While it feels a bit like an Afterschool TV Special, Saturday Church, the new Off-Broadway musical celebrating LGBTQ youth, is fun, infectious, and lively, and could very well follow the path of Rent, another New York Theater Workshop production, and make a Broadway transfer. The story is achingly familiar, but there is so much joy here, the predictability of the plot really doesn’t matter.

Based on the 2017 independent film with a cliched but compassionate book by the film’s screenwriter Damon Cardasis and Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames (Fat Ham), Saturday Church employs the tried-and-true trope of an alienated outsider kid finding self-acceptance and community and delivers enough zest and zip to overcome its flaws. African-American teen Ulysses (a vibrant Bryson Battle) longs to join his church choir, but his starchy Aunt Rose (intense Joaquina Kalukango) forbids it, claiming his flamboyant mannerisms are “too much” for the congregation. At home, Ulysses is dealing with the recent death of his loving dad and the frequent absence of his hard-working mom Amara (tender, conflicted Kristolyn Lloyd), struggling to make ends meet as a nurse.

In a parallel story, Ebony (a sizzling and buoyant B Noel Thomas) is grieving the suicide of her friend Sasha and feeling overwhelmed as the organizer of Saturday Church, a weekly gathering for trans and gay youth who are experiencing little if any family support. Serving as a sort of supernatural narrator is Black Jesus (played with sparkling panache by J. Harrison Ghee), a fabulous non-binary deity figure. In a clever case of double casting, Ghee also plays the conservative pastor of Ulysses’ church. Ghee was so convincing in both roles, I didn’t realize it was the same performer until the intermission when I checked the program.

Naturally, Ulysses finds his way to Ebony’s support group, gains a boyfriend (energetic Jackson Kanawha Perry), reconciles with his biological family, gains strength from his found one, and the two diverse worlds are united in an explosive ballroom finale. You can figure out the ending ten minutes into the show, but the positivity and frothy fun keep you watching and engaged. The cast, which also includes Anania and Caleb Quezon as two of Ebony’s spicy, sassy girlfriends and fellow organizers of the LGBTQ center, are uniformly three-dimensional. They make you care about the characters and root for them as they overcome obstacles, even though their triumphs may feel manufactured and too easily gained.

The score by pop star Sia (additional music by Honey Dijon and additional lyrics by Cardasis and Ijames) combines r&b, gospel, hip-hop, and rap in a delightfully blended brew. Whitney White’s direction moves at a snappy clip and the scenes flow easily, thanks to David Zinn’s flexible set and Adam Honore’s versatile lighting which alternates rock-concert effects with naturalistic moods. Qween Jean’s costumes are dazzling and inventive, especially in the final ballroom sequence. Like Rent, Saturday Church is rebellious and exuberant, capturing its moment perfectly, if a trifle predictably.

Another Off-Broadway offering also centers on a gay hero seeking his place in the sun, but Darrah Cloud’s House of McQueen lacks the heart and spark of Saturday Church. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen was a trailblazer, smashing traditional notions of beauty and setting catwalks on fire with his unusual creations. But you’d never know it from Cloud’s pedestrian treatment. We ricochet back and forth through McQueen’s brief, dazzling life and career, not learning much about his interior struggles apart from some surface psychoanalyzing. He had a supportive mother, an embarrassed father, and apparently was sexually abused by his older sister’s thuggish boyfriend. Overindulging in drugs and alcohol, he rocketed to the top of his profession, creating collections for Givenchy and Gucci and his own label, but crashed landed when he committed suicide at age 40.

What inner demons drove him to such a violent end are not really touched upon, let alone explored. As the anguished designer, Luke Newton of Bridgerton fame does his level best to add depth but Cloud has provided little material with which he can work. We get to know McQueen’s patron and muse Isabella Blow (multilayered Catherine LeFrere) and his loving mother (warm Emily Skinner) much better.

There’s a lot of talk about how stunning McQueen’s designs are, but we see very little of them onstage. There are only see brief video clips of his revolutionary creations (Brad Peterson’s video design is too fast and frenetic to have any impact) and Kaye Voyce’s costume designs only hint at McQueen’s dashing innovations. Sam Helfrich’s scattered direction is often too gimmicky. Too much of the time, it’s not clear where we are or what’s going on as Cloud skips back and forth in time and locale. At one point, there’s a confusing, overlong sequence where all the characters in McQueen’s life are contestants in a bizarre dance marathon, switching partners and explaining their motivations.

Fortunately there is an exhibit of McQueen’s dresses in the lobby. Unfortunately, they’re a lot more interesting and arresting than the play itself.

During this week of Off-Broadway theatergoing, I was able to catch up with Jamie Allan’s magic show Amaze! at New World Stages. This intimate experience lives up to its name with a plethora of astonishing feats of legerdemain and illusion. Incorporating tales of his childhood in England with performing parents and 21-century technology, including a trick involving the entire audience using their iPhones, Allan’s show is a diverting delight for all ages. Like the hero of Saturday Church, Allan found his unique talents and joyfully shares them with us.

Saturday Church: Sept. 19—Oct. 12. New York Theater Workshop, 79 E. 4th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. nytw.org.

House of McQueen: Sept. 9—Nov. 2. The Mansion at Hudson Yards, 508 W. 37th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. thehouseofmcqueen.com.

Jamie Allan’s Amaze: Playing through Feb. 22, 2026. New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., NYC. running time: two hours including intermission. amazemagic.com.