‘Generator Girl’ Has the Design

Her parents were killed in an oddball boating accident. His parents were devoured by aliens. With so much in common, these two orphans seem destined for each other, despite the galaxies that separate them.

Fortunately, even vast interstellar distances can’t keep “Generator Girl” from blasting off at NoHo’s American Renegade Theatre.

In this new sci-fi rock musical by John Gust Anderson, Susan Bishop and Michael Raco-Rands, Robert Bresnick’s stunningly elaborate staging deserves star billing. The stage and balconies are transformed into the high-tech space tower from which TV host Protorious (Eric Martsolf) beams his hit show to the cosmos. The sterile complex is equipped with an array of video monitors showing live feeds of the action, and adorned with a sextet of shapely Go-Go Bots in racy attire.

No longer satisfied with his synthetic gratification, Protorious thinks he’s found a kindred spirit in Angie (PaSean Wilson), the earthbound heroine who’s dying to escape the clutches of her wicked, booze-swilling Aunt Ultra (Beth Bowles) and cruel, catty cousins.

It’s Cinderella meets Barbarella when Angie is teleported to Protorious’ enclave. Unfortunately, his producer (Diane Botnick) has other plans, and arranges a ratings-boosting duel to the death between Angie and Ultra.

In this embryonic stage, the show is a great design concept that falls short of its promising possibilities due to a rambling, paper-thin plot and characters who don’t keep emotional pace with their circumstances. Despite the rowdy, “Rocky Horror”-esque songs and the suggestively sexy costumes by Paul Herndon and Marge Bowers, there is a curious lack of erotic energy here--it’s as if the performances were from Mars and the look from Venus.

*

“Generator Girl,” American Renegade Theatre, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 23. $25. (818) 763-1834. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.