First Night This ludicrous, bawdy trash fest isn’t the pile-up that was expected

Brimming with powerhouse vocals, tawdry razzmatazz and in-jokey sentiment, this musical — extrapolated by Steven Antin from his silly 2010 film in which Christina Aguilera's small-town Ali becomes a star in the neo-burlesque club run by Cher’s imperious Tess — is also kind of fun.

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There’s self-aware snap in the daft dialogue, energetic choreography and the songs — by Aguilera, Sia, Diane Warren and lead performers Jess Folley and Todrick Hall — are either great or mercifully short. I'd take this paean to self-empowerment through wiggling around in complicated underwear over many recent stage adaptations, from Mean Girls to Clueless. Which is a surprise, because in advance this looked like a sequin-studded, gusset-flashing car crash.

Hall, a YouTuber and rapper who's appeared on American Idol and The Masked Singer as well as on Broadway, wrote 18 and a half of the show's daunting 25 songs (not to mention reprises). He plays Sean, the fabulously camp consigliere to club owner Tess (NY performer Orfeh, a mixture of Debbie Harry, Dolly Parton and Ethel Merman, apparently formed in a wind tunnel).