`EGYPT' IS ONE STRANGE PLACE TO BE.

Byline: - Evan Henerson

It's the age-old story: Tourette's Syndrome-afflicted war veteran boy meets suicidal misfit girl. Tourette's Syndrome-afflicted war veteran boy loses suicidal misfit girl. You can fill in the rest.

The six-character (three couples) musical ``Little Egypt'' by Lynn Siefert and Gregg Lee Henry boasts a very interesting score, some nice singing and some that isn't so nice. And the character played by French Stewart out-oddballs anything he did playing the dim-bulb alien on ``3rd Rock From the Sun.'' With one exception, this group of oddballs would rarely talk or sing about the kinds of things Siefert and Henry have them singing and talking about.

Still, with all its dark daffiness, the play has a way of growing on you. Henry, who wrote the music and lyrics and also plays a songwriter in the production, and actress Sara Rue are decidedly ones to watch, while Stewart is kind of impossible not to watch.

Stewart plays a mall security guard named Victor who lives in the back of an abandoned garage in Cairo, Ill. The year is 1982. Best friend Watson (played by Henry) has a penchant for losing jobs and sponging off Victor.

The return of brainy but odd Celeste Waltz (Rue) befuddles both her sister Bernadette (Misty Cotton) and their mother, Faye (Jenny O'Hare), both of whom are waitresses at the local pancake restaurant. After a double date with Victor and Watson, sparks fly. Celeste (Rue) ends up moving in with Stewart's Victor, and Watson with Bernadette. Faye also takes a lover: the town mayor Hugh (John Apicella).

It turns out that a tortured soul like Victor, who can't lie down without having horrific war images pop into his head, might be good company for a socially maladroit lass like Celeste. Despite vocal tics and the wildly inappropriate remarks (Stewart's speech patterns veer between Tourette's and acid reflux), the two are a match.

Rue's equally peculiar Celeste -- she's looking for ``proof of the extended world'' -- is a little easier to get behind. Owlishly attractive behind granny glasses and unflattering costumes (Vicki Sanchez knows her '80s), the actress sings beautifully and forces neither Celeste's kookiness nor the character's loneliness. And watching her nearly self-destruct in spike heels during Bernadette's number ``Hey Einstein'' is a comic feast.

The songs: They're witty, brainy and meandering, wandering off into strange, overly erudite passages of self-reflection. Celeste and Victor do most of the vocal heavy lifting, although musical theater pro Cotton has a lovely sad number called ``These Shoes.''

Music director Robert Martin, his band located behind the wall of Victor's domicile, can really kick it.

``Little Egypt'' is long and offbeat from start to finish, but original it certainly is.

LITTLE EGYPT - Three and one half stars

Where: Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through June 11.

Tickets: $30 to $35. [phone].

In a nutshell: The score doesn't fit the musical, and these people are very strange. But an enjoyable time can still be had.