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NEW YORK -- In case you haven't been paying attention, pop culture has pretty much devolved into a contradiction in terms.
Martin Short seems to grasp this, but for some reason, he's not angry about it. Were I in Short's shoes, with a three-decade resume as a multifaceted stage and screen performer, I wouldn't be too chuffed about the ascent of dull-witted reality TV stars and nabobs such as Paris Hilton and Simon Cowell. And I might resent our increasing obsession with celebrities' personal crises, and the earnest public confession and penitence we've come to expect from the stars.
Luckily, Short is a bigger person than I am, and a funnier one. His new musical, Fame Becomes Me (***1/2 out of four), which opened last week at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, offers a relentless, riotous sendup of the voyeuristic piddle that now passes as entertainment.
But it's also a valentine to old-school showbiz virtues, with a soft, warm center and no bitter aftertaste.
The show's openly fake premise is that Short, inspired by other one-person Broadway shows -- and strapped for cash between projects -- will expose the pain and dish the dirt underlying his glorious life and career.
"A lot of what I'm telling you tonight will be true," he intones. "A lot I'll be making up."
Suffice to say that the made-up stuff could easily fuel an episode of The E! True Hollywood Story.
Beyond acknowledging Short's none-too-juicy real-life role as devoted husband and dad, Fame actually focuses very little on its star.
We're reintroduced to several characters he made famous on Saturday Night Live, and we're reminded of his flair for impersonation. (Short's Katharine Hepburn makes an appearance, of course, though she is upstaged by his spot-on Richard Burton.)
But the show ultimately draws less on Short's specific credits than his general background in, and affinity for, ensemble comedy and musical theater.
Hairspray's composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman insert sly references and salutes to Harold Arlen, Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim and other masters.
Under Wittman's buoyant direction, Short's superb co-stars, who include Shaiman, prove equally adept evoking more current and mainstream figures.
Mary Birdsong and Nicole Parker deftly channel a dizzying array of divas, from Joan Rivers to Britney Spears.
At the preview I attended, one of Short's alter egos, Jiminy Glick, dragged a real celeb on stage: Nathan Lane, who took part in an interview segment conducted with a different audience member at each performance. They're not all famous, but for 15 minutes, they get to answer idiotic questions while a big crowd watches and laughs.
In Fame Becomes Me, at least, that laughter is always in the right spirit.
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