STAGE REVIEW : ‘BABY BOOM REVUE’ AT HOLLYWOOD ROOSEVELT

Between 1946 and 1961, 76 million baby boomers were born. Most of them would get a double kick out of “The Wonder Years,” subtitled “A Baby Boom Musical Revue,” at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Academy Room. That is, not only would they enjoy themselves, they’d also be on the receiving end of a kick in the pants.

“The Wonder Years” has moments of sheer, exuberant nostalgia. But it goes beyond them into a realm of clever social criticism that lets no one escape unscathed. If, at first, we see how the parents of the boomers simultaneously pampered and pressured their offspring, the second act shows how the boomers do the same thing to themselves as adults--when they ought to know better.

Only once does “The Wonder Years” veer close to flattery--in a number called “Flowers From the Sixties,” which combines the requisite bow to ‘60s idealism with the requisite tongue-clucking over the apathy of the subsequent decades. It would leave a sappy taste in the mouth if it concluded the show, but it merely concludes the first act.

Any feelings of self-pity it rouses are dispatched with glee in the second act. Finally, in projecting a possible future for the boomers through the year 2066, “The Wonder Years” asks them to stop moaning about the past and start doing something in the present.

Not that it ever becomes didactic. “The Wonder Years” never ventures too far from a good laugh. And some of them are not just good--they’re sidesplitters, at least to us suburban-reared boomers.

Writers David Levy, Steve Liebman, David Holdgrive and Terry LaBolt (working from Leslie Eberhard’s idea) have created six boomers whom we follow through the years--in order of appearance, rebel-turned-yuppie Ken (Stephen Breithaupt), overachieving Carol (Patty Tiffany, who socks out the showiest solo in the score), gay and Jewish Scott (Wayne Scherzer), younger-than-thou Lynnie (Nona Waldeck), Middle-American and Catholic Patti (Lisa Robinson) and Skippy (David Ruprecht), whose birth on Jan. 1, 1946, has led him to write a book about being the very first boomer.

Most of the actors also play other parts. Particularly sharp cameos come from Waldeck as a pregnant punk and as Ken’s fiancee Iona Condo, and Ruprecht as the Ding Dong Schoolmarm and Dr. Spock. Tiffany and Scherzer shine as Ken’s beleaguered parents.

The show is half-spoken, half-sung. The sketches and Levy’s songs are equally scintillating and the performances are consistently bright and brisk under the guidance of director/choreographer Holdgrive. Only one number is miscast--Robinson looks as if she’s beyond “Pushing Thirty.”

Costume designer Garland W. Riddle had a field day, especially in a wonderfully garish number that takes the cast through the “fast dances” of the mid-’60s. LaBolt’s musical direction is crisp and well integrated with Jon Gottlieb’s sound design. The most prominent landmark of Brian Bailey’s set is, natch, a TV screen.

Seating is cabaret-style in the crowded room at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. where “The Wonder Years” plays Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 7 and 10 p.m., Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m.; (213) 466-1767.