NEW YORK, NY — A cappella is on the rise and hotter than ever in the world of legitimate theatre. No sooner does Toxic Audio’s smash off-Broadway hit “Loudmouth” leave New York for Vegas, then the New York Fringe Festival unleashes two spectacular a cappella works: The LaGreca brothers’ “Minimum Wage: Blue Code Ringo” and The Essentials’ “Perfect Harmony”.

These two new shows share a lot in common. Both are built on years of improvisation. Both are filled with first-rate a cappella singing and both put characters first. For these authors, a cappella is a means to a storytelling end. Of course, a cappella itself is part of the story. But no one would confuse either show for an a cappella concert.

“Perfect Harmony” turns the spotlight more directly on the a cappella experience itself, specifically the high school experience. Andrew Grosso and various members of a cappella group, “The Essentials”, have written a theatrical mockumentary. To get a sense of the style, imagine a Christopher Guest movie like “Best In Show” or “This Is Spinal Tap”. Through a series of silly scenes, silly monologues and so-dead-serious-they’re-funny songs, we are welcomed to the “high stakes” world of private prep school a cappella.

The school’s psychologist Dr. Larry Mergh sets the mood early: “A cappella is a cult of pressure and perfection. A hungry beast, and now it’s claiming its victims.” The school’s two groups, the “Acafellas” and the “Ladies in Red” know it all too well as they grapple with these questions:

Lassiter A. Jayson III: “You have 200 people who you are singing to and, you have to ask yourself, what do you want them to take away from the experience?”

Melody: “If God didn’t want us to dance then why did God put [the a cappella] Nationals on MTV2, the very network that started The Grind?” “

Goran Dhiardeaubovic “You can have many instrument easy- for why you no use them, stupid?”

Meghan: “How are you ever gonna let the audience at Nationals watch you if you can’t have Christ watch you?”

Philip: “Be totally honest: who likes the songs better when we sing them normally, without the bullwhip and trash can and cantaloupe”

If questions like these don’t hook you into the show, try the allure of zany foreigners, the meaning of art, Jesus’ helpful suggestions on winning the big competition, when to take drugs or join a boyband, how to accommodate family feuds and lockjaw into competitive a cappella – questions I think we all need answered.

One more quote sums up why a cappella makes for such compelling subject matter:

Simon: “Music is how we express the love we have inside when just words or hugs or backrubs won’t cut the mustard”

Ain’t that the truth?“Perfect Harmony” will run as part of the Fringe NYC Encore Series, September 21-24.