The title of the show is “The Fartiste.”
There will now be a brief pause; the review will resume after you’ve stopped tittering.
All right then. You may be surprised to learn that this is the strange but true story of the famous flatulist, or professional farter, Joseph Pujol (1857-1945), who for years was the most popular entertainer in France. Billed as “Le Pétomane,” he was the star attraction at the Moulin Rouge, where the boldface names in his audience included Sigmund Freud. Make of that what you will.
Starring Kevin Kraft as Pujol, “The Fartiste” — by librettist Charlie Schulman and composer Michael Roberts — won for best musical at the 2006 Fringe Festival. Now off-Broadway at Sofia’s Downstairs, you can choose a dining option in the form of a French buffet.
The show depicts Pujol’s rise to fame, in which he performed musical selections and imitations of various sounds by moving air in and out of his body at will. But that’s not enough for the ambitious performer, who says that his goal is “to make art an essential part of the word fart” and who struggles to complete his classical music magnum opus, “Concerto for Wind.”
Happily for those in the audience, Kraft merely mimes his exertions, accompanied by sound effects from the versatile Steven Scott. Also terrific is veteran character actor Nick Wyman as a wisecracking emcee.
The show manages to be both raucously funny and surprisingly touching, dignifying its subject even while providing no small degree of explosive humor. The tuneful score includes such witty numbers as “It’s Only Music,” which advises us that “It’s only music/Who cares where it comes from/It’s only music/Be it lute or drum or bum.”
Not surprisingly, considering the setting, there are plenty of energetic cancan numbers danced by sexy, leggy chorines.
Diminutive artist Toulouse-Lautrec (Herndon Lackey) also makes a brief but memorable appearance.
There’s nothing in this show that’s inappropriate for kids, but be warned: They’ll probably want to try this at home.