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If it's true, as one environmentally conscious character asserts, that no one's ever written a love song about an economy car, then that goes double for the ubiquitous, pernicious Sports Utility Vehicle. This entertaining musical by Gersh Kuntzman and Marc Dinkin is out to change all that. Beginning with the opening scene inside Behemoth Motor Company—maker of the Deforester, the Defiler and the soon-to-be-unveiled Destroyer, the cast rhapsodizes about the soccer-mom monstrosity with songs like "Bigger is Better" and a wowing set piece "The New Model," sensationally choreographed by Katie Workum. As activist Max Blank fights to expose Behemoth while falling in love, post-collision, with the owner's wife, the story also makes room for a rebellious daughter, a shady sheik and a touching subplot of unrequited love between crash test dummies (who act as the stage crew). Yes, "SUV" grows bulky as its namesake by the end. But with some quicker pacing and a finer edge (the song "How Did Your Oil Get Under Our Sand?" is begging for a riff on the Bush-Saud connection), this satirical baby could be a real clean-burning machine.
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