The Miss Teen Jesus Pageant

Entries in the New York International Fringe Festival run the gamut from expert to amateur, and "The Miss Teen Jesus Pageant" definitely falls in the latter category. Clumsily directed and broadly acted, this lame comedy resembles an underrehearsed sitcom. Even the program is a mess, with no director listed and Patrick di Battista credited as co-author but none of his collaborators identified. Perhaps they didn't want to share the blame.

The feeble plot concerns financially strapped gay couple David and Jonathan cooking up a phony biblically oriented beauty contest in order to get their religious daughter, Lucy, a scholarship to Southern Methodist University. A randy would-be televangelist is hired to act as emcee, and the couple's lesbian, transgendered, and cross-dressing friends pose as entrants. Hilarity supposedly ensues, but the humor is infantile. When Lucy complains that she never got to attend a cotillion, one of her dads replies, "We wanted you to come out, but not like that." And that's one of the funnier lines.

As the horn dog of a preacher, Anne Laffoon, in a cross-gendered role, at least delivers her lines with assurance and style, which is more than can be said for the majority of the unprepared cast. They have my sympathies.

Presented by LaGoDi as part of the New York International Fringe Festival at the 4th Street Theatre, 83 E. Fourth St., NYC. Aug. 18–27. Remaining performances: Fri., Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 20, 8:30 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 25, 2 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 26, 9 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 27, 4 p.m. (866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.com.