STAGE REVIEWS : ‘ANY WEDNESDAY’

When “Any Wednesday” first opened in the mid-1960s, the audiences probably twittered on about the story of a boss and the pretty mistress he keeps uptown. But faced with today’s more permissive sexuality, it now seems remarkably tame, even banal.

The L.P. Repertory Company’s treatment of Muriel Resnick’s comedy at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center does nothing to dilute this dated quality. The humor isn’t titillating but tired, and the action is more plodding than provocative.

The production might have been saved by some gutsy performances, where the actors overturn the plot’s flimsiness through some accentuated characterizations. But the cast, which is either too dispassionate or relies on cliched assumptions of what the roles should be, fails to inject any freshness. Only Corinne Williams as Dorothy, the ever-optimistic wife of philandering John, brings verve to her character, and even she stumbles because the portrayal lacks credibility.

Director Sarah Coleman is content to use a light hand and let the show’s jokes carry “Any Wednesday.” The bittersweet humor surrounding the pivotal relationship of naive and desperate-for-love Ellen (played by Nancy Boster) and selfish business magnate John (Jerry Guerin) in the upper Manhattan apartment he’s provided comes across more as a throwaway skit from “Love American Style” than good Broadway.

Beyond the couple’s travails, much of the comedy’s tension is created by Chuck Shanks as Cass, who falls in love with Ellen while trying to regain control of the company he sold to John. His wife, Dorothy, also darts in every now and then, making her husband’s deceptions even more complicated.

Boster’s Ellen would horrify any feminist. Completely hoodwinked by the gray-haired John, she apparently has no more ambition than to wait in the flat for him to appear, usually on Wednesdays, their weekly tryst date. In the cliched mold of the traditional other woman , she moans incessantly about not getting enough from the one-sided relationship. Her exchanges with John have all the kick of decaffeinated coffee. Guerin, with a somewhat whiny delivery that communicates little of the charismatic Wall Street prince he’s meant to be, is just as much to blame for the lack of chemistry.

There’s no magnetism linking Ellen and Cass, either. Shanks’ Cass is boyish enough to seem like a reasonable alternative to John, but he doesn’t convey the gutty resourcefulness or shining character needed to convincingly turn Ellen’s head. Williams’ Dorothy is easily the most interesting, but her equanimity during John’s shenanigans is baffling. Wouldn’t she get at least a little angry when his secret life is finally exposed?

The upscale “garden” apartment is such a focus of the play, both as setting and dialogue topic, that set designer William Durkin’s creation is disappointing. Although roomy and comfortable, it looks like a typical one-bedroom flat you could find in any suburb. Also, why all the paintings and prints? The cluttered walls look more like an uninspired Laguna Beach gallery than someone’s home.

“Any Wednesday” continues through Sunday at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Call (714) 731-2792 for more information.