"Bat Boy: The Musical" is an oddity, much like its tabloid-spawned title character. It's dark but funny, a farce but also a morality tale. And when staged correctly, it's a perfect summer show, with heaps of hipster irony and a hummable score. The Jewish Community Center's production doesn't nail it, but it still provides an entertaining excuse to spend two-plus hours in an air-conditioned cave (as Bat Boy himself would no doubt prefer).

"Bat Boy: The Musical" is loosely based on the character featured in the soon-to-be-cancelled Weekly World News (see Fiz, page 5). The musical is set in the tiny town of Hope Falls, West Virginia, and picks up with three redneck siblings exploring a deep, dark cave. There they discover the legendary Bat Boy, a feral humanoid with bat ears and fangs. After attacking one of the kids, he's carted to the surface. Eventually he's left in the care of the town's veterinarian, Dr. Parker, and his family, which includes chipper housewife Meredith and bratty teen daughter Shelley.

The town wants the doc to put the thing down, but his wife won't let him. Instead she becomes Henry Higgins to Bat Boy's Eliza Doolittle, and by the end of Act I the creature has gone from screeching in a cage to wearing khakis, serving tea, and singing operatic pleas for acceptance. The townspeople are less than sympathetic, since something's killing off their cows, and a blood-sucking Bat Boy makes for an excellent scapegoat.

By Act II, Bat Boy's origins and his reputation come into question, and the show descends into near Greek tragedy. That's the beauty part of "Bat Boy" - it's a marriage of high and low culture. Not that the writers would likely take credit for anything that twee; the show is clearly intended to mock theater conventions, even as it uses them to hilarious effect.

The JCC's staging is notable for a couple of reasons. First, the set is pretty fantastic. The choice to make the main set Bat Boy's cave - ranges of huge stalactites hang from the ceiling, and rocky outcroppings create steps on either side of the stage - is curious, since so little of the action takes place there. But that set transforms swiftly into the Parkers' living room, the town slaughterhouse, and even a Southern revival tent fairly successfully.

Second, the show is cast exclusively with high-school and college students. Since the characters range from teenaged to middle-aged, that creates some slightly confusing scenarios, but most are easily overlooked. But a young cast in a play with some fairly adult themes and some (believe it or not) sophisticated humor can be tricky. A few of the actors had trouble the night I attended, especially in the rocky first act. But the leads acquitted themselves nicely.

Matt Wegman puts his training from Nazareth's musical-theater department to good use as Bat Boy himself; he's got a gorgeous, clear tenor voice and takes what could be a hammy role and plays it with surprising restraint. As Mrs. Parker, college senior Maggie Griffin-Smith has a voice perfectly suited for Broadway (although a tip: when you're heavily mic'ed, watch those power notes, which can easily turn shrill). And she has stage presence beyond her years. Boston Conservatory student Becca Pesce makes a believable transformation from snotty brat to romantic lead while playing Shelley. And Trevor Bachman (no biographical information given) ably holds up his side of the bargain with strong dramatic and comic chops. And then there's Pittsford Mendon senior Rey Deguzman, who absolutely slays it as the high-kicking Reverend Hightower. This is one kid to watch.

Opening night featured frequent sound problems, with mics not switching fast enough during group numbers and general over-amplifying during solo numbers. The group numbers were also problematic: the opening song, the designed-to-be-rousing "Hold Me, Bat Boy" felt oddly lethargic, as did several others.

But for fans of the absurd, the sublime, and the oddly touching, "Bat Boy" is a show worth catching. Just know what you're getting into first, as several theatergoers looked utterly perplexed by the weirdness they were watching opening night. The Weekly World News would be proud.

"Bat Boy: The Musical" | Through August 5 | Jewish Community Center, 1200 Edgewood Avenue | $15-$22 | 461-2000, x235, www.jccrochester.org.