Striking a balance of sweet, sitcom

“Balancing Act” at the Falcon, an oddball romance about a company embezzler and the prim bookkeeper who discovers his scheme, is a sweet and affecting character study that allows two veteran performers ample opportunity to display their talents. But first you have to survive Act 1.

This is one instance in which boy and girl don’t meet cute -- they meet dull, and it takes a considerable stretch for the actors and the audience to recover from playwright Frank Salisbury’s un-dynamic and reiterative opener.

The action takes place in the 1970s, as made clear by Keith Mitchell’s set, which sports a rusty shag carpet and a vivid modular chair that would command a small fortune on EBay. It’s not clear why Salisbury decided to make this a period piece when there’s no obvious organic reason. Perhaps he meant to bolster his plot point that his female character, Beth Washburn (Yeardley Smith), has remained sexually inexperienced well into middle age -- but that is believable in any locale or time period.

A lowly number cruncher at a big Manhattan company, Beth lives in Brooklyn with her psychologically abusive mother. She has a covert crush on Eugene Ormsby (Richard Gilliland), a company honcho who doesn’t even know she exists. When Beth finds shortages in the books, she pays an after-hours visit to Eugene to report her findings. Unbeknownst to Beth, Eugene is the embezzler. To put Beth off his trail until he can fly to Rio with his misbegotten cash, he seduces her. Of course, these two have more in common than they know.

Early on in the play, the squeaky-voiced Smith -- best known for her voicing of Lisa on “The Simpsons” -- seems self-consciously cutesy, while Gilliland, a weathered actor with considerable charisma, comes across as hangdog. The opening scene consists largely of Eugene’s pointed queries about why Beth is there, and Beth’s dithering responses. The setup has the rhythms and slightness of a sitcom, without the laughs, canned or otherwise.

Director Adam Carl doesn’t find a way to ameliorate the sheer slightness of the characters’ early interactions, but his staging -- and Smith and Gilliland’s performances -- eventually builds in sympathy and strength. Smith’s initially caricatured turn builds into a touching portrayal of a woman who may not be a beauty but whose unwavering rectitude makes her a force to be reckoned with, while Gilliland’s Eugene eventually shows the real pain under his outward glibness. Despite her plain appearance, Beth is well aware of her true worth, whereas, regardless of his polished trappings, Eugene is desperately adrift and needs Beth’s moral compass to set him right.

While it has a somewhat predictable outcome, that dynamic is sufficient to engage our interest and empathy. However, a script doctor might argue that Salisbury needs to get down to business in a more timely fashion. Perhaps whittling the proceedings down to one act could prevent this “Balancing Act” from toppling into insignificance.

*

‘Balancing Act’

Where: Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays

Ends: May 6

Price: $25 to $37.50

Contact: (818) 955-8101

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes