Susan Granger’s review of “Clever Little Lies” (Westside Theatre, off-Broadway: 2015-16 season)
Marlo Thomas headlines Joe DiPietro’s domestic comedic about infidelity – not hers, her son’s.
Set in the suburban Connecticut living room of Alice (Ms. Thomas) and her husband Bill (Greg Mullavey), it revolves around their wayward son, Bill Jr. (George Merrick), and daughter-in-law, Jane (Kate Wetherhead), whose three month-old daughter gurgles off-stage in another room.
When Bill returns from a tennis match with their New York-based son, busybody Alice immediately senses that something’s wrong. Determined to delve into whatever dilemma’s bothering him, she insists that Billy and his wife drive up to New Canaan for cocktails, cheesecake and espresso.
It seems that Billy’s canoodling with a sexy 23 year-old personal trainer named Jasmine, an adultery concept that has already become a cliché. Observing his gym-honed abs, Alice notes: “There’s no reason for a straight married man to be in that good a condition.”
Bookstore owner Alice then reveals an extramarital secret of her own, a kind of randy mind game or parable – which may or may not be true.
“In the long run,” she says, ruminating on the merits and perils of marriage, “people always stop showing you their shiny side and reveal their unpolished truths.”
Daughter of comedian Danny Thomas, Margaret Julia Thomas is perhaps best known as ABC-TV’s “That Girl” (1966-71) – and now, at age 77, Marlo hasn’t left her wide-eyed sitcom sensibility far behind, meaning that the audience can anticipate the punchlines long before she delivers them.
Director David Saint does his best to make these genial but obviously stock characters likeable, primarily by astute casting. After seasons of sparring with Louise Lasser on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” Greg Mullavey has mastered a deadpan expression, while Kate Wetherhead, who co-created her own web series “Submissions Only,” exhibits quiet strength and George Merrick’s distress is palpable.
First presented in 2013 at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, this trifle follows Joe DiPietro’s last year’s “Living on Love” with Renee Fleming. Previously, DiPietro authored the long-running comedy “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and wrote the book/lyrics for the musical “Memphis.”
Running 90 minutes without an intermission, “Clever Little Lies” plays at the Westside Theatre through January 3, 2016.