The "Altar Boyz" made a joyful noise at Southern Rep this weekend in FourFront Theatre's local premiere of the spoofy, pop-infused show about a fictitious Christian boy band.

Director Gary Rucker and co-director and choreographer Kelly Fouchi have the tough assignment of making this trifle of a show sing and dance like an MTV music video -- with all the bumps, grinds, machismo and hip-hop steps synonymous with the boy band craze of a few years ago.

Happily, they've more than succeeded.

Unlike a music video with its quick camera work (and multiple takes), or a big stadium tour where the audience practically expects that the main attraction will lip-sync, the five young men sing and dance for 90 minutes to the cardio-pounding rhythms from the top-notch band that's led by Jefferson Turner.

The satirical show, which was a hit off-Broadway beginning in 2005, is set during the final concert of the Altar Boyz world tour, complete with roadies, electric drum kits, Gary Solomon's state-of-the-art motion lighting and costume designer Laura Faye Sirkin-Brown's contemporary urban duds.

Audience members will recognize the heart-throb archetypes found in any boy band: Matthew (William Bryant) is the pretty one, the leader of the group. Luke (P.J. McKinnie) is the bad-boy rhymer with exhaustion issues.

Juan (James St. Juniors) is the Latino ladies' man. Mark (Brian Falgoust) is the sassy Clay Aiken type, and Abraham (Keith Claverie) is the incidentally Jewish member, who writes the Boyz' sensitive lyrics.

But what's surprising is the smoothness, precision and unity these guys present onstage: complex, funny parodies that look so effortless. The score by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker is catchy and true to the music it spoofs (think *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and New Kids on the Block.) And each boy gets his moment to win the audience's heart - Matthew crooning to that special girl plucked from the audience ("Girl, you make me want to wait") or Mark extolling his fabulous Catholic pride ("I am a Catholic, hear me roar!")

Even with a seriously inconsequential plot, Rucker and company have sufficiently mined the script for humor, and besides, the whole is greater than the sum of its (dramaturgical) parts. I had a difficult time hearing several quick lyrics, and wished the boys' vocals to be a little louder at times, but sound is sometimes a wild-card with musicals, particularly ones so amped-up.

The show is a crowd-pleaser, but if you're not lucky enough to snag one of the remaining tickets to its run at Southern Rep, rumor has it that "Altar Boyz" may announce additional "tour dates" at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre in May.

ALTAR BOYZ

• What: A musical spoof about a fictitious Christian boy band, starring William Bryant, Keith Claverie, Brian Falgoust, James St. Juniors, and P.J. McKinnie.
• When: Final performancs Tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.
• Where: Southern Rep, third floor, The Shops at Canal Place.
• Tickets: $20, 504.522.6545 or www.southernrep.com.