A Jew, a Christian and a Muslim are all accused of killing the Sultan's hunchbacked storyteller. Don't worry, this is not "some sad, ethnic joke" as the Sultan himself first thinks. Instead, this murder sets the scene for three imaginative stories that are brought to life in voice, song and music. "The Blue Demon," written and directed by Darko Tresnjak, is a show that takes you into the world of Scheherazade the narrator, the Sultan, and three very different individuals who each claim that they killed the storyteller.

"The Blue Demon," refers to insomnia. The Sultan cannot sleep at night and needs stories to calm him. With his storyteller dead, he wants to know what happened to him before he kills all three suspects. As the Sultan eventually finds out, "truth lives in not one, but in many stories."

The show opens with the concubines and Scheherazade making their way around a very bright colored set, covered in Latin, Hebrew and Arabic writing, with a Sultan's palace in the background and lanterns everywhere.

A hunchback storyteller dressed as a court jester finds his way onto the stage as Scheherazade begins her story. From there, the audience is introduced to the future storytellers, and their lives become entwined together as they each fight for their own lives by telling their stories.

The moral of first story, told by the Jewish tailor, is that one should always tell the truth, even if it is painful. We meet our main characters, the wife, the husband, the tailor himself and our token bad guy, the wizard, who has a flare for humor and knows how to play gin rummy.

The story interweaves curses, bribery, love, uncertainty and humor through music and dance. The husband gives a gift to his wife, which has been cursed by the wizard, enchanting the wife to love the wizard. The wife does not tell her husband right away of what the gift had done to her, which almost causes him to lose his trust in her. Eventually, everything is discovered.

The next story is told by the Christian scrivener. His story is a bit more on the mellow side, beginning and ending with loss and heartbreak. The main purpose of this story is to show that love should not be taken for granted, that giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back -- at least not forever. And when that love is diminished for even a little while, it can break a person's heart so badly that they die. Betrayal is a horrible thing, and this story showed the worst of all the consequences when that happens -- the loss of a truly loved one.

The third story, told by the Muslim jeweler, contained some of the most amusing characters, including virgins, a very egotistical beggar, a Sultan on the brink of a mental breakdown and a very large dragon. The beggar has helped to "de-virginize" the city. Meanwhile, guards are sent out to find and castrate anyone having sex with a virgin.

The amusing guards are also on a virgin hunt, and even go as far as "capturing" audience members and debating whether they are virgins or not. When the beggar takes on the role of the dragon-slaying prince, he helps to save the city, the last virgin, and himself from being castrated. Very lucky guy.

Unfortunately, none of these stories please the insomniac Sultan. When the stories are over, Scheherazade tries to protect the three men from being killed by arguing that, since the Sultan had no love of any of the stories, he should kill her as well and thus silence all stories. "Stories are dangerous," she says. They make one laugh, cry, become angry and remember all in the space of a few seconds. These emotions are what make stories great, and if the Sultan cannot handle the storytellers' tales, he should kill them all.

After a surprising and somewhat mystical ending, in which no one is killed, the Sultan lets the three men, who now share a special bond with each other, go free, on the condition they come together every month to share more of their stories.

The beauty of storytelling is in the feelings and emotions the listener experiences. "The Blue Demon" certainly does convey many wonderful emotions and is a wonderfully made show, fit for anyone to enjoy immensely.

"The Blue Demon" will be playing at the Huntington Theatre until this Sunday. Tickets range in price from $14 to $64 and can be purchased by calling the Huntington Theatre Box Office at (617) 266-0800 or Ticketmaster at (617) 931-ARTS or by visiting www.huntingtontheatre.org.