'JUNK' PERFECT FOR GLOOM-LOVERS FOR THE REST OF US, NOT SO MUCH.

Byline: EVAN HENERSON

>THEATER CRITIC

The future looks mighty grim. In a couple of ways.

Within the world of the play, certainly. How else would the unhappy denizens of "Junk: a Rock Opera" justify their need to escape this L.A.- like mecca, their need to sing, "There must be more to life than this. There must be something I have missed," at every opportunity? What's a futuristically set musical without a healthy dose of bleakness?

Unfortunately, the view from the audience at the Lyric Theatre -- where "Junk" recently opened a six-week run -- isn't any rosier. Anticipating a future of lazy, derivative, sung-through musicals, no matter how congenial the rock score, is no audience's good time. Scored by the band Brainpool from a concept album and adapted for the stage by Shakina Nayfack, "Junk" is as corny as it is incomprehensible.

Thank merciful heavens, at least, for program synopses (they do this for real operas, too), without which we wouldn't know what in the name of flotsam and jetsam these "Junk"-sters are doing -- or why. That they're largely unhappy and are forced to wear some really ugly clothing (please may the future spare us from Miguel Barragan's hot orange and green spandex partywear!) is apparent.

We have Anna (played by Natalya Oliver), a secretary who wants to headline at the last working club but learns that the path to said goal requires sleeping with the CEO of megalopolis Junk Inc. (Michael Edwin Stuart). This is unfortunate, because Anna returns the love of sensitive janitor Max (Daniel Guzman), who wants nothing more than to escape.

Also present (we're still getting this from the program, you understand) are a couple of lower-level execs, Martina (Niketa Calame) and Hannes (Kam Talbert), who would both like to move up in the corporate world of Junk Inc., but aren't necessarily willing to claw their way over corpses to do so.

Let us not forget Kioko (Aldo Jose Puccini), a sushi chef-cum-

Madama Butterfly drag queen who commits ritual seppuku in the opening scene and returns as a benevolent spirit to guide/

inspire Anna the rest of the way. Kioko's death inspires the opening number, titled, "How to Find a Decent Sushi Bar." Honest to Pete, folks, I wish I were making this up.

Costumes and makeup excepted (the CEO sports a tan that leaves bare his eyes, making him look positively raccoonish), the 100-minute production is largely playing its gloomy scenario straight ahead rather than looking for spoof opportunities. More than a few people do, however, get to enact toilet-

tissue dispensers, and during Hannes' song "Designer Dreams," Jonathan Corps, the company's strongest dancer, has a quirky comic turn as Talbert's dance double.

The band is not overly loud, and the performers are miked, but the sung dialogue still isn't easy to follow. Musical director/keyboardist Zachary Provost leads the band though Brainpool's synthesizer-heavy, poppish score. There are a couple of upbeat gems in there, most notably -- and appropriately -- the two songs with the word "Junk" in the title.

None of the players are exactly boffo singers, although Stuart tears into his "I am sleaze, hear me ooze" anthems with appropriate fury.

You do wish these Junk-a-vites would get to a happier place, somewhere where they don't have to endure black lighting and wear milk crates on their heads while dancing. Ah, well, we can dream anyway.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

JUNK: A ROCK OPERA - Two stars

>Where: Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles.

>When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; through Sept. 30.

>How much: $40. [phone], www.lyrictheatrela.com.

>In a nutshell: Aptly titled.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

"Junk: A Rock Opera" isn't too loud -- or intelligible -- in its staging at L.A.'s Lyric Theatre. But the show, based on the music of the band Brainpool, does have its moments of upbeat clarity.