STAGE REVIEW : ‘The Boys Next Door’ Too Cute for Their Own Good : This Cypress College production fails to capture the dark side of the tragicomedy.

“The Boys Next Door” enters into the lives of four men who are mentally or emotionally dysfunctional, and the burned-out social worker who cares for them. It’s an ambitious, epic-size black comedy with a large cast and larger subject matter--a bit too large for the hands of Cypress College director Mark Majarian.

Arnold, Norman, Lucien and Barry share an apartment. Arnold, who is a great talker, and Norman, who is a great eater, both have regular jobs. Lucien perpetually practices the alphabet song. Barry pretends to be a golf pro, giving lessons in such things as “how to choose a golf cart.”

The story focuses on the dissolution of their odd family as the paternal social worker, Jack, leaves his boys after many years. It is painful and difficult and, the boys being who they are, funny and unpredictable as well.

Majarian’s production leans toward cuteness rather than tragicomedy.

Although playwright Tom Griffin has taken care to reveal trapped dreamers inside his “boys,” Majarian never finds the angry pulse of prisoners. The child-men he gives us are so adorable and benign that Jack’s dilemma, the reasons for his burnout, are never viscerally communicated.

Howard R. Patterson gives Jack passion and a palpable weariness. He comes closest of all the actors to hitting the play’s dark underbelly without sacrificing the humor. Grant McKee as the loquacious Arnold has a wonderfully feisty spirit, and his physical characterization is very convincing. Terry Lee Tebbetts is not as consistently believable as Norman, but has some fine moments wooing Sheila, played by Marchell Stark.

As Lucien, Ernest E. Jackson has an open childlike face, but there is not enough boiling under the placid surface. Bruce D. Mayhill is weak as Barry. When he finally gets up a head of steam in Act II, his acting partner and his director let him down disgracefully in a scene so shapeless and disconnected as to be incomprehensible.

‘THE BOYS NEXT DOOR’

A Cypress College Theater production of a play by Tom Griffin. Directed by Mark Majarian. Sets designed by Rex L. Heuschkel. Costumes designed by Diana Polsky. Lighting designed by Christopher Fording. With Grant McKee, Ernest E. Jackson, Howard R. Patterson, Terry Lee Tebbetts, Bruce D. Mayhill, Shirley Parker, Marchell Stark. Continues today and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Cypress College, 9200 Valley View St., Cypress. Tickets: $6. Information: (714) 821-6320.