I could go all ‘critic’ on ‘Shooting Star,’ the ‘revealing new musical’ playing at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles. Written by Florian Klein (known in the gay adult industry as hans Berlin,’ the show is, to be frank, on the bland side, and that is maddening because the gay porn industry is supposed to be scintillating and sexy in and of itself. And since this is a musical, I would have to say that the songs (by Thomas Zaufke with lyrics by Erik Ransom) should really be better. Looking at this on the surface level, it really is a bore.

But thank God the direction by Michael Bello lifts everything up. And the cast, led by Taubert Nadalini (as Taylor Trent) is top notch so the show makes for an enjoyable evening.  Nadalini’s voice soars, even as he sings some pretty insipid lyrics. You don’t care, because he has charm to spare, and has sizzling chemistry with Nathan Mohebi, who plays Jesse Apollo. Bello’s directorial touch is mostly light, probably because he know there’s not much meat to the story (your typical farm boy to porn star tale) that there’s no sense extracting juice from something bone-dry. You will recognize a lot of talent on stage (My fave was Carson Robinette, who plays JR Andrews, ‘America’s Most Famous Bottom’) so everything else will be forgiven. Plus, they all look legitimate-stage ready, so really, what’s the harm? Check pretensions at the door, and I bet you will have an orgasm watching this.