Garrett Losack and Arcane

But how about those theatergoers who aren't shocked by anything anymore? Is it worth seeing? I think so, mostly for the effort put forth by this scrappy little theater, the Desert Rose. The play itself is kind of a hot mess. Paul Rudnick was already famous when he wrote this in 1998, so he could get almost anything on stage. What he gives us is really two one-acts, not a through-written play. The first half is a riff on Genesis, but with Adam and Steve, not Eve. After expulsion from the garden, they meet lesbian couple Mabel and Jane (the dykey one who invents clothes because she needs pockets).

The foursome then live through the flood and into pharaonic Egypt, where Adam becomes the Moses character, since the child found in the bulrushes has become Pharaoh's boy-toy Brad and isn't leading his people anywhere. The act culminates in the virgin birth, where Mabel conceives by the touch of God (AKA the stage manager).

If I were directing this, I would find some way to throw in a kitchen sink, because that's about the only thing Rudnick has left out. Rudnick can be a very witty guy. (Check out his movie reviews written under the name of his alter-ego Libby Gelman-Waxner.) But as in most comedy, not everything works. In the first act, I would toss the dance number by Mabel, with the imitations of Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. Its only function is to make the audience feel smart that they know who Isadora and Martha were. I would also cut the entire ark scene, with its randy talking animals. It sinks.

The second act finds Rudnick more in his métier: it's a New York City comedy with bitchy banter, set at a Christmas/Hanukkah party in Adam and Steve's apartment. In this act, Adam and Steve met in Central Park (the closest thing the city has to the Garden of Eden, I guess). Their guests include a gay santa, a Christmas elf go-go boy, Mabel and Jane and the lesbian rabbi who is going to marry them, and a Mormon co-worker of Adam's. Of course, since it's a gay play from the 1990s, AIDS has to show up to inject some pathos, but it pretty much goes nowhere, since dissension between Adam and Steve is solved by the gift of an Armani cashmere sweater. Is it that easy?

This act culminates in an extended spew of foul invective by Jane when she goes into labor (yes, she's the one pregnant this time). This is in bad taste not because it's blasphemous, but because it's just not funny. I think Oscar Wilde said that nothing is either moral or immoral, it's either in good taste or bad taste. (Or maybe I just made that up. It's something he should have said if he didn't.) Except for this tirade, the second act is a pretty hilarious one-act, albeit relying heavily on contemporary pop culture allusions that might not be recognized anymore. I wonder how many in the audience today will get the references to Calista Flockhart ("Eat something, please!") and the lesbian leanings of "Xena, Warrior Princess."

Rudnick threw in theological speculations to give the play some heft, the kind of questions that most sentient people have about God, and for which there are rarely any answers. Most of them are nothing special, but at least one of the answers made me laugh: "Angels are Prozac for poor people" is a good line. Since Rudnick is a New Yorker, writing for New Yorkers, a lot of the humor is East Coast-centric. My favorite joke in the play is: "God, this is Mabel, from Canaan ... the old one," but I don't know how that will play outside of Connecticut.

The production, directed by first-timer Dagmar Garza, is enjoyable because everybody's trying so hard. Most of the cast either doesn't have a lot of experience or haven't been on stage in years, so it's heartening that some of them are so good. Wendy Jay, Carolyn R. Ward, and Becky Vogsland all do fine work. Billy Mallard is hilarious as the sarcastic santa; too bad he doesn't appear in the first act.

Garrett Losack and Aaron Aguilar (stage name "Arcane"), the two male leads, seem unembarrassed by the nude scenes. (They shaved.) They are both quite good, and Arcane especially has an expressive face as well as body. Armando S. Romero III, Steven Belflower, Shannon Jay, Katy Green, Derryn Johnson, and David Stanford round out the cast.

In an instance of possibly divine synchronicity, there is a play on Broadway right now called An Act of God starring Jim Parsons as God. Here's a quote from Rex Reed's review in The New York Observer: "When he was bored enough to invent Adam in 4024 B.C., he also invented a naked playmate named Steve. He made Adam and Steve the same gender so they could not breed and spend more time on their gardening." That's an explanation that Paul Rudnick doesn't give us, but it shows that maybe The Most Fabulous Story is more influential than I thought.

The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, a comedy by Paul Rudnick, is being presented at The Desert Rose Playhouse at 6921 Montgomery Blvd in Albuquerque (just west of Louisiana Blvd). Through June 28, 2015. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00, Sundays at 2:00. Tickets $10. Info at 505-881-0503 or www.desertroseplayhouse.net.

--Dean Yannias