Toward the beginning of "Tom Foolery" - a musical revue based around the songs of satirist Tom Lehrer - a cast member explains that if the evening inspires even one audience member to insult a good friend or slap a loved one, it will all have been worth it. That's a good summary of the kind of humor you'll find in this cabaret-style production at Blackfriars. It's good-natured, mean-spirited fun set to jaunty tunes, brought to life by a group of talented local performers.

A math professor at Harvard University, Tom Lehrer became nationally known in the 1950's and 1960's for his satirical songs. Lehrer used his piano training and apparent gifts for melody and snark to concoct catchy little ditties that lovingly mocked the awfulness of human beings. Through his music Lehrer tackled such important topics as love, war, politics, and pigeoncide. Generation X-ers might recognize a couple of his songs from the influential PBS children's show "The Electric Company."

Although Lehrer no longer performs or records (he has been quoted as saying that Henry Kissinger winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 made political satire obsolete), much of his decades-old work remains surprisingly relevant. "Tom Foolery," adapted by Cameron Mackintosh and Robin Ray, with musical arrangements by Robert Fisher and Chris Walker, includes more than 20 of Lehrer's songs served up in brisk, entertaining fashion.

"Tom Foolery" feels very much like a cabaret. There is no plot, just some light banter and connective tissue between songs. Even the set suggests an intimate song-and-dance club, with a bar off to the side, a few tables and chairs (and paper pigeons) on the stage, the performers occasionally interacting with the audience members sitting among them.

The show features four primary performers - Steve Marsocci, Nicholas D. Rogers, Dawn M. Sargent, and Elizabeth West - and a live musical trio led by David Labman on piano and vocals, and also including Greg Gascon on percussion and Chris Labman on double bass. Blackfriars's Producing Artistic Director John Haldoupis directed the show and designed the costumes and set.

The bulk of the songs go to Marsocci and Rogers, who have the big voices and big personalities required to pull them off. Marsocci in particular seems born for this kind of role. He's a true showman; he's hammy in exactly the right way, and he knows how to work a crowd. Bonus points to him for playing the accordion for one song, "Irish Ballad." Rogers is somewhat more staid, but ably gets laughs in a variety of numbers, especially for his over-the-top performance in "Hunting Song."

The women in the show are given less of the spotlight, with only a few lead parts between them. Sargent runs with the fun children's song "Silent E," and goes brogue with "Irish Ballad." West gets a chance to shine with "The Peddler," a sweet lullaby about the neighborhood drug pusher.

As with any song showcase, certain pieces will hit better with an audience than others. Marsocci's exhausting recitation of the periodic table of elements set to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Major-General's Song" received big applause, as did the upbeat group numbers "Vatican Rag" and the timely pro-Armageddon send-up "We'll All Go Together." Other numbers received a more tepid response, but the level of performance throughout the night was consistently high.

While watching the show I kept flashing back to "Gorey Stories," a similar project featuring poems and songs based on the macabre work of Edward Gorey that Blackfriars presented in the fall of 2010. When I reviewed that show I bemoaned that, despite a talented cast, the material failed to hold the audience's attention, and it turned dull and repetitive fairly quickly. That was never the case with "Tom Foolery." Perhaps it's because Lehrer's work is more universally accessible, or the music more upbeat even when dealing with topics like Nazi scientists or sexually transmitted diseases (just a few examples). But I was engaged and entertained for the entirety of the show, and consistently charmed by the wit of Lehrer's work. It made me wonder what he'd have to say about the ripe-for-lampooning socio-political situation in which we currently live.

"Tom Foolery"

Through January 7

Blackfriars Theatre, 795 E. Main St.

$27 | 454-1260, bftix.org