Review: Joe DiPietro's CLEVER LITTLE LIES More Genial Than Clever

For centuries playwrights have relied on infidelity as a dependable source of laughter, frequently penning climaxes involving unfaithful men desperately trying to keep their lurid activities secret amidst slamming doors and hidden lovers.

But Joe DiPietro goes another rout in his genial Clever Little Lies, introducing a twist that looks like it's about to finish the 90-minute romp with a bunch of, well... clever little lies, but instead attempts to switch the tone of the piece to something more poignant and sincere.

The play begins with a locker room chat between Bill (Greg Mullavey) and his 30ish son Billy (George Merrick), who admits to being unhappy in his marriage to Jane (Kate Wetherhead), who just gave birth to their first child.

Billy has been having an affair with his gym's 23-year-old personal trainer and DiPietro plays off the father's discomfort as his son describes in detail how much better the sex with the younger woman and declares his love for her with poetic stickiness. ("It's like she has a window into my soul.")

"23 isn't even a person yet," Bill insists. "23 is an age. You've fallen in love with an age!"

Though Billy pleads with dad not to tell mom, Bill's wife, Alice (Marlo Thomas), plays him like a Stradivarius. Fancying herself as a woman who can do it all, she invites the kids over so that she can work her magic and fix the situation before Jane even knows there's anything wrong.

Naturally, there are misunderstandings and close calls as the evening progresses, but at one point Alice makes a big mistake. Her attempt to cover it up appears to be an improvisation of fibs, but eventually it becomes apparent that she's admitting to her own little secret and suddenly we're in a more serious family drama.

Likeable, but never uproarious as a comedy, the shift in tone is at first confusing and eventually a let-down, though Thomas and Mullavey play the piece with warmth, chemistry and dry playfulness. Merrick and Wetherhead are both fine in roles that are generally regulated to playing straight for the company's senior members.

Director David Saint's production is slick and energetic but CLEVER LITTLE LIES can use more cleverness to keep the evening from just laying there.