The topical revue is alive and well and living on 47th Street, where an all-new edition of NEWSical, the very funny musical lambasting current events and newsmakers, has settled in for a long run. And judging from the rollicking laughter at a recent packed Saturday matinee, the show should be delighting theatergoers for some time to come.

Stylistically, the show plays as something of a hybrid between "The Jay Leno Show," "Saturday Night Live," and the late, lamented Off-Broadway institution Forbidden Broadway, with original comic songs interspersed with sketches and impersonations. In fact, NEWSical plays at the same theatre where Forbidden Broadway completed its long run, and several of that production’s giggle-inducing ghosts have rematerialized here.

Three of the four performers in NEWSical are alums of various editions of Forbidden Broadway, and each member of the cast gets a chance to shine. Christine Pedi is a marvelously loopy Liza Minnelli in a sketch imagining celebrities who are forced to get night jobs, in addition to turns as Suze Orman, Sonia Sotomayor, and Oprah Winfrey. Christina Bianco scores in each of her roles, particularly Hilary Clinton and a wickedly over-the-top Celine Dion, while Michael West makes the most of each of his impersonations, from Obama to a soft-shoe dancing Pope Benedict. And sweet-faced Rory O’Malley is riotous in drag as Susan “Britain’s Got Talent” Boyle and in a hilarious sight gag, the “balloon boy” Falcon Heene (credit is due to costume designer David Kaley’s ingenious garb).

And when was the last time you actually laughed out loud at lyrics? Bookwriter/lyricist/composer Rick Crom has provided several witty gems, and is aided immeasurably by Ed Goldschneider as the onstage pianist. Director Mark Waldrop knows a thing or two about keeping revues firing on all cylinders, having staged When Pigs Fly and Pete ‘n’ Keely Off-Broadway, and he keeps NEWSical moving briskly through its entire 90-minute duration.

The show opened in early December, and Crom and company have made a concerted effort to constantly introduce new material, including a delicious double-entendre torch song for Mrs. Tiger Woods and a bit about the underwear bomber. In fact, the show featured brief jokes about the very recent (as of the performance seen) late night Conan O'Brian/Jay Leno kerfuffle and the televised trainwreck “Jersey Shore,” both of which will get full-scale musical lampoons within the next couple of weeks.

NEWSical THE MUSICAL plays Mondays at 8, Tuesdays at 8, Wednesdays at 2 & 8, Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 2 & 8 and Sundays at 7:30. The 47th Street Theatre is located at 304 W 47th Street, off of 8th Avenue. For tickets, visit TicketCentral.com or call 212-279-4200.