STAGE REVIEW : A Smartly Sung ‘Closer Than Ever’

It’s fun to wallow in “Closer Than Ever,” at International City Theatre in Long Beach.

If you’re anywhere near the 30-to 50-years-old, middle-to-upper-class characters who inhabit the songs of Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire, you’ll probably find at least a half dozen irresistible moments in this smartly sung and staged revue.

Wallowing, of course, doesn’t demand much effort, and the same can be said of “Closer Than Ever.” The songs are instantly accessible and seldom surprising.

Over the course of the evening, this creates a bit of repetitiveness, especially when the second song on a given theme is weaker than the first, as in the case of two songs about fathers.

This sameness is exacerbated by the costumes here. John S. Furman dressed the two men and two women in corporate gray. This look is appropriate for a few of these songs, but it’s too washed-out and white-bread to serve as the uniform du jour .

Still, there are occasional flashes of color in the costuming. And there are plenty in the music itself.

As a team, Maltby and Shire are best known for the ‘70s revue “Starting Here, Starting Now” (which somehow missed being professionally staged in Los Angeles County) and the musical “Baby.” Individually, they are better known for “Miss Saigon” (Maltby) and movie scores (Shire).

Their songs approach the sophisticated sheen and jaunty rhythms of Sondheim, then veer back toward more banal, tub-thumping expressions of emotion. Perhaps closest in spirit to “Closer Than Ever” is “Bittersuite: Songs of Experience,” the Elliot Weiss/Michael Champagne revue that was a Los Angeles hit in 1988-89.

Peter Grego’s staging helps keep the evening snappy and stylish. Nearly every song springs to life in the eye as well as the ear. He has been assisted by choreographer Gregory Scott Young, the Wunderkind from the Golden Theatre in Burbank.

Every cast member has at least two striking solos. But Susan Hoffman is a tough cookie in four different guises: as a spurned lover who refuses to just be friends, as the secretly salacious “Miss Byrd,” as a woman exasperated at her lover’s not being “There,” and as half of the jazzy couple in “Back on Base” (the other half, bassist Fred Charlton, says as much with his face as with his bass). Hoffman specializes in climbing all over the props in order to make her point.

Sally Spencer beautifully delivers two songs that originated in “Baby” (though both were later cut): “The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster and the Mole,” a clever tribute to females who choose to rear offspring without benefit of a male, and the introspective “Patterns.” She also sings the evening’s most controversial song: “Life Story,” in which a feminist writer concludes she should have stayed married after all.

Michael Alan Gregory twists his face into a comic grimace for an intriguing yarn about an obsessed lover, then pulls off “One of the Good Guys,” a somewhat smug song that nonetheless acknowledges the dangers of whining from a pampered position.

David Ault sings a witty exasperation solo, “I’ll Get Up Tomorrow Morning,” that’s not on the recording of the New York production. It has replaced “Like a Baby,” which drew critical brickbats in New York. Ault also does well by the better of the two father songs.

The group numbers encompass the funniest as well as the blandest material in the show. Among the former: a duel between careerist parents over who takes the baby today, a trio about three women (one of them played by a man, Gregory) whose lifelong friendship gets to be a drag, and satirical jabs at fitness fanatics and the ubiquity of recorded music.

The finales to both acts work well enough in the theater; in retrospect, they’re relatively vacant numbers. But the opening meditation on “Doors” is apt, and repeated references to it are reinforced by Don Gruber’s sliding onstage screens, lit evocatively by Paulie Jenkins.

Musical director Dennis Castellano not only provides most of the solid piano accompaniment but also sings occasionally, in a deadpan style that’s in charming contrast to the heat generated by the principal quartet.

“Closer Than Ever,” International City Theatre, Harvey Way at Clark, northeast corner of Long Beach City College, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 23. $15. (310) 420-4051 or (310) 420-4128. Running time: 2 hours.