The debut of You Are Now Entering Nellie Oleson, the latest evening of sketch comedy from no-hold-barred, gay troupe the Nellie Olesons, was supposed to occur July 7, but a power brownout forced the cancellation of opening night. It's expected the show will go on July 8. Squonk, another show at P.S. 122, was also forced to drop its July 7 performance.

Production spokesperson Ron Lasko told Playbill On-Line power still isn't fully restored, but the companies are going under the assumption that they will be by tonight.

A brutal, triple-digit heat wave lasting three days led to a large-scale blackout in upper Manhattan, but Con Edison brownouts were scattered throughout the city, including the Lower East Side area. (P.S. 122 is located at First Avenue and 9th Street.) Oddly enough, July 7 was significantly cooler than the previous days, yet scattered brownouts and outages were still reported throughout the city.

The Nellie Olesons were last in New York with 1997's Pulp Nellie at La Mama. You Are Now Entering Nellie Oleson, an evening of twenty odd new sketches, runs through July 31.

The troupe began in 1993 as an offspring of the gay New York comedy group Planet Q. Since then they have been performing on the West Coast and New York, where a company spokesperson referred to them as, "Lewd, crude and guaranteed to offend all audience members at least once." Comprising Nora Burns, John Cantwell, Terrence Michael and Nancy Kissam, the group are directed by David Schweizer. Among their targets this time are male breast-feeding, "Cripple Creek," a "Dawson's Creek" spoof "where half the population is crippled;" an Amish porn star; Junkie Jones the cabaret singer; and Crackwhore Jefferson, "the newest member of Congress."

For tickets and information on You Are Now Entering Nellie Oleson call (212) 477-5288.

-- By David Lefkowitz and Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent