JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical

If any show is destined to follow in the musical footsteps of Urinetown and break out of the Fringe circuit and onto (or at least off of) Broadway, it's JOB. Both a brilliant interpretation and masterful send-up of hip-hop culture and biblical storytelling, Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion - the mastermouths behind JOB - are probably far more clever than their audiences realize. Yes, as MC's Cain and Abel, they're telling the story of poor persecuted Job via a musical model (complete with phat hip-hop gestures and funky choreography), but at the same time they're also wittily skering not only the corporatization of hip-hop but also the culture of musicals itself--and they also do a damn good job of staying true to their biblical roots. (Anyone who's shocked at the surprise ending, for example, needs to recall their old testament and remember who's telling the story here.) Fluidly shifting between eight different characters, the show's program (again, cleverly formatted as CD liner notes) lets you know what's what and who's who, but what it doesn't mention are the hilarious postmodern references to the likes of "MC Articulate" and what makes for good rhyme style. If you've got a choice, catch it in a late-night time-slot and hope for an enthusiastic audience. Like Hedwig and Hair, JOB is a musical you'll not easily forget.

?John Threlfall