Okay, granted...putting a review of The History of Sex in a theater column is like discussing Leroy Neiman in a column devoted to high art. But bear with me - because the show is one of the most entertaining and original to hit Sin City in quite a while. As the audience of the sold-out performance got up to leave, you could overhear several pleasantly surprised patrons exclaiming, "It wasn't at all what I thought it would be!"

Maybe that's the musical's biggest problem - its name. The History of Sex is likely to make you think of some dopey burlesque show or of an Americanized take on Benny Hill. In fact, it is neither.

It is, instead, a lighthearted look at some of the, er, seminal figures in the world's history of the birds and the bees, such as Adam and Eve, the Marquis de Sade and James Bond. The History of Sex takes place in the intimate 400-seat Theatre Ballroom at the Golden Nugget. There's not a bad seat in the house, and the acoustics in the small theater complement the consistently excellent musical accompaniment - both that provided by the show's orchestra and that provided by original artists. The show is produced and choreographed by Ted Pappas, who brings genuine Broadway flash and sizzle to Glitter Gulch.

Appropriately, The History of Sex begins with "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," sung by the male lead, the engaging and energetic Michael Gruber, whose credits include stints on soap operas and on Broadway with such favorites as Miss Saigon and A Chorus Line. He adds some timely extemporaneous lyrics to the song such as "George Michael all alone does it" and "Ken Starr does it, but he has to rehearse." You'll laugh, if you have a pulse.

You probably won't laugh quite as hard at comedian John Padon, whose set divides the show in half. Some of his bits, especially those concerning the foibles of marriage, are hilarious, but others, such as the majority of his "in the '90s you can't do anything anymore" schtick, tend to fall flat.

The second half of The History of Sex begins with a Busby Berkley sequence, one of the show's sexiest and most stylish. In fact, most of the standout scenes occur in the second half of the show. Not that the first half is bad, mind you, but this is one of those rare shows that keeps the audience's attention; it begins (God forgive me) with a bang and builds to a climax.