The Search for ‘Mr. Right Now!’ Pays Off With Lots of Panache

David E. Talbert is one of the most prolific theater makers in America. Seven of his plays have toured major American cities in the last seven years. He calls his genre “contemporary touring theater,” but these shows are not the Broadway hits usually associated with touring theater. They’re gospel musicals, with unabashed preaching mixed in with broad comedy and moments of romantic melodrama.

Talbert’s latest, “Mr. Right Now!,” maintains a light touch at the Wilshire Ebell. The moral of the story is crystal-clear, but it’s delivered with a degree of panache.

Talbert focuses on Angel, a single mother and bank loan officer (Kesha Ealy) who has rotten luck in her search for Mr. Right--and it’s about to get worse with the arrival of a handsome, smooth-talking wheeler-dealer (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs).

Watching the spectacle unfold are Angel’s single mother (gritty-voiced Lecresia Campbell), best girlfriend (slim and silky Maura Gale) and Angel’s 17-year-old son who feels neglected (Charles Woolfork).

A plumber (Chris Bolton), who often is called to fix the family’s pipes, is just as concerned because he harbors a long-repressed love for Angel himself. Gawky and eager to please, this guy is rather endearing. Gee, do you think Angel will ever realize that a plumber might be her real Mr. Right?

The answer to that question is never seriously in doubt. But Jacobs has fun with his showy Lothario; Ealy’s troubled heroine is sympathetic, and HD Washington, wearing a terrible toupee, stirs up a few yuks as a suitor for Grandma. Gospel singer Karen Clark-Sheard appears in a wholly gratuitous but roof-raising solo number. The score by Junius Bervine, Antoine Timmons and Talbert would be better served if someone lowered the volume.

* “Mr. Right Now!,” Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 E. 8th St. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Ends April 25. $19.50-$25. (213) 480-3232. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.