Fearless, joyous, reptilian

Diversionary Theatre ushers in its 31st season with the San Diego premiere of Justin Huertas’s “comic book musical fantasy.”

Mt. St. Helens erupts and drama ensues. A dragon emerged from the lava. Its blood spews onto a group of schoolchildren. Trevor was one of the five infected. Justin Huertas plays the eponymous Trevor, a young man coping with his monstrosity. His skin is now green, scaly.

Trevor lives in self-imposed exile in his Seattle apartment. He draws and writes songs. One day a year, he returns to society and doesn’t have to worry about his skin. The occasion? MonsterFest at the Crocodile.

The talented Huertas not only “doubles” in this production. He septuples. He acts, sings, wrote the book and lyrics, plays cello, did the projections, and commands in this lively role. He created Lizard Boy because of the feeling of being left out. “I came into my acting career post-college,” he says in a note, “thinking I only have a shot at being cast as the quirky best friend or the plucky sidekick, but never the hero.”

Trevor is the hero in Huertas’s re-envisioning. Trevor’s sidekick Cary (William A. Williams) is a homely young guy he met on Grindr. After their initial meetings and faulty sexual come-ons, they are merely pals, despite the fact that the mobile phone app they met on is famous for gay hookups. “We met on my phone,” they admit, “but don’t have to bone.”

Trevor invited Carey to join him at the Crocodile and encourages him to don something for the Halloween-like MonsterFest. Carey dresses as an overgrown baby, replete with pajamas, massive pacifier, and fluffy slippers. Siren (Kirsten delohr Helland) wears red-hot tights, yellow-orange fur jacket, and dangerous stilettos. Like her Homeric namesakes, her songs enchant the young men. And Trevor recognizes her: a figure appearing in his dreams. He even sketched her. She’s one of the five with dragon’s blood. They must make a life-changing choice together.

The Diversionary production team deserves kudos for bringing this unconventional story to life. From the simple set design (Ron Logan) and the impeccable projections, to the pitch-perfect sounds (Matt Lescault-Wood), and the audience favorite strobe-lighting, slo-mo effect à la The Matrix (Curtis Mueller) everything goes off without a hitch. Cheers to Brandon Ivie for his superb direction.

“Pretending to be a curio,” Mary McCarthy wrote of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pale Fire, “it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century.” To apply this statement to Lizard Boy would be hyperbolic. But this coming-of-age, coming-out, indie-folksy rock-comic-book-infused musical is a sure sign that the American musical is as novelistic, vibrant, fearless, and joyous as ever.

Playing through October 30