Creators of ‘Royal Flush’ Betting on Its Light Appeal

When New York’s Theatre Guild was formed in 1919, co-founder Lawrence Langner wrote in its manifesto that the group’s purpose was to help revive a Broadway that was rife with “splashy musicals for the tired businessman and British imports.”

What Langner was talking about were the giddy musical comedies such as “Good News” and the mindless Ruritanian operettas by such composers as Victor Herbert. Today, in spite of Langner’s hopes--and Guild blockbusters such as “Porgy and Bess” and “Oklahoma”--the situation hasn’t changed that much.

Audiences, it seems, still like to be simply and effortlessly entertained. They want to laugh, and be able to hum the tunes as they’re leaving the theater. That’s why many of those elementary musical comedies are frequently revived.

That thought was in the minds of Frank Palmieri and Brian Mulligan as they were developing their new musical, “Royal Flush,” which opens tonight at Woodland Hills’ Center Stage.

It was originally written as a screenplay, said Palmieri, but nothing ever came of the movie script. Later, while working as a member of the Lehman Engel Musical Comedy Workshop in Los Angeles, Palmieri began thinking of it in terms of a musical version.

He brought in his director friend Mulligan for “a few pointers.” The project began to jell, with Palmieri writing the music and lyrics and co-writing the book with Mulligan.

The plot sounds as simple and giddy as one of George M. Cohan’s musical confections. But like Cohan’s work, there are a number of funny and outrageous characters, and a life-affirming message “that friends and family are more important than money,” Palmieri said.

“Royal Flush” concerns a fictitious Caribbean island ruled by members of England’s royal family, who live the good life, partying and existing on loans from other countries. Eventually the United States calls in the royals’ debt, takes the island away from them, and deports them to a low-income neighborhood in, well, Van Nuys.

Snobbish at first, the family eventually gets in step with their colorful blue-collar neighbors.

“A lot of modern musicals,” Palmieri said, “are kind of thin on book even though they have great songs and great show numbers. Our show is kind of a throwback to good old-fashioned musicals, with a lot of funny characters, a solid story, and you can walk out humming the tunes.”

Palmieri and Mulligan believe that many of today’s shows try so hard to have some social relevance that they lose sight of storytelling.

“They make a point,” Palmieri said, “but they either hit you over the head with their point, or everything is so focused on the point that there’s no magic. Obviously, a work should have some meaning, but people should just write essays if they want to make some dogmatic point. Our musical is not going to change the world politically, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Mulligan agreed. “These shows either have some heavy issue they’re pounding over your head, or they’re just big spectacles,” he said. “It’s more like going to an amusement park.

“Basically we wanted to write a show that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to bring your kids to. We know our parents could come to see it, and have a good time in the theater, like they used to.”

Mulligan and Palmieri were products of the ‘60s, and say they were weaned on Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Both said they believe writers of musical shows should reflect the taste of their times.

“Gershwin didn’t start out to write a jazz musical, and Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert didn’t try to write Viennese waltzes,” said Palmieri. “That was the music of their time. They just let themselves be the best creators they could be.”

The performers that Mulligan and Palmieri have gathered in their company seem to agree.

“For one thing,” said Mulligan, “we’re in Woodland Hills, and getting actors out here to rehearse was a thing,” which could be considered a compliment to the authors’ efforts.

Among the cast are Elisa Heinsohn, from the original Broadway cast of “Phantom of the Opera,” and Jeffrey Polk, who played Little Moe on Broadway and in the national tour of “Five Guys Named Moe.”

DETAILS

* WHAT: “Royal Flush.”

* WHERE: Center Stage, 20929 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays. Ends May 24.

* HOW MUCH: $15-$18.

* CALL: (818) 973-2213.