduled to run through July 4, but if it finds its audience, it has the potential to hang on for quite a while.

An extension would be a bonus for the Rack, the fetish shop that houses the Onyx Theatre — this show has a covert dual purpose, functioning as sort of a Tupperware party for the exotic underwear and accessories peddled in the store.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By Joe Brown (Staff)

6/24/09 at 10:54 a.m.

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The producers of "Naked Boys Singing!" told me today that they have extended the show through July 11, and are considering adding a Sunday matinee.

"In fact," said producer Jimmy Emerson, "business was so good on Saturday, additional chairs and barstools were brought into the Onyx to bring the accommodations up from 99-seats, to 120! Even at that, with not another chair available, one person was willing to pay the full $30 ticket price to stand in the back of the room. Instead, management sold the customer a ticket for $20, and permitted the determined 'music lover' to sit on some steps and watch the show from there. Everybody was happy."

Check www.onyxtheatre.com for times and dates.
By carrie_oaki

6/24/09 at 12:29 p.m.

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Why is the Sun promoting this filth?
By SillyMe

6/24/09 at 1:42 p.m.

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Carri-oak... u are in sin city, naked men and women, sex and gambling....duh
By Narcissa

6/25/09 at 4:10 a.m.

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This show played to audiences in P Town? What a shock!
Now that we have gay marriage in Nevada, I'm sure it will
be a huge hit here, as well.

I'll bet some of the singing is genuinely amusing and well -presented, but as for getting to "ogle" the singers' naughty bits?

Just, ewww.
By LV4LIFE

6/25/09 at 7:46 a.m.

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One mans filth is another mans entertainment!
By snyderm

6/25/09 at 6:15 p.m.

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So this is why you didn't like Gordie Brown!

He didn't take his pants off!
By snagboy

6/25/09 at 8:34 p.m.

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This OFF BROADWAY show happens to be a. entertaining, b. funny, c. timely... this is 2009... a penis is not shocking! Enjoy the show... I did.
By Narcissa

6/25/09 at 10 p.m.

Suggest removal

Uhhh, speak for yourself, Snagboy. Going to a show-which is not the same as a bathhouse, btw- and having to witness a bunch of schlongs flopping about in the breeze most certainly is shocking. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be an article about the unique nature of this show to begin with.

But that's fine. If you like your entertainment accompanied by a major dose of peen, go for it.

Just quit acting like it's normal because nothing sounds more quaintly cliche than "it's (fill in the year). Just look at the old battlaxe women libbers from the seventies
who used to say the same thing when it came to their "superior medical knowledge" about fetal development.

Knowing what we know today, watching archival film of these gals yakking so superiorly about it being "1971, so get with it", along with their hairy armpits, dangly silver earrings and macrame plant holders, shows how just laughable any lecture about how "modern" we are always turns out to be.
By not_stupid

7/25/09 at 4:07 p.m.

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Narcissa,

You are incoherent, ignorant, insane, obnoxious, sexist and a fool! You don't know what you're talking about on any level. Any claim about YOU being modern would certainly be laughable.

And btw, "having" to witness a bunch of schlongs flopping about in the breeze would be shocking, not the witnessing, but of course the "having to"... maybe in another news article you read about the "having to" part that the rest of us missed? The "trail of schlongs" march where indigenous prudes were herded across town at gunpoint and forced to watch the schlong with their eyelids propped open by toothpicks? I missed that story.

Maybe you feel outraged by all the innocent souls at risk of being bamboozled by the heathen producers and suckered into unwittingly laying their virgin eyes upon a naked schlong via the shockingly deceptive title...."Naked Boys Singing" Gosh darn it, where the hell IS Mary Poppins in this play anyway?

You're a winner Narcissa!

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