Class, Credulity Crossed in ‘Love’

“Love Makes Things Happen” might better be called “Playwright Makes Things Happen,” for just about every plot turn in this romantic comedy with music stems from the bald-faced contrivances of writer and director David E. Talbert rather than from authentic feelings of love between the characters or any other halfway plausible reason.

This isn’t likely to matter much to the fans of Talbert’s previous work (“His Woman, His Wife” and “Mr. Right Now), who flocked to the Wiltern Theatre on Tuesday for the opening of the first installment in what Talbert bills as the “Urban Broadway Series.”

Talbert calls himself “America’s leading producer of urban comedies and gospel musicals.” “Love Makes Things Happen” is in the former category, with relatively few references to God. The musical numbers are from the glossy pop catalog of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, who is one of the executive producers along with Talbert and Noel Jones. Edmonds wrote one new song for this show.

The story is ostensibly a cross-class romantic comedy, in which a newly divorced Internet start-up executive (Dawn Robinson) and a new mailroom worker (Kevon Edmonds, brother of Kenneth) in her building fall in love, much to the consternation of her overbearing friend (Demetress Long) and much to the surprise of the layabouts who inhabit the mailroom (comedian Joe Torry, Cheryl “Coko” Gamble, Damon Butler).

Without giving away the ending, let’s just say that the class clash isn’t as stark as it’s initially portrayed, and it’s finally defused in the manner of many a Hollywood or romance-novel fantasy.

It’s safe to add, however, that when the exec starts fretting over whether her new guy is only after her money, the scene in which she is talked into shedding those doubts is awfully awkward. She’s persuaded to revive the affair by listening to the dubious advice of a many-times-married janitor (Chris Simpson) who purports to be an expert on the power of love.

The songs are staged in the manner of concert interludes rather than integrated into the action in musical-comedy style.

As the lovers, Robinson and Kevon Edmonds conduct a rather chaste affair, becoming soulful only in their musical solos, in which the volume is amplified to a level far beyond what’s necessary.

The supporting players provide comic relief with the usual sitcom-influenced banter. Butler’s overblown performance as an effeminate sidekick drifts back in the direction of unsavory decades-old stereotypes.

Dewayne Porter’s set is notable mostly for providing this powerful executive with a strangely garish office and a desk that’s barely larger than one of those old TV-dinner trays.

*

“Love Makes Things Happen,” Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. Today and Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $21-$35. (213) 480-3232. Running time: 3 hours.