‘White Trash’ Skewers the Music Industry

“Imagine Sunset Boulevard the way a New Yorker would want to see it--all crammed into two exciting blocks,” singer-songwriter Andy Prieboy said at the Roxy on Thursday, setting the scene for “White Trash Wins Lotto,” his work-in-progress musical satire based on the Guns N’ Roses story.

Savagely skewering Broadway and the music industry in a Gilbert & Sullivan-esque presentation that contains nary a power chord nor rock riff, “White Trash” follows the saga of singer Axl Rose and the “heavy-metal revolution,” as Prieboy put it Thursday, the first of a scheduled three-night stand.

Having outgrown the intimate Largo nightclub, where it was developed over a three-year period, the show has expanded to 19 cast members (including Prieboy and two musicians) and added more songs, choreography and costumes, with plans for an extended run next year. But the extra accouterments only made it clearer that “White Trash” is Prieboy’s singular vision.

Seated at his keyboard or roaming the stage between numbers, Prieboy was the glue that held the 90-minute show together. Led by Brian Beacock as, shall we say, Broadway Axl Rose, the cast (which included “News Radio” star Dave Foley as a scheming record executive) performed every deliberately over-the-top tune with relish and flair, amid remarkably few opening-night glitches.

But the most breathtakingly funny moments were the most grimly truthful, as Prieboy drove home his points about how the entertainment business distorts reality--not just what’s shown on stage or screen but the actual world we live in--and how people willingly participate in the illusion, whether through naivete, self-interest or just plain corruption.

* “White Trash Wins Lotto,” at the Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, tonight at 8. Sold out. (310) 278-9457.