Cotton Patch Gospel, The

Tom Key has brought his off-Broadway blue-grass musical, Cotton Patch Gospel, back to Dallas Theater Center after a 20-year absence, and the audiences seem as enthralled as ever.

Based on biblical scholar/political activist Clarence Jordan's book, "The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John," the piece was adapted by Tom Key and Russell Treyz. With music by Harry Chapin, Cotton Patch transports the Gospels of Matthew and John to late 20th century Valdosta, Georgia.

Key plays the starring role with boundless energy. He is accompanied by Dallas singer/actress Liz Mikel and six scruffy musicians strumming varied string instruments. Their music is hand-clapping, toe-tapping fun. Mikel is a stand-out who brings sheer talent and delight to her role.

Cotton Patch Gospel is a skewed version of the life and death of Jesus. The manger is transformed into a trailer behind the fully-occupied motel. A TV interview with a farmer who happened on the virgin birth is a dead-on parody of modern news chats with rubes who witness any cataclysmic event.

Some of the songs would be right at home on "Saturday Night Live": "It's Not Easy Growin' Up To Be Jesus, (with no steady job and no girl)," "There Ain't No Busy Signals On The Hot Line to God," and "Spit Ball Me Lord Over The Home Plate of Life." Another humorous shtick has Key relating Jesus' miracle of the loaves and fishes, which morphs into a tale of how he took five boxes of Nabisco's and two cans of sardines and fed 5,000 people.

Finally, we learn that Jesus got lynched by the KKK, but if you know your Bible you know what happens next. The only drawback to Cotton Patch Gospel is its overly long first act of one hour and 20 minutes. A half-hour could easily be cut without losing any of its punch; however, this is a rollicking show worth seeing once.