The show is set up as a term paper for frustrated student Shannon Fitzpatrick who, with some witty dialogue and body language, describes her bad luck to fellow student Richard Mayer of having to write a report on some guy nobody has ever heard of before – George Gershwin. But as her research begins to shed light on this “nobody,” we see his extensive, varied, and groundbreaking musical works performed in imaginative and sidesplitting skits. To briefly describe a few of the highlights:

* Sarah Vincelett and young Chelsea Vexland take turns singing gorgeous and haunting renditions of Summertime from what has been described as the first American opera – Porgy and Bess. Later Lance Odom amuses as he annoys everyone in the town as a slippery out-of-towner in It Ain’t Necessarily So.

* Male models get treated like so many pieces of meat as a group of girls pick their favorites in Boy Wanted.

* The debonair Brandon Pohl smoothly sings and dances his way up the Stairway to Paradise.

* Derek Maples claims that he’s “the chappy to make you happy” in the amusing little ditty Could You Use Me with Marla Worm.

* A hilarious scene in which a mugger (Jessie Pfost) is reduced to tears when, during a routine mugging, the young couple he mugs (Landon Holder and Katelyn Bruggemma) begins romantically singing They Can’t Take That Away from Me to each other.

* Amazing dancing by Michelle Routhieaux choreographed by Youth Summerstock alum Chrissy Burns brings to life Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Despite sound problems the night I went, in which the music kept going completely out for several seconds at a time, Michelle and the cast somehow never lost or missed a step.

* A whimsical beauty contest to the tune of Treat Me Rough is filled with great tapping and featuring such contestants as Miss Spelling, Miss Take, and the disappointed runner-up named Miss Also Ran. Sarah Vincelett takes the crown and gives her very articulate and precise acceptance speech about what she’s looking for in a man, Blah Blah Blah.

* In the most hysterical scene of the evening, the male ensemble demonstrate they have Love for Sale with screamingly funny choreography by Barry Bosworth that has the guys doing a Rockette kickline, and a bubbling fountain, and all manner of “graceful” ballet moves (that includes an assisted pirouette as one guy sticks his leg out and a couple others use it spin him around).

* And finally the entire ensemble comes together for the toe-tappin’ I Got Rhythm finale led by researcher Shannon Fitzpatrick who decides to present her research report to the class in a way that would have made George proud.