In Class by Themselves

I have renewed respect this morning for the woman who wrote “Respect for Acting.” I have the same for her co-star in “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” Richard Alfieri’s new heart warmer--”new” and “warm” being relative--making its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse.

Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce are far, far better than this thing deserves. But it’s gratifying indeed to watch two wily, complementary talents--stage creatures both, though Pierce is best known for his work on TV’s “Frasier”--do everything in their considerable powers to create an odd-couple friendship worth the while. They take our minds off what we’re watching while we’re watching it.

Hagen plays Lily Harrison, a St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., condo dweller looking for some human contact. She has signed up for in-home dance lessons. Her minister husband is conveniently away during lesson time. Her instructor is Michael Minetti (Pierce), former Broadway chorus boy, now resident of nearby Clearwater.

Lesson 1 gets off to a bad start: Three minutes in, Minetti’s flying off the handle, hurling insults in an extraordinarily contrived argument over method of payment. Five minutes later, they’re budding pals, practically humming “Getting to Know You.”

Before they truly open up to each other, though, these two must confront each other’s Secrets and Lies. Lily tells Michael she’s a minister’s wife, but in truth her husband . . .

Michael tells Lily’s he’s married, and straight, but in truth . . .

And like that. (These revelations come fairly early, so I’m not giving away a shocking climax or anything.) Across six weeks’ time, a true friendship evolves, with each scene capped by a brief demonstration of the swing, the tango, the waltz and so on.

At one point, Hagen and Pierce do the twist, but in truth, they do the twist all evening in “Six Dance Lessons”: From wholly synthetic material they twist all the laughs and pathos and honesty they can.

This is the kind of play wherein the characters serve as their own announcers. “Who wants to take dance lessons from a passive-aggressive queen with a bad attitude?” asks Michael. Lily’s reply: “Maybe [an uptight] nosy old biddy.” Can we change the channel, please? I’ve already seen this “Golden Girls” rerun.

It’s remarkable what Hagen and Pierce do to particularize such generalized characters. Hagen, with that unmistakably thrummy alto voice dipping down into a lower register for emphasis, can detonate an explosive laugh simply by delivering a joke (however hoary) with deadpan directness. Pierce can do only so much to transcend such a cliche, at once vague and on the nose, but he’s a pleasure all the same.

Director Arthur Allan Seidelman bravely swims this gulf of predictability. It’s a nice-looking show, thanks to scenic designer Roy Christopher’s deliberately sterile condo, blessed with an excellent waterfront view.

“Six Dance Lessons” is squarely in the same dismissable two-hander division with “Visiting Mr. Green” (produced by the Pasadena Playhouse) or, less sentimentally if no less falsely, “Defiled,” produced last year by the Geffen. What do you do? You have a script; it’s not very good; yet in this instance it’s a way of getting Hagen and Pierce on your stage. Do you pass? Do you play?

Call the results “Two Acting Lessons in Two Hours,” taught by a couple of genuine pros.

*

“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 4 and 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends July 8. $21-$43. (310) 208-5454 or (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Uta Hagen: Lily Harrison

David Hyde Pierce: Michael Minetti

Written by Richard Alfieri. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. Scenic design by Roy Christopher. Costumes by Helen Butler. Lighting by Tom Ruzika. Sound by Philip G. Allen. Choreography by Kay Cole. Production stage manager Alice Elliott Smith.