Mae’s ever-enticing twists

Mae West was every mother’s nightmare and every man’s dream. Voluptuous, brazenly blond and fond of risque double-entendres, she shocked polite society but appealed to untold numbers of women who wanted to be like her and men who just wanted her.

Every time she said something like, “When women go wrong, men go right after them,” she put a little dent in America’s armor of prudery. Hip-swiveling her way through the 20th century, she demanded -- and gained -- acceptance on her own terms, on her way to becoming the most-quoted American since Benjamin Franklin.

Inspired by this legacy, actress-writer Claudia Shear wrote the play “Dirty Blonde,” which became one of New York’s most unusual hits in 1999. The show has arrived in Southern California in an Old Globe production that re-creates the original staging and features Shear’s New York replacement, Kathy Najimy, as well as Shear’s original co-stars, Kevin Chamberlin and Bob Stillman.

Shear’s previous claim to fame was the one-woman show “Blown Sideways Through Life,” about the hilariously long list of jobs she breezed through on her way to becoming her own woman. That theme is echoed in “Dirty Blonde,” the title of which hints at West’s gift for transformation. It’s an excerpt from “I made myself platinum, but I was born a dirty blonde.”

An offbeat hybrid, the show resurrects famous West routines and juxtaposes them against the story of two present-day loners who find inspiration and reassurance in West. As co-conceived and staged by James Lapine (whose work is reproduced in San Diego by original associate director Gareth Hendree), the show is presented as postmodern vaudeville on a telescoped playing area (which looks, in Douglas Stein’s set design, like a movie camera lens) that can be transformed from old-fashioned stage and to sleek, modern locale.

Najimy doubles as West and present-day actress/office temp Jo, while Chamberlin plays Charlie, a film nerd smitten with West, and Stillman portrays various men in West’s life.

Neither Jo nor Charlie fits conventional standards. Neither is conventionally good-looking; neither is entirely comfortable in the roles society expects them to play.

But each has found a patron saint in West, and when they meet while paying separate visits to West’s mausoleum, they become fast friends.

The development of their relationship plays out against the progression of West’s career and re-creations of bits of such stage plays as “Sex” and “Diamond Lil,” as well as such movies as “She Done Him Wrong” (the filmed version of “Diamond Lil”) and “My Little Chickadee.”

Najimy, a San Diego native who went on to fame with “The Kathy and Mo Show” and the “Sister Act” movies, had Saturday night’s opening audience whistling and hollering. She already looks a bit like West, so that when she undergoes the transformation into West -- complete with a vowel-chewing nasal voice and the way of walking that the play describes as “like a truck driver with hips” -- she is particularly convincing. (Susan Hilferty’s lavish gowns complete the illusion.)

Chamberlin, a gifted comedian who broke through in the Broadway production of “Seussical,” turns in a poignant portrayal of a man not entirely comfortable in his own body. Meanwhile, Stillman, known to Southern California audiences for his starring role in “The Last Session,” is a chameleonic presence, playing piano and shape-shifting through scenes.

The interplay between Shear’s present-day story and West’s life can be read on several levels. Shear suggests that West borrowed bits of her persona from oppressed cultures -- sensual moves from African Americans and style tips from drag queens -- and helped turn them into something universal. Conversely, Jo and Charlie take the universal and make it personal again.

On a subtler level: West pushed boundaries (as does “Dirty Blonde,” with its risque language and moment of partial nudity). So do Jo and Charlie, though perhaps not as intentionally as their heroine. They are rebels, simply by being who they are.

Mae would be so proud.

*

‘Dirty Blonde’

Where: The Old Globe, Balboa Park, downtown San Diego

When: Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.

Ends: Aug. 30

Price: $19-$50

Contact: (619) 239-2255

Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes; no intermission

Kathy Najimy...Jo/Mae West

Kevin Chamberlin...Charlie

Bob Stillman...Man

Sally Mayes...Jo/Mae, Aug. 26-30

An Old Globe presentation. Written by Claudia Shear. Conceived by Shear and James Lapine. Directed by Gareth Hendree, re-creating Lapine’s original direction. Musical staging John Carrafa. Set Douglas Stein. Costumes Susan Hilferty. Lights David Lander. Stage managers Leila Knox, D. Adams.