Christopher Gattelli, who directs and choreographs, also set the dances on the cast of the Off-Broadway original in 2005. Gattelli is back home for this one - he's a Bristol native.

Gary Adler, who along with Michael Patrick Walker cowrote the show's perfectly suited music and often-funny lyrics, is musical director and chief keyboardist of the spunky four-piece band. Adler's back home, too, in a way; his musical directing career began almost 20 years ago at Bristol Riverside.

Their production - with five of the hardest-working guys you'll see on a Philadelphia-area stage right now - illustrates how one script, in the hands of two distinct creative teams, can be two different shows. Bristol's is the second Altar Boyz production here this season; the first was Peter Reynolds' holiday production at Media Theatre. They are the same show, on two planets.

Altar Boyz is, charmingly, two spoofs in one: By presenting itself as a Christian boy-band concert, it skewers both religion and boy-bands. At Media, that lampooning was serious business; the boy band could've been real, and as the five singers developed into individual characters, the production held funny, fulfilling surprises.

In Bristol's version, the five come on as outright caricatures; compared with Media's, it's like watching a cartoon version of the show. The most obvious example is the singer Mark in the ensemble, whose other members are Matthew, Luke, the Latino Juan, and the stray Jewish boy, Abraham.

At Media, Mark was flashy and believable for a Christian boy-band member; when he revealed himself as gay (in one of the show's most lyrical songs), it was as funny as it was meaningful. In Bristol, Mark (John Pinto Jr.) is swishy from the beginning - a gay guy in a boy band rather than a boy-band singer who happens to be gay.

It's a whole different approach and yields different kinds of laughs. I much prefer the deeper yuks the Media show elicited. Still, on whatever plane they view Altar Boyz, members of the Bristol audience will enjoy it for sure. How can they not, when Pinto and the others - Matt DeAngelis as the group leader, Travis Morin as the bad boy, Xavier Cano as the one saved by Tijuana nuns, and Jonathan Fadoul as the token Jew among Roman Catholics - are such good dancers and make such beatific harmony?

Now, if only someone could get Douglas Campbell, as the voice of God, to be more understandable. That strange accent and the muddy sound design that accompanies his vocal appearance? Hardly divine.

Altar Boyz

Through May 31 at Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol.

Tickets: $34-$42. Information: 215-785-0100 or www.brtstage.org.