JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical

Like Archibald MacLeish's verse play "J.B.," Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion's "JOB" brings a contemporary flavor to the Old Testament story of God's most severely tested devotee. In this variation, Job has become a general manager at Hoover Records, where the president, not God, tests him by removing his financial incentives.

Saibil and Batalion have been touring with the show for more than a year, and they've done an impressive job of polishing it, sampling the Beatles and classical music to vary their soundtrack. There's a definite fascination in watching two performers who are so sure of themselves and what they're trying to put across. Their "downsize dance" is an exuberant high point.

- John Hartl