Now. Here. This.," at the Vineyard Theater Good news, ardent fans of offbeat musical theater. The lovable gang from "[title of show]" is back with an endearingly goofy new diversion called "Now. This. Thin as a vanilla wafer but just as sweet, it opened on Wednesday night at the Vineyard Theater, where the same collaborators" first show played before its little-engine-that-could chug to Broadway. It closed pretty quickly, but still: Broadway! You remember the gang of course. The ginger-haired wisecracker Hunter, he of the obscure pop-culture references. Susan, of the majestic nose and deliciously dry inflections. The perky Jeff, with the Chelsea-boy good looks and peppy melodies. And Heidi, the wholesome sweetie with the heavenly voice. Forgive the use of first names. They will henceforth be referred to formally as Mr. Bell, Ms. Blackwell, Mr. Bowen and Ms. Blickenstaff. But those of us who fell in love with "[title of show]," that delightfully self-conscious musical about putting together a delightfully self-conscious musical, probably consider its cast and creators something more than Facebook friends. I almost feel that somewhere in my closets gathering dust are little ceramic ashtrays made by the cast especially for me. Anyway, this fab foursome is as adorable as ever in its latest creation, a loose and loopy exercise in musical autobiography set during a Groupon outing they have undertaken to a natural history museum. The new show is less substantial - and memorable - than their first, which heaven knows was no "Sweeney Todd" in the heft department, for all its daffy charm. But the cast offers up its blend of good humor and good feeling with an audience-embracing brio that never flags. Directed and choreographed by Michael Berresse, who performed the same chores on "[title of show]," "Now. This." opens on a seriously funny note with a song called "What Are the Odds?" It traces the history of the world, from the splitting of that first amino acid to the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, up to this very minute, when "a cosmic force "bout the size of Peru/starts pulling you toward us and us toward you." Mr. Bell's confusion about the word cosmology - he keeps thinking it's cosmetology - incites a discussion that explains the title of this show. Its affirmatively New Agey purpose is to remind us all to live in the present moment, Buddhist style, which is hard, we all know, because the wandering mind will tug us toward more pressing matters: the blissful future ever just out of reach; the hurts and humiliations of the past; or, in the case of Mr. Bell, fond recollections of TV ephemera like "Paper Dolls." How the four performers onstage came to appreciate the significance of this philosophy is the arc of the musical, which is framed (with a little bit of forcing) by their wanderings through the museum, where exhibits on various fauna and scientific phenomena (the hilarious narration is provided by a plummy-voiced Roger Rees) inspire musical vignettes in which the performers reveal their varied journeys from youthful angst and insecurity through to self-discovery and, just as important, the creation of a tight-knit new family composed of like-minded friends. These passages, which take up most of the show's running time of a little more than 90 minutes, are not always as fresh and funny as the engaging opening sequence. But the performers" winning personas, Mr. Bowen's frisky songs and the generous doses of off-kilter humor in the book by Mr. Bell and Ms. Blackwell help you to overlook the familiarity of the various rites of passage they enact. Mr. Bowen recalls being "a gentle, sensitive kid" - a gay one, in other words - who hid his secret self behind a more acceptable persona: the class clown who gets the girls, all the way through college, where he joins a fraternity even though he'd rather be hanging out with the "music nerds" singing along to the original cast album of "Les Misérables." Mr. Bell's remembered past is not markedly different - he too is the gay outcast pining for something more than friendship from his best friend - although Mr. Bell's escape is not "dazzle camouflage" but taking refuge in fantasy. Ms. Blickenstaff's recollection of acting out her need for attention by messing up a neighbor's kitchen feels a trifle trivial, but her later ruminations on her demanding but loving father's inability to say those three little words strikes a gently moving note. And Ms. Blackwell shares with her co-stars an ache to achieve, in her case expressed by becoming both a cheerleader and a student council president, all to hide the quirky, disordered mess of a home in which she grew up. Show biz has always been a magnet for misfits with a burning yearning for the spotlight, of course, so the foursome's tales of overcoming self-doubt, and longing to join the popular clique, sometimes strike banal or sentimental notes. An interlude in which Mr. Bell and Ms. Blickenstaff relive vigils at the bedside of beloved grandmothers is particularly heavy on the schmaltz. But while those unindoctrinated into the insular appeal of this bunch may be puzzled by a musical that wanders blithely off into virtual Twitter exchanges - OMG, isn't "Tootsie" the greatest movie ever? - those who click with this clique will find plenty in this new chapter of their story to keep them hooked. I'm a convert, I confess. So here's hoping that the family forged by these talented folk - as well as Mr. Berresse and the musical director Larry Pressgrove, who helped conceive the show - will keep making sport of their misadventures, and keep making light but lively musical theater, for some time to come. Book by Hunter Bell and Susan Blackwell; music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen; based on collaboration by Mr. Bell, Michael Berresse, Ms. Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff, Mr. Bowen and Larry Pressgrove; directed and choreographed by Mr. Berresse; vocal arrangements by Mr. Bowen and Mr. Pressgrove; orchestrations by Mr. Pressgrove and Rob Preuss; music direction by Mr. Pressgrove; music coordinator, Howard Joines; sets by Neil Patel; costumes by Gregory Gale; lighting by Jeff Croiter and Grant Yeager; sound by Acme Sound Partners; projections by Richard DiBella; production stage manager, Martha Donaldson; production manager, David Nelson. Presented by the Vineyard Theater, Douglas Aibel, artistic director; Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell, executive producer; Sarah Stern, co-artistic director; Rebecca Habel, managing director. At the Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, Manhattan; (212) 353-0303, vineyardtheatre.org. Through April 22. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. WITH: Hunter Bell (Hunter), Susan Blackwell (Susan), Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Jeff Bowen (Jeff) and Roger Rees (Museum Voice-Over).