Whida Peru, the flamboyant figure in the lace bodysuit and flowery silk wrap, is having serious boyfriend trouble. Her beloved Juannie is not communicating as he used to. Despite Whida’s effusive endearments and desperate entreaties — not to mention the new outfit she just bought him — Juannie shows marked signs of wanting to leave Whida altogether. “You must let me go,” he cries, again and again. Heidi Blickenstaff in “Mosaic.” Oh, another problem: Juannie’s dead. That last obstacle, in truth, poses no serious challenge to Whida, since she is by profession a medium. In her kitsch-cluttered lair on the Lower East Side, she converses easily with a host of friends from the beyond as if they were sitting in adjacent chairs at the nail salon. But now it appears that Whida’s enduring passion for the deceased Juannie must come to an end, and this big-hearted, tempestuous woman, portrayed by Judith Blazer with exuberant flair, is not going to give up the fight easily. “Whida Peru: Resurrection Tangle” is the second and more substantial entry in the second production of “Inner Voices,” a program devoted to cultivating the solo musical form, now at 59E59 Theaters after making its debut at the Zipper Theater in 2008. Featuring spiky, multihued music by Josh Schmidt (“Adding Machine”) and a saucy book and lyrics by David Simpatico, it’s a funny and enjoyable portrait of a highly theatrical character. If Madame Arcati, the nutty medium from Noël Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” were not a tweedy Englishwoman but a slinky Latina transsexual, she would more or less be Whida. Tottering around her cozy parlor in date-night heels, raccoon-eyed in her gloppy mascara, Whida does not at first see what the evening has in store, despite her psychic powers. She is sure that Juannie will adore the new clown cookie jar she’s acquired to hold his ashes. True, Juannie takes a little more conjuring than usual, requiring the ministrations of an intermediary spirit. “Francis, front and center darling,” Whida sternly snaps. “I’m gettin’ nothing but like static cling here for God’s sakes alreadys, now focus in here.” Still Whida is blindsided when the connection is firmly established and the elusive Juannie — whose dialogue is whispered by the show’s musical director, Andy Boroson, at the piano — makes it agonizingly clear that the relationship must come to an end. This elicits an aria of towering, expletive-ridden rage from the betrayed Whida, set to a thunderstorm of dissonant chords. Eventually Juannie helps usher Whida through the end stages of grief, making her accept that her place is among the living. Under the direction of Jonathan Butterell, Ms. Blazer, a terrific singer with a gift for quirky comedy, skillfully inhabits this vivid and engaging character, drawn with only the brightest crayons from the box. Mr. Simpatico layers on the eccentricities perhaps a little too thickly — Whida’s gabby dialogue is laced with bits of Spanish and French and German and even Yiddish — but Whida is never less than entertaining, even when she is not always believable. Mr. Schmidt’s percussive music moves in and out of tango rhythm smoothly, and Mr. Boroson plays the score with compelling intensity, the rhythmic slaps and whacks on the piano suggesting the knockings of the spirits from beyond. Whida’s tale of heartache is preceded by the more conventional “Mosaic,” also directed by Mr. Butterell, with book by Cheri Steinkellner and music by Georgia Stitt. Heidi Blickenstaff plays a singer-songwriter, Ruth, seated in front of her MacBook musing on her life as she awaits the arrival of the muses. While vaguely toying with the making of a digital video for the baby she’s carrying, Ruth fills us in on her history — the awkward adolescence, the one hit song, the sweet husband — and the clouds darkening her future. Just after discovering that she was pregnant, Ruth learned that she has Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Ms. Stitt’s earnest, easy-listening theatrical pop is a natural match for Ms. Steinkellner’s casual, chatty book. (They collaborated on the lyrics.) The music is provided by Steve Marzullo at the piano and Simon Kafka on guitar. Pleasant though much of it is, as “Mosaic” ambles along inconsequentially (“ ‘House’ — I cleared a bunch of episodes off my TiVo last night”) it’s hard not to feel as if you’re watching a singing Facebook page. Ruth is a perfectly likable but not particularly compelling character, moving through predictable (and sentimental) emotional territory as she confides her hopes and fears. And the theatrical appeal of watching somebody procrastinate at the computer, flitting from Google to YouTube, is severely tested even by the musical’s half-hour running time. (The amplified screen of Ruth’s computer is projected at the back of the stage.) Happily, Ms. Blickenstaff, who was one of the excellent female friends in “[title of show],” is fine company, her light touch helping ease the schmaltz factor. Her natural warmth and her affinity for Ruth’s deadpan, self-deprecating humor kept reminding me of Sandra Bullock. And aside from her mostly ghastly taste in movie material — and maybe men — what’s not to love about Sandra Bullock? INNER VOICES Solo Musicals “Mosaic” book and lyrics by Cheri Steinkellner; music and lyrics by Georgia Stitt; and “Whida Peru: Resurrection Tangle” book and lyrics by David Simpatico; music by Josh Schmidt; both directed by Jonathan Butterell; musical direction by Andy Boroson (“Whida Peru”) and Steve Marzullo (“Mosaic”); sets and costumes by Dane Laffrey; lighting by Jennifer Schriever; sound by Toby Jaguar Algya; projections by Rocco D’Santi; stage manager, Robert Bennett; production manager, Robert A. Sherrill. Presented by Premieres, Paulette Haupt, producer/artistic director, in association with Primary Stages, Casey Childs, executive producer; Andrew Leynse, artistic director; Elliot Fox, managing director. At the 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan; (212) 279-4200. Through April 24. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. WITH: Judith Blazer (Whida Peru) and Heidi Blickenstaff (Ruth). 
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