Off-off Broad ‘Grey’








They promise a spanking good show.

A musical spoofing the spicy bondage romance novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” is set to hit a Manhattan theater this week — featuring singing, dancing and plenty of sexual innuendo.

The show, “50 Shades! The Musical,” will be performed Friday and Saturday at the Gramercy Theater, with tickets going for $50 to $60 a pop.

“It winks at the novel — but there’s some sexiness, too,” said director Albert Samuels. “It’s a super-fun time.”

The sassy singing comedy features a live band performing raunchy original numbers, such as “They Get Nasty,” “I Don’t Make Love, I “F#*!” and “There’s a Hole Inside of Me.”





WHIP IT GOOD: Actors in the stage lark “50 Shades! The Musical.”


WHIP IT GOOD: Actors in the stage lark “50 Shades! The Musical.”





The opening scene centers on a middle-aged ladies’ book group, then plunges, like a cougar’s neckline, into sketches making fun of the erotic, best-selling novel.

The audience gets a peek at the steamy book through the eyes of the women reading it — with an absurdist twist.

For example, the book’s dashing stud, Christian, has a beer belly in the show. And the smart and sexy ingenue, Ana, is a bit of an airhead.

Created by the musical improv comedy troupe Baby Wants Candy, the show features a lively score and 11 original songs.

The musical was a hit last month in Chicago, where it drew long lines at that city’s Apollo Theater, despite its next-to-nothing advertising budget, and earned the praise of the Chicago Tribune’s theater critic.

The show also ran at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

The book it spoofs, E.L. James’ 2011 novel “Fifty Shades of Grey,” is about a college girl’s boundary-pushing affair with a wealthy, older entrepreneur.

The book became controversial for its “soft sadomasochistic” sex scenes — think rooms full of whips — and has been banned in three US libraries.

Several blogs, magazines and newspapers, including The Sun of London, have dubbed it “mommy porn.”

The novel has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide and inspired a literary parody titled, “Fifty Sheds of Grey,” in which a garden-shed-owning husband is “thrust into a world of pleasure” by his erotic-novel-reading wife.

The new play, its creators say, is best suited for audience members over the age of 18 because of its adult themes.

Still, it won’t make the average theatergoer squirm, Samuels said.

He promised that everyone in the show keeps their clothes on — which is more than the book can say. “It’s just packed with innuendo,” he said.

The book is also set to become a feature-length film, produced by Universal Pictures, this year.

noneill@nypost.com










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