Missing the Magic : There are no tricks to save this mystery, focused on a murder at Mystic Palace.

The title “Murder at the Mystic Palace” suggests many things--a little mystery, perhaps a touch of magic. But the play, now at the Excalibur Theatre in Studio City, contains nothing of the kind.

Writer and actress Jeanine Anderson sketched out a plot that would hardly be adequate as an episode of “Scooby Doo” and stretched it into a two-act play. The characters--magicians, hostesses and guests at the Mystic Palace magic club--are similarly two-dimensional.

To summarize the plot: Someone apparently has dropped dead, and Megan (played by Anderson), a hostess at the club, wants to confess to murder.

Anderson writes around anything that might be interesting to see. The victim, for instance, dies during the magic show of Question Mark (Pat Thomas)--but that’s all offstage. In fact there is only one magic trick in the whole show--and it doesn’t work.

Fine--this a play, not a magic show. But anything to break up the interrogations of the suspects by Detective Poindexter (Clement E. Blake) would be welcome.

Though Blake and others have some funny moments, generally the jokes got deserving half-hearted laughs. Attempts at witty repartee included one of the hostesses fending off an advance by the sleazy magician, Duke (Allen Lulu), by saying “Screw you!” He responds, “That’s what I’m offering!”

Marcia Rodd’s direction seems unfortunately suited to the mundane material. And, remarkably, she also claimed responsibility for the set, which primarily consists of black curtains and painted panels for doors or bookshelves. It’s neither minimal enough to allow for imagination, nor complete enough to add anything to the show.

To cap it off, “Murder at the Mystic Palace” ends with what can only be categorized as an anti-solution.

The only surprise comes during the curtain call, when it is revealed that Jennifer Rhodes was playing two of the most entertaining characters in “Mystic Palace.”

As the club owner, Eileen, she operates in high comic gear. As an actress who is put out by all the fuss around the murder, her deadpan humor and dour expressions convey it all. Her quick-change act is the only magic “Murder at Mystic Palace” has to offer.

BE THERE

Murder at the Mystic Palace at the Excalibur Theatre, 12655 Ventura Blvd., second floor, Sports Complex, Studio City. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 27. $15. (323) 782-5542.