Jackie Mason can generally be trusted as to what does and doesn’t work onstage. So, when the veteran performer gave Tracey Erin Smith a thumbs-up on her concept for a one-woman show about a rabbi-turned-stripper named Barbara Baumawitz, The Burning Bush was already bound to succeed. Three years after the play’s debut won Best of the Fringe in Toronto, Smith added a second act based on her 2007 sequel Two in the Bush, and the result is both polished and provocative.

Smith’s tremendous energy and versatility are apparent from the get-go in her portrayals of the half-dozen “characters” Barbara meets on her journey to enlightenment, from Madonna über-fan and lap-dancer Christy to a grumpy, neckless Jackie Mason. She impresses just as much with her initial awkwardness around an onstage brass pole as with her eventual sultriness, and her arsenal of religion/sex double-entendres comes off as pithy rather than precious. A multimedia presentation of a Burning Bush: The Movie mock trailer particularly showcases Smith’s ability to skirt touchy subjects with her exaggerated sense of humour.

The second act begins a bit sluggishly despite an amusingly klezmerized Madonna number by musicians Rebekah Wolkstein and Drew Jurecka.  Smith notes several times over the course of the show that “folks wanna laugh more than they wanna be saved,” and it’s the road trip to Texas in the latter half that brings Smith’s spiritual mission to the forefront.

The detour feels somewhat forced and, at times, Smith’s musings on God and prayer become a little too earnest. However, she avoids the trap of preachiness in her reflections on religion, pulling off some serious philosophy just as convincingly as she gets down to Flo Rida. Plain and simple, The Burning Bush is one divine comedy.