When Walmartopia played the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival, it acquired quite a buzz despite its being an amateurish attempt to put Sam Walton's gargantuan merchandising empire in its place. Now, the musical has resurfaced at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre, and though the tuner has been entirely recast and given an expansive if ultimately static David Korins set, there's been no qualitative improvement. It's still an amateurish lapse.

The plot involves Madison, Wisconsin-based Vicki Latrell (Cheryl Freeman) and daughter Maia (Nikki M. James), who decide -- Vicki more slowly than Maia -- to fight the despised company's anti-union stance. Their goal is to obtain a combine[...]