THEATER REVIEW : Boundless Energy for ‘Bobbie Jean’ : But the musical needs a firmer directorial hand. Too many holes between cues mar the production.

Sally Davis Wills’ country musical “Bobbie Jean,” at the Network Theater, contains just about anything one could ask for. And that’s precisely its problem.

Wills’ book (with Rick Sawyer) ranges from “All The King’s Men” to “Rose Marie,” and there is a sleazy Texas politician who abuses wife Bobbie Jean, a child custody dispute, illegal real estate dealings, a gratuitous dream ballet, a black couple to sing the blues, and a Taos Indian hero to capture Bobbie Jean’s heart. Of course, said hero is really only half-Taos, his father being a wealthy, titled Englishman. The young man attended Oxford before returning to half his heritage in Red River, N. M. The score (words and music by Wills) is about as eclectic and derivative as the book, mostly with melodies as easy on the ear as they are familiar. There are a couple of nice ballads along the way; they come as pleasant surprises. Among them are the “Rose Marie”-flavored love duet, “Who Are You?” and the vaguely mystical “There You Go,” sung by Eagle, the Taos Indian--he says no one around there would call Indians “Native Americans.”

Outside of heavy cutting, and simplification of its too many locales and scenes, “Bobbie Jean” needs a firmer directorial hand than Lev Mailer has been able to provide. He allows holes between cues that you could drive a wagon train through, and tries to cloud the interminable scene changes with cutesy chorus activity that’s only silly.

But Mailer has, with one exception, cast the show with performers whose energy is boundless and who all sing exceptionally well. That one exception is the cartoon performance of John R. Keller as Cass, the drunken owner of the Road Kill Cafe in Red River, which Bobbie buys after running out on her lecherous Texas senator husband. Keller is a sight gag and little more.

Elisa Heinsohn is a charmer as Bobbie Jean, full of fresh air and sunshine. And she sings like a dream. Sean McGuirk is just as solid as Eagle, the brave from Queen’s College.

Jack Yantz as a nasty Texas politico husband bears some slight resemblance to Lyndon Johnson, but his flannel-mouth Panhandle delivery is even more on-target, and he even manages to be funny a couple of times. Patricia Hodges and Frank Christian are the couple who bicker until they find their mutual affection in “I Hear Them Blues Comin.’ ” They’re both just fine.

Kate Barclay, as the senator’s campaign manager-mistress, and Lynn Pirtle, as a Red River girl with a heart of gold, handle their comedy well and their vocal chores admirably. So do Stephen Donahue, a Red River Burt Reynolds who has a misguided crush on Bobbie Jean, and young Danny Schmittler as Bobbie Jean’s son.

It’s a generally good cast, better than the cumbersome, dated scenic design by Carlo Caporaso, Debbie Brighton’s dull choreography, and the material they’re trying to breathe life into.

Where and When What: “Bobbie Jean.” Location: Network Theater, 5301 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood. Hours: 7:29 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Ends Nov. 21. Price: $15. Call: (213) 660-8587.