When "Idol: The Musical" hits the stage in New York next month, Clay Aiken won't be there in person. But there will be a bust of Raleigh's hometown "American Idol" star onstage, and someone singing "Burnin' Hunk o' Clay" to it.

Yes, Aiken is coming to the theatrical stage, but only as inspiration. "Idol: The Musical" is billed as a musical farce about a "delusional group of 'Idol' fans in search of fame." It begins previews at New York's off-Broadway 45th Street Theatre on July 5.

Aiken himself is not involved with the project. Janice Riley, his personal assistant in Raleigh, declined to comment.

The cast of "Idol: The Musical" consists of eight high school seniors in Steubenville, Ohio, where they've built a shrine to Aiken in a barn and meet every day to worship. There's a basketball player who would rather be a male stripper in Chippendales, a goth girl, a cowboy with poor fashion sense, a guy who plays accordion while reciting Shakespeare -- and Emily, the leader, whose fantasy it is to marry Aiken someday.

"That just sounds over-the-top from beginning to end," says Paul Baragona, an Aiken fan from Raleigh. Still, early reactions on the Aiken message boards have been surprisingly upbeat.

"It does not attack anyone or anything in any way," says "Idol" producer Todd Ellis, who calls himself an Aiken fan. "It does look at the fan base of 'American Idol' and Clay, but also anything out there that people glom onto. It's a farce that looks at how America deifies the idols in our society."

Because of copyright and trademark laws, none of Aiken's music appears in "Idol." Composer Jon Balcourt wrote the score and Bill Boland, who co-produced the Academy Award-winning 2005 short film "West Bank Story," wrote the script.

"Idol" is scheduled for eight weeks of previews in New York and an official opening in mid-August at the 99-seat 45th Street Theatre, followed by a move to a larger venue if ticket sales are high enough. "Idol" premiered June 1 in Syracuse, prompting one online reviewer to call it "the 'Forrest Gump' of musicals."

And how did the hard-core Claymates react?

"The audience loved the show. It's universal, an everyman story," said Ellis. "Everyone wants something better than what they have, to be discovered."