THEATER REVIEW : Musical Has the Laughs but Not the Looks : * The tacky set design takes away from the satiric virtues of ‘Vampire Asylum Malibu Point.’

It’s not easy to be sucked into “Vampire Asylum Malibu Point,” a horror musical comedy at the West End Playhouse in Van Nuys.

Here’s the quandary: The show enjoys a good, original rockabilly score (by composer Kyle Moore); sexy, humorous casting, and genuinely ripe performances (particularly the voluptuous, delightful Jenie Lyn as an innocent-maiden-turned-vampira). But its considerable satiric and musical virtues are severely compromised by the production’s derivative, hokey plot and tacky-to-wretched set design.

Too often, small theater will ignore the effort to create an artful set (usually on the limp reasoning that there’s no money for it), in the hope that the show is otherwise strong enough to get by with ragged props and a bare scrim or two.

The result, in the case of “Vampire Asylum,” is a show that is a patchwork instead of a whole work.

The producers are so indifferent to the look and texture of the stage that they don’t even sweep off the playing area. The stage floor, the black curtain at stage rear--everything looks so dreary a patron might figure that, well, if they don’t care, why should I?

Even astute lighting (Jeff Croot Gafford) and spirited costume design (Laura Comstock) don’t compensate for the physical bleakness (not to be confused with the dark, ominous material). A creative set, i.e. some visual imagination, even if it’s austere, distinguishes the small-theater professionals, even those who are broke.

Otherwise, to parody that famous theater line--”Other than that, how did you like the play?”--director John Comstock and co-playwrights Larry Transue and Mary Comstock have fashioned a rather breezy little sendup of every vampire movie and play you’ve ever seen.

The plot centers on a stranded brother and sister (surfin’ dude Matt Kenna and the no-nonsense Jenie Lyn) who stumble upon “The Tourist Trap,” a Malibu beach resort run by a fangy guy in a cape who likes Bloody Marys (the preening, well-cast Garrett House, who tends to unnecessarily shout his lines).

Kathryn Bundy’s vivacious vampire hunter, composer Kyle Moore doubling as an amusingly nerdy and naive banker, and Ariana Johns and Barbara Minardi as a lustful pair of towering vampire brides flesh out the biting satire.

The show’s sexual antics are mildly and amusingly risque, which sets just the right tone. The show’s essential freshness, though, besides Lyn’s airy deftness, is Moore’s music (a seven-person band projected via tape).

Kenna and Lyn’s unexpected Malibu visitors are knockout vocalists who, with support from Bundy and House, peal off some rousing lyrics in such numbers as “Just a Bite,” “Surfin’ Isn’t Everything” and “Mirrors Are for Mortals.”

What: “Vampire Asylum Malibu Point.”

Location: West End Playhouse, 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys.

Hours: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 24.

Price: $15.

Call: (800) 880-TKTS.