Short North Stage brings some sly, fleet-footed heat to the coldest months with a frothy, charming production of the Off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz, written by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker (music and lyrics) and Kevin Del Aguila (book), directed and choreographed by Dionysia Williams.
Altar Boyz plants the audience at the final show of its eponymous, burgeoning Christian music boy band, comprised of Matthew (Connor Barr), Mark (PJ Palmer), Luke (Antonio Emerson Brown), Juan (Chris Carranza), and Abraham (Jack Mastrianni). Adler and Walker’s songs are a love-letter to the ‘90s stripe of boy band epitomized by ‘NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, with enough winking nods to crossover dance-rap acts breaking out of the Christian bookstore and worship service scenes in the vein of DC Talk.
Their strong voices bloom in harmony with one another, recalling the show’s lyric “No star as bright as its constellation, no harmony in a single voice.” The tight, slinky harmonies help get the occasionally repetitive songs of the first half over. Those harmonies pair with the vibrant chemistry of the cast. These five men of varying backgrounds are clearly here because they’re having a good time and like one another, something too often bypassed in irreverent media takes, but Williams and her cast strike the right balance between exuberant sincerity, slick, grinning artifice, and dancing feet of clay.
The tightly constructed 90-minute show never pulls back behind the scenes, everything we know about the characters comes through who they are in performance. This lets the cast reveal some fascinating glimpses of the complicated men, growing in fits and starts, flickering behind their idealized selves.
The back half of Altar Boyz shows off those layers, and some canny, subtle writing in the maelstrom of flashing light. In one of the chef’s kiss moments that gets enough shine without having to underline it, the show’s structure gives each of the Boyz a solo feature.
Mastrianni’s Abraham nods to the lineage of Jewish songwriters behind classic Christian songs and burns through “Everybody Fits.” That tradition also rears its head as he trades back and forth with Carranza’s Juan on the delightful wink to the Ricky Martin school of Latin pop, “La Vida Eternal,” turned by Williams into a roadrunner cartoon comedic tour de force. Palmer’s Mark’s nods to an open secret give us an uproarious double entendre couched in a different double entendre in the wistful declaration of purpose “Epiphany.”
Barr nails Matthew’s raunchy and sweet ballad “Something About You” with the perfect combination of unshakable commitment and smooth salesmanship. Brown’s Luke – an injection of energy and less-disguised rough edges than the rest of the group whenever he appears – soars on a supple, liquid Stevie Wonder riff “Body, Mind, and Soul.”
Crucial to the success of Altar Boyz, the beating heart of its sense of fun, comes in the creative team’s shared love of the material Del Aguila, Walker, and Adler pastiche and parody. Jonathan Collura’s musical direction leads a tight four-piece band – Collura and Brian Horne on keys, Drew Martin on drums, and Zsalt Dvornik on guitar – through the sudden shifts and expansive smoothness of these tunes, nailing the “rollercoaster that’s not too scary” and “dance floor that’s not too funky” appeal of the styles they slip on and off. Collura and band never crowd the tunes and never overplay, leaving breathing room to highlight the vocalists but also with space for the musicians, like the bubbling keys on “Body, Mind, and Soul,” and stinging guitar on both “La Vida Eternal” and “Number 918.”
Dionysia Williams brings her unique choreographic vocabulary to bear here as she directs with a constant sense of motion; these young men never stay still for a second, vibrating between a sugar buzz and grace.
And the specific choreography is top-notch, full of her classic blend of complicated, intricate combinations so grounded in character and place they never seem calculated and stuffed with delightful nods to the post-Temptations moves, specifically citing and undercutting lyrics, sometimes in the same stomp or slide. Edward Carignan’s costume design plays with the color scheme of white, blue, and silver and the specific ratios of modesty and flash so prevalent in the era being riffed, playing perfectly with Jason Bolen’s set design, full of winning touches like words appearing in platforms and a deconstructed pipe organ.
It helps to be a ‘90s to early ‘00s boy band fan for Altar Boyz, but I found a lot to like, particularly some dazzling singing and dancing.
Altar Boyz runs through February 13 with performances at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit shortnorthstage.org/altarboyz.