Where ‘Peace’ can be had for under a dollar

“99¢ Only village / Chipper here, the price is right / In the 99¢ Only village / We’re 99in’ from mornin’ ‘til night.”

Despite this penny-wise ditty, darkness threatens 99¢ Only village. The 2003 tussle over the Golden Child has entered urban legend, though deposed King Crustie (Kirk Wilson) refuses to concede. A more noxious nemesis is the Hollow Mirror Man (Mark Bringleson). He and his shopping Mauls are defrauding the Villagers of their affordable idyll, using mirrors with nothing inside.

Luckily, plucky Timmy (Brandon Roht) alerts the Peace Squad (Mike Dunn, Will Watkins, Jamie Hebert, Kevin Artigue, Chris Dane, Jonathan Breck and author-director-choreographer Ken Roht). This franchise-ready boy band rolls in from Korea, followed by its golden-throated moms, who suggest Martian Christmas tree ornaments. Undaunted by the Mirror Man’s own clan and towering mother (Colleen Wainwright), the cosmically kitschy pacifists reach rafter-raising harmony, aided by the child activist Peace Ponies.

There you have “Peace Squad Goes 99” at the Evidence Room. The annual discount-minded holiday revelry by subversive nonesuch Ken Roht and his Orphean Circus zanies has the joyous abandon of an MTV love-in from Oz.

Roht’s multi-referential libretto celebrates the cosponsoring corporation and ribs itself: “This is a transition / We’re running around, with nothing to do.” His kinetic genius approaches Matthew Bourne. Composer-arranger John Ballinger and his team move Casio-fueled ‘70s pop chords and Korean lullabies from hip to heavenly.

All the designers display spectacular creativity, especially costumer Ann Closs-Farley’s crew, and the cast exudes irresistible zeal. Standouts include Raul Clayton Staggs’ mayor, Jabez Zuniga’s dry gender-bender, Peter Lempert’s daft countertenor and Ian Rotundo’s baton twirler, but everyone shines.

Intelligibility is sometimes iffy but still improves on last year’s “Splendor,” while the grinning anarchy remains unrivaled. Silly, saucy and sublime, “Peace Squad” is fabulous family fun, this troupe’s most inventive, therapeutic round of 99-cent necromancy yet.

*

‘Peace Squad Goes 99’

Where: Evidence Room, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A.

When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Fridays, 6 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 5 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Dec. 19

Price: $15

Contact: (213) 381-7118

Running time: 1 hour