Members of the Acafellas: Benjamin Huber, Scott Janes, Sean Dugan, Clayton Agpar, Vayu O’Donnell (Photo by Jim Baldassare)

Anyone who has ever participated in team activities in high school knows all about the passion associated with competitions. Perfect Harmony, created by New York City-based theater company The Essentials takes a high school a cappella championship and turns it into winning comedy and drama.

The show, written and directed by Andrew Grosso and developed with the current and previous casts, mixes camp, sentimentality and sincerity in a surprisingly effective manner, leaving this reviewer happily puzzled about why she enjoyed the production so very much. Let’s call it a thumbs-up with a big smile and a shrug.

Perfect Harmony is about two competing vocal groups, the all-male Acafellas, intent on maintaining its long winning streak; and The Ladies in Red, a girl group trying to break its series of losses. What makes the show so wacky is the various characters who comprise both groups.

The pitchpipe, or leader, of the Acafellas is Lassiter A Jayson III (Vayu O’Donnell), who gives us the essentials of his character in one of his opening monologues: “My father was one of the Acafellas and my grandfather was one of the Acafounders. My father and grandfather were both pitchpipes. And now I have been too. And when I have a son, I hope he will have been too as well someday.” Lassiter wants to bring artistic integrity to the group.

Philip Fellowes V (Benjamin Huber) is the son of Philip Fellowes the IV. He actually would have been Philip Fellowes the V if he had not had a falling out with his own father (a co-founder of the Acafellas), resulting in his eliminating his father from the line and taking his place.

The father-son falling out was caused by Philip’s father discovering the “close””relationship between Philip’s grandfather and Lassiter’s grandfather. As a result of this past conflict, Philip V has sworn never to speak to Lassiter III, and they communicate through whichever member of the band is most handy at the moment. Philip has two goals: to win the nationals and to bring back the group’s original name, Acafellows. Jasper (Clayton Apgar) is mute, except when he is singing; and JB Smooter is a former football player with a foul mouth and a great body. Simone Depardieu (Sean Dugan), the newest group member, whose painful and hilarious audition the audience witnesses, suffers from canker sores and TMJ. He wears a retainer, takes Valium and is soothed by his mother’s backrubs.

Melody McDaniels (Dana Acheson), the leader of The Ladies in Red, is a minor dictator who brooks no discussion and no disagreement. She camouflages her ruthlessness in sweet words and small acts of kindness.

Valerie Smooter (Margie Stokley), JB’s sister, has perfect pitch but cannot bear the thought that people are watching her. She has just recovered from a major breakdown.

Meghan Beans (Amy Rutberg) is an oversexed religious fanatic, who wants to be the center of attention and, in a side-splitting scene, tries to comfort Valerie with the knowledge that God is always watching her.

Michaela Dhiardeaubovic, (Kathy Searle) also known as Mickey D, sang in her brother’s band in their native Herzegovina. She came to America with her brother after her parents “get, how you say, eaten by tractor?” She has two problems: figuring out what’s going on and remembering lyrics. < Kerri Taylor (Nisi Sturgis), the group manger, has a condition that sounds a lot like Tourette’s but is described by her mother as having a mind that “just decides to, you know, take a look around. Fuck you in the skull.”

Inter-group rivalries threaten to destroy both the Acafellas and The Ladies in Red. The Acafellas are split by a positive drug test (estrogen in their combined urine). Romance blooms. Friendship is abandoned and rediscovered. All of which is punctuated by the harmonious singing of the two groups.

Stadium risers, a few projections and Becky Lasky’s age and character inflected clothing are all that are necessary to support this dynamic cast (many of whom also double as minor characters: the school psychologist, a talent executive, etc.).

Perfect Harmony is young, exuberant, over-the-top, and at times, unexpectedly moving. There’s a lesson here about friendship and the relative importance of winning. But it’s delivered with such a light hand it feels more like a caress than a spanking.