Las Vegas Weekly

The power of pop compels you

New musical comedy Altar Boyz follows a Christian boy band

Altar Boyz at Onyx Theatre.

Photo: April Corbin

What do you think of when you hear the phrase “altar boys?”

Is it fond memories from your childhood of religious ceremonies involving crackers and grape juice? Or maybe it’s not-so-fond memories. Maybe the indie film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys comes to mind. Still yet maybe your overactive imagination imagines a squad of superhero teens who can alter their physical shapes and save the world but not spell to save their English grades.

Herein lies one of the problems with Altar Boyz, Onyx Theatre’s newest show, which opened Thursday. Unless you’re already familiar with the off-Broadway production, it’s hard to know what to think about something that describes itself as being about “a struggling Christian boy band ... intent on saving souls and raising spirits.”

“People get confused. They don’t realize it’s not a preachy show,” explained artistic director Michael Scheneman after Saturday’s performance, which had an audience of only about half a dozen.

The musical comedy does center around the subject of religion, but only as a catalyst to parody ’90s boy bands, much like the MTV television spoof, 2gether. Mark White, who plays hunky leader Matthew in the fictional Altar Boyz group, says he feels the main message of the musical is friendship and embracing differences like race, religion (there’s a Jewish member of Altar Boyz!) and even shallowly hidden substance abuse.

“It’s not too deep,” he says. “It’s just a fun time.”

That fun time includes lyrics like “Jesus called me on my cell phone, no roaming charges were incurred,” and a ballad (sung to one lucky audience member) about waiting until marriage to fornicate. Of course, it also has all the harmonies, hair product and cheesy choreography one expects from a boy band.

Scheneman hopes the right audience will embrace the show, which was originally slated to run three weeks but now has an open-ended run. “This show has no trouble selling out in other places,” he says. “It’s just a matter of finding the right equation for Vegas.”

May we suggest U + Me = Us?