Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen review: Musical Duncan Sheik was working on when he died is an awkward letdown

90 minutes with no intermission.At the Culture Club at 530 W.

27 St.When Duncan Sheik, the writer of the musical “Spring Awakening” and singer of the song “Barely Breathing,” unexpectedly died last month at age 56, his new off-Broadway show was about a week away from starting previews. That’s tough for a work in progress, which should be making changes nightly.Without one of the creators, they’re stuck in a state of paralysis.

But Sheik’s score, while far from perfect, is not really the main problem for “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” the clumsy and uncomfortable musical that opened Thursday in the old “Sleep No More” compound in the depths of Chelsea.Although not his best work (that’s still “Spring Awakening”), some of the songs — particularly those sung by Sophia Anne Caruso as Colette — are emotive and rousing; a wall of pure sound that’s more transportive than anything else in this awfully familiar nightclub.What troubles “Memoirs,” a musical set in a Parisian brothel that caters to men’s fetishes, is that it’s not arousing.Or even a little sexy.

Repeatedly calling the audience “perverts” and cracking Borscht Belt orgasm jokes doesn’t really get the blood pumping so much as the mind wandering.And Rob Ashford’s direction has all the elegance of a meat mallet.

I started to feel bad for the supporting actors on the sidelines who spent minutes awkwardly petting each other during other people’s numbers. It’s especially cringey when the rota of Johns are turned into easy jokes.Think a guy with a circus kink dressed as a clown, a dude in a pink corset who likes getting shaved and a tongue-wagging man on a leash who dreams of being a Labrador.

The show isn’t sure if we’re supposed to celebrate these horn dogs letting their freak flags fly or cruelly mock them for it.So the near-unanimous choice is silence.And eerie quiet is deafening in this cathouse called the Night Egg, since the scantily-clad actors ar...