THEATER BEAT

With Lance sprung from the closet and Justin situated comfortably at the top of the charts, any jokes about boy bands these days are almost certain to feel stale and behind the curve. So it comes as a pleasant surprise that “Altar Boyz,” the 2004 theatrical satire of the aforementioned pop phenomenon, still manages to pack a rather potent comical punch.

Celebration Theatre’s current production is an enjoyably fleet-footed affair, featuring a hilarious and swoon-worthy cast that’s bursting with charisma.

The musical tells the story of a five-member Christian pop group on the last leg of its world tour. Sporting biblical names, the singers fall comfortably into quotation-marked archetypes -- Matthew (Jesse Bradley), the white-bread dreamboat lead singer; Mark (Clifford Banagale), the high-pitched effeminate one; Luke (Jake Wesley Stewart), the homeboy with a substance-abuse problem; Juan (Robert Acinapura), the Latin stallion; and Abraham (Kelly Rice), the lapsed Jew.

The cast, under the direction of Patrick Pearson, performs the show’s 13 numbers with just the right combination of angel-faced oblivion and winking sexual innuendo.

Written by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker (with a book by Kevin Del Aguila), the show sends up the boy-band craze while also giving in to its irresistible appeal.

It’s a kind-hearted satire whose jokes can be read in countless ways.

“Altar Boyz,” which is currently in its fourth year off-Broadway, shows no signs of slowing down. May it be blessed with eternal life.

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David Ng --

“Altar Boyz,” Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m., Sundays. $30. (323) 957-1884 or www.celebration theatre.com. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

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Finding a spark in women’s romance

The unspoken currents that swerve across “Stop Kiss” at Theatre Theater almost outstrip the actions they generate. Diana Son’s delicate 1998 dramedy about a nascent romance between two women in New York receives an admirable, albeit still gelling, L.A. premiere by Rogue Machine.

Distracted traffic radio reporter Callie (Deborah Puette) is a 12-year Manhattan veteran when she meets Midwestern emigre Sara (Kristina Harrison).

Against the wishes of her parents and boyfriend, Sara has taken a fellowship to teach third-graders in the Bronx but needs to house her cat.

Their initial encounter flirts with sitcom while hinting at greater depths. The playwright then flashes forward, to the aftermath of a random act of violence that left Sara in a coma and Callie guilt-ridden and disconsolate.

Thereafter, “Stop Kiss” pendulum-swings across time, pitting the pair’s gravitational pull toward each other against the outcome of their culminating moment.

Puette and Harrison do imposing work, well attuned to each other’s strengths. Christian Anderson and Justin Okin are solid as their respective men.

Inger Tudor is a bit more effortless as a Caribbean nurse than as the crime’s eyewitness. Jeorge Watson valiantly handles the thankless role of police detective.

Son’s script is quietly inventive and wholly sincere, but the folded-time structure creates some nuance gaps in Elina de Santos and Matthew Elkins’ intelligent staging.

Not all of the emotional hairpin turns feel consistent, and the vignette-laden structure takes a toll on our involvement.

Such inequities seem likely to tighten as this worthy effort enters its repertory run with “Treefall” next month.

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David C. Nichols --

“Stop Kiss,” Rogue Machine at Theatre Theater, 5041 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays, through July 26. Starting Aug. 2, runs in repertory with “Treefall,” see www.rogue machinetheatre.com for schedule. Ends Aug. 23. Adult audiences. $25. (323) 960-7774. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

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Messy, charming

‘Ten Cent Night’

Marisa Wegrzyn’s regional comedy, “Ten Cent Night,” now in its West Coast premiere at the Victory Theatre, is as cute and as fun to watch as a speckled pup.

Too bad it won’t stay on the paper. Wegrzyn’s delightful but messy romp gambols over much, venturing into circular scenes that do little to facilitate the forward momentum of the plot. But with a harsh correction or two, “Night” might yet make the show circuit.

Set primarily in Texas in the early 1970s, the plot concerns two sets of fraternal twins whose father -- who recently committed suicide -- was a hard-drinking musician made famous by his boozy bar song, “Ten Cent Night.”

Roby (a splendidly sultry Tara Buck), herself a boozy musician, and Dee (Caitlin Muelder), a prickly virgin, are one set of twins, at bitter odds since the cradle.

Much more congenial, alarmingly so, are twins Sadie (Alison Rood), a sweet 16-year-old with a bum heart, and her offbeat brother Holt (Shane Zwiner), her too-significant other.

When Roby steals a bundle from her mute admirer, Danny (Martin Papazian), Danny’s bad ol’ boy loan-shark boss, Roscoe (Gareth Williams), comes after his missing money. Rounding out the story is Texas belle Lila (Kathleen Bailey), a ladylike whore who has, of course, a heart of gold.

A real actor’s director, Maria Gobetti extracts Olympian performances from her uniformly terrific actors, who plunge into their material like it’s a cool swimming hole on a hot summer’s day. They make every scene count, even those that don’t.

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F. Kathleen Foley --

“Ten Cent Night,” Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 28. $22-$34. (818) 841-5421 or www.the victorytheatrecenter.org. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

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A history lesson on British artists

When it comes to complicated sexual entanglements, England’s early 20th century collective of writers, artists and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury group could hold their own with today’s tabloid stories. Named for the central London culture district in which its principal members resided, the group shared a progressive ideology in matters of art, politics and polyamorous pursuits.

All of which figure prominently in Joyce Sachs’ new docudrama, “Eternal Equinox,” which focuses on three Bloomsbury-related figures: painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and their mutual friend, the mountaineering celebrity George Mallory. Set in scenic designer Leonard Ogden’s impressively detailed 1923 summerhouse where pioneering feminist Bell (Gillian Doyle) and the self-absorbed, talented Grant (Christopher McFarland), her partner and housemate, vie for the affections of preternaturally handsome Mallory (Justin Ellis).

Thinking of this as a romantic triangle, however, seriously oversimplifies the geometry. Bell was still married, and on good terms with her husband and children, one of whom was fathered by the predominantly homosexual Grant. Grant’s bed was rather a revolving door -- one of the chief annoyances of their open lifestyle seems to be the frequency with which Bell finds herself barging in on Grant with his other lovers. Mallory is also married, but his heart belongs to Mt. Everest (he will die the following year in his third attempt to scale it).

To Sachs’ credit, her extensively researched play tackles the emotional complexities and conflicted loyalties that go with these characters’ refusal to be bound by social norms (Doyle in particular gives a finely shaded performance), but their arguments are rather heady and way too polite. Director Kevin Cochran tries for a sensual balance with brief recurring nudity. The main problem, though, is that while these people talk about all the brilliant things they’ve said and done, they never say or do anything particularly brilliant -- the whole thing comes across as more of a history lesson than a compelling window into radically unconventional lives.

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Philip Brandes --

“Eternal Equinox,” GTC Burbank in George Izay Park, 1111B W. Olive Ave., Burbank. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 25. $30. (818) 238-9998 or www .gtc.org. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes