There's a problem, though. People expect too much from a Pudding show. They think it's professional. They think it's Broadway. And compared to the House productions, which are performed either in somebody's closet or on top of a dining room condiment table, it probably seems that way. If you want to be dazzled, go see Godspell with its original cast. If you want to be moved, go see Dick Burton or Larry Olivier. But if you want to have a relaxing evening of shaving cream fight-type fun, go see a Pudding show, any Pudding show. It will set you back as much as a box seat at Fenway for a Red Sox game.

Early reports from my correspondent over at J. Press told me that Overtures was one of the better HPTs in recent years. During the show, rhythmic clapping and the loud murmuring between scenes seemed to confirm this.

The plot was nothing unusual for a Pudding show, where original thought usually takes a back seat to tradition and G-strings. Superspy Carson O'Genick (played by Phil Murphy) is sent on an assignment from the British Intelligence with his one-time lover Natalie Dreste (David Merrill) to explain the link between the discovery of large amounts of opium in the Near East and the desire of the Society for the Prevention of Anglo-Saxon Morality (SPAM) to destroy the British Empire.

Along the way to Constantinople they find that Burton deBusch (James Hanes) is the mastermind behind SPAM's plot to fill the snuff boxes of the British with opium and blow away their entire navy. In the end, thanks to the efforts of O'Genick's fellow travelers, Spasm the Butler (Rich O'Leary) and Ella Mental (Doug Fitch), the scheme is thwarted. (Leavitt and Peirce's sales have dropped sharply since the show opened.)

Although the show's plot improves dramatically in the second act from the pun-fest of the first, it is merely a showcase of the characters and an occasion for the show's 15 musical numbers. The author, Nick Vanderbilt, throws in a few good lines between the songs, though.

Melissa Forethought:

"Here I sit and age like like so much cheese and I Camembert it any longer."

(Natalie with Burton deBusch)

"I love you, Natalie. From the first wedgie to the last I always have."

"But Burton, I'm a liberated woman."

"I don't care if you're occupied."

While Vanderbilt steadied a shaky plot well with puns, it is in the songs that the creative genius of the show lies.

Caroline Franklin's lyrics are mostly marvelous, escaping limitations that render Pudding scripts cliched. While Franklin's lyrics would not have stood a chance on their own, except as clever greeting cards, they are without question the best aspect of Overtures.

Enter Paris K.C. Barclay, who puts Franklin's words to a variety of original tunes without trying to out-cute his collaborator. The score combines a variety of musical eras and styles to succeed on two levels. Not only is almost every song smoothly professional, but taken as a whole, the score represents a comprehensive and a sophisticated satire of musical comedy.

FOR THOSE OF YOU Nat. Sci. majors out there who cannot deal with creativity at any level, the sets and the costumes are incredible.