“Hip…” “Hop…” “Hip-Hop!” Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion, the 2 driving forces/creators of J.O.B. THe Hip-Hopera open the night at the Stella Adler with this verbal tennis match, rivaling a long heritage of clever word play from the Marx Bros. to Abbot and Costello. As a stand-alone stand-up bit, our introduction to these inventive writer/ performers lights a fuse.

Okay, 5 break-ers, 2 rappers, one R’n’B diva and a scratch DJ remix the Bible: the stories of Job, and Cain and Abel set as an allegory of contemporary corporate life in the music business.

At first glance, it’s a dubious proposition, but the show is clever, smart, inventive, entertaining and expanding, even if you think you don’t like rap. With threads of other styles and genres of music, dance and storytelling, these creators weave a tapestry that engages a broad audience. An operatic battle of good and evil, wrapped convincingly in an energized contemporary culture with musical nods to Prokofiev, Mozart, the Beatles, Bizet and language skills reminiscent of Sondheim.

The omnipresent contributions of the turntables of DJ Creativity and the fluid vocals of Nikkema Taylor hold all the musical parts together. Under the crisp direction of Stefan Novinski and Hassan Christopher (also responsible for the choreography and staging), the gifted dance ensemble/Greek chorus performs in seamless unison yet manages to portray individual personalities in multiple roles. The set and lighting are ingeniously simple and evocative, but the impeccable sound design is the tech foundation that makes the show fly: invisible like the strings on Superman until it’s intentionally front and center (Love the elevator!).

The show momentarily loses it’s narrative focus somewhere about 2 thirds in, but the sheer momentum of the individual performances more than compensates. Pray that Sable’s and Batalion’s creative partnership survives the pressures of their inevitable success.

Like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s earlier genre bending/blending (Jesus Christ Superstar) and Baz Luhrmann’s re-imagining of the cinematic musical zeitgeist (Moulin Rouge) Sable and Batalion have created an entertainment experience difficult to capture in words, a sum much larger than it’s parts. If you like theatre, music, dance, if you like talent displayed in dazzling and combustible performance, see this show.

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