Rock and pals talk a blue streak in 'Hat'

Forget the smarty-pants title. I can't print it anyway. What you need to know is that Stephen Adly Guirgis' dark new comedy, which we're reduced to calling "The ---- With the Hat," is crazy-mad in love with its exhilarating nonstop language and with its screwed-up, hotheaded, odd-hearted urban characters. And so am I.

People upset by the title also will be put off by 100 minutes of motor-mouth dirty talk delivered by five virtuosos -- including Chris Rock in his sneakily understated Broadway debut. Otherwise, these arias of peculiar locutions and whirlwind rhythms may strike you as Latin-infused relatives of the gorgeous bad-boy poetry of David Mamet in his good early days.

This is also a deserved Broadway first for Guirgis, co-artistic director of downtown's LAByrinth Theater (best known as Philip Seymour Hoffman's home base). The production has been directed with bravado and affection -- if too close to the edge of cuteness -- by ensemble specialist Anna D. Shapiro ("August: Osage County"). It is even fun to watch the sets (by Todd Rosenthal) flip over and twirl into three different tiny New York apartments.

The plot is less a story than a spree, an overheated thrill ride about three working-class couples (including one unseen wife), addictions of all flavors, the bonds of childhood friendships and the mixed blessings of Alcoholics Anonymous and new-age sobrieties. Mostly, it is about what one unhappy wife (the poignantly likable Annabella Sciorra) says: "Nobody knows nobody."

Bobby Cannavale is Jackie, an irresistible man-monster of a parolee -- a beefed-up lug with a hair trigger, an AA sponsor (Rock) and a big love for his longtime girlfriend, a hairstylist. Elizabeth Rodriguez plays her with layers of strength, hurt and a minimum of impulse control. She may have cheated on Jackie with a man who left his hat, which sends Jackie in a fury to his sponsor.

Yul Vázquez is wonderful as Jackie's ever-surprising, delightful cousin, a married, openly effeminate fellow who offers massage, health food, waxing and notarizing. Vázquez, Cannavale and Rodriguez are LAByrinth members in joyful command of the take-no-prisoners style. Sciorra and Rock are outsiders, appropriately portraying outsiders.

Rock plays the least bombastic character, but don't underestimate the chill under the smoothness. He just may be the scariest guy onstage.