EDGE Boston

Can you be wide-eyed and wink at the same time? Maybe so. Sandy The Dandy and Charlie McGee!, an odd and oddly appealing (mostly) play, achieves the rare co-existence of pure naive innocence and satire, a dish of sweet ice cream slathered in hot sauce in a time warp with a warped sense of humor. That’s quite a mix, besides my own mixed metaphors. Though it gets a little old and repetitive as its novelty wears off, this show biz saga with risque overtones is as nutty in approach as its dandy title character is natty.

There’s a cartoon fantasy look, with its characters floating in an impervious bubbles over the ugly realities of life. But bubbles burst. We meet Sandy in actual bubbles in his bubble bath (no, it’s NOT one of the Fringe shows with nudity, so that’s not what we’re leading into; these characters are bare emotionally in their way, however. And besides, the other lead character of Charlie, Sandy’s newly-met friend/assistant/ward/sidekick/maybe crush, is a young man/boy played by a female, so nudity could be a challenge there.)

After Sandy emerges from the bath, he dresses up in his spiffy old-fashioned clothes, replete with spats, and sets out to audition and take New York by storm in an old- fashioned, vaudevillian kind of way. He thinks. His "glamorous" gig is in many performances a day of a corporate-sponsored show for little girls as they buy their pricey, popular upscale fashionable dolls, the U.S.A. Lady Doll group of high-fashion cuties with life histories. Of course there’s NO relation to the currently popular craze American Girl Dolls and their live shows, even though dashing Mat Sanders, slyly and cunningly playing Sandy, is the co-writer, having spent a year performing in the American Doll Revue and leading a protest against their treatment of workers.

Sandy gets tips on what producers are looking for from Charlie, the doll-clutching, giggly boy lingering nearby, wearing a big smile and platinum blonde Buster Brown haircut (wig) and shorts. That role is played energetically and with focus by co-writer and producer Guerrin Gardner. Soon they’re pals, confidants: a truly odd couple, living together. This saves Charlie from working the streets --selling flowers, that is -- though apparently he has also posed naked for photos as a sweet young thing called Peach Bottom. But he doesn’t seem to get the implications of this raunchy photo shoot and remains waif-like, singing bits of "Who Will Buy" from the Broadway hit musical, "Oliver!" Other music here is original (by Ryland Blackinton), appropriately and entertainingly aping the razzle dazzle of perky vaudeville energy and old-era sensibilities.

Along the way, there are protesters picketing the doll business’s unfair labor practices, but our babes in the woods think they are fans. Everyone encountered is a potential helpful pal, even in the big, cruel city, with its cardboard cut-out taxis and simplified skyline with rows of theatre lights. Sandy and/or Charlie, at many points, see the world through the most rosy rose-colored glasses ever invented. (Oh, what we’d give to have their optician!)

The enemy -- harsh reality -- reveals its ugly head here and there, sometimes making us sad, other times for laughs, other times wistfully so. There are mentions of leather daddies, sex, losing a job and losing hope. After all, the full title is "Sandy The Dandy and Charlie McGee!: A Case Study In Harsh Realities." But until it starts to feel like we’re running out of steam and things run their course (a second half shift in tone or plot twist would help a lot), it’s endearingly, queeringly, cheeringlyly fun. Director Stephen Bracket maintains the quaint song and dance and snazzy sensibilities with a rare balancing act.

Performed at the Fringe Festival ($15) but expect performances at other venues. This is a potential cult hit. It ends its Fringe run Sat 8/23 at 3 pm at Spiegelworld in South Street Seaport. See www.toomuchery.com for video preview and info. Fringe info and shows coming to the Best-Of Fringe extension will be at: www.Frigenyc.org