CHEAP in all the right ways, the fast, taw dry and very funny “Devil Boys From Beyond” is the Fringe Festival at its best.
Drawing inspiration from such screwball comedies as “His Girl Friday” and ’50s sci-fi B-movies (Ed Wood looms large), author Buddy Thomas and director Kenneth Elliott turn their cut-rate budget into an asset, and provide a great vehicle for its shameless cast.
When aliens are sighted in Lizard Lick, Fla., the New York Daily Bugle sends alcoholic photographer Gregory Graham (Robert Berliner) and Pulitzer-winning writer Mattie van Buren (Paul Pecorino) to investigate. (Competition is heating up in the news business — the paper’s editor warns that “by the end of 1956, there may be only seven dailies left in New York!”)
Down in the swamps, the bickering former lovers meet nutty middle-aged gals Florence Wexler (Everett Quinton), who rang the alarm about the invaders from outer space, and motel owner Dotty Primrose (Andy Halliday). Mucho mayhem ensues, including insta-pregnancies for the menopausal women.
Admittedly, the plot doesn’t matter all that much, and the dialogue isn’t as witty or cutting as it should be, though Thomas works in a final twist that neatly references current concerns for marriage equality and allows for a nice display of beefcake.
Instead, it’s all about watching the actors — especially the ones in drag — gleefully throw themselves into their, ahem, art.
His chin jutting out, his back arched in angular defiance, Pecorino pays tribute not so much to classic Hollywood broads as to Charles Busch’s interpretation of classic Hollywood broads.
Halliday’s Dotty is a hoot of an old coot, strutting around in embroidered toreador pants while the actor contorts his face in ways usually found in Cubist paintings.
And then there’s Everett Quinton, looking increasingly demented in a series of outlandish outfits. Not bothering to “feminize” his gruff voice and bruiser physique (at one point he looks like Ben Gazzara in a purple teddy), Quinton, a former member of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, embodies the no-holds-barred fun of downtown camp.
The way he drawls out lines like “Ta-ta, honey child” as if they were Southern-fried taffy is irresistible, and a good portion of his dialogue gets drowned in the audience’s laughter. It’s a marvel to see him turn low comedy into such a high.
elisabeth.vincentelli
@nypost.com
DEVIL BOYS FROM BEYOND Actors’ Playhouse, 100 Seventh Ave. South; 866-468-7619. Through Sunday.