Emily Skinner as Mae West in Dirty Blonde.

Title aside, Dirty Blonde turns out to be a lot more inspirational than it is salacious.

Though it’s focused on one of Hollywood’s first sex symbols, Claudia Shear’s play with music about the life of Mae West, now being staged by Signature Theatre, is more interested in the woman as a feminist icon, a figure who can teach others to be bolder, to take less bullshit. She’s a symbol that works for the piece’s two main characters – Charlie, a withdrawn movie librarian (Hugh Nees) and Jo, a struggling actress (Emily Skinner, who also plays West herself).

Charlie and Jo’s tale is a hesitant, tiptoeing love story, a complete contrast to the whirlwind affairs West herself engages in, and of which we get glimpses into. The structure of the play has a vaudevillian feel, and the two competing story lines weave in and out seamlessly, such as when Jo prepares for a costume party to go as Mae, just as West herself is finalizing her signature, iconic platinum look.