EDGE New York City

The historical Lord Cornbury was a close relation to Queen Anne and ruled the English province of New York during part of her realm in the early 18th century. That much historians can agree on, but after that, it’s all murky tales, allegations and controversy.

Cornbury was denounced in his time as a profligate deviant, who sold offices and land for his elaborate amusements. Worse, he often wore women’s clothes in public and at state functions, giving the rather bizarre justification that, as the representative of the queen, he should dress like her.

It’s a situation ripe for re-evaluation in light of the current mania for "queer theory." If anyone presents the paradox of sexual identity, it would be Cornbury, who was apparently happily married (he fathered a daughter), while preferring ball gowns to breeches.

That a heterosexual male might prefer to dress as a woman no longer comes as a surprise to anyone who reads newspaper advice columns or has seen Ed Wood’s film "Glen or Glenda." In fact, most cross-dressers (very different from drag queens) are straight and many as happily married, which helps with the clothes budget.

So Theatre Askew, operating out of the Hudson Guild Theater on the western fringe of Chelsea, is to be praised for attempting to re-examine the curious case of Cornbury. But this production is something of a mess, more pastiche than play.

It certainly comes with an impressive pedigree. Co-author William Hoffman wrote the first and still one of the best AIDS plays, "As Is." The multi-talented off-off Broadway favorite David Greenspan plays the title role. The cast also includes Everett Quinton, one of the guiding spirits of Charles Ludlam’s beloved Ridiculous Theatrical Company.

So what went wrong? Instead of a straightforward portrayal of Cornbury’s disastrous colonial administration, we get a whacked-out sketch-comedy revue, a variety show with musical interludes between the abruptly placed scenes.

The authors have chosen to portray Cornbury as a neo-New Deal liberal, who treats Jews, blacks, women and Indians with the same respect accorded to the Dutch burghers and English settlers of his fractious colony. The action, such as it is, revolves around the Calvinist Dutch contending with the English traders and tradesmen.

There’s a lot of historical data crammed in here, and much of it is of interest to anyone who has lived in or visited Manhattan Island. This is a fascinating period of New York’s history and deserves a second look.

But Cornbury is so inherently dramatic that a more straightforward script would have served him better. When you’re given material this rich, gussying it up in fashionable intellectual views of gender identity only mucks up a great story.

January 24 to February 8
Hudson Guild Theatre
441 W. 26th St.
Tickets: $18; $15 for students & seniors
212-352-3101
www.TheaterMania.com