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Such sweet songs shouldn't sound like they're sung through Saran Wrap.
Closer Than Ever, Theatre in the Valley's season-ending revue, is rife with tuneful excursions—23 pretty, witty and wise (with occasional naughty asides) ear-catchers—into the vicissitudes of the human heart in love and in life.
The songs of composers David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. are a piquant potpourri of sharp observations, funny insights and poignant reflections so specific in their mini-narratives that they don't require a standard stage book to link them.
Love, loss, breakups, marriage, children, parents—even lunchtime quickies by an outwardly prim real-estate agent—find a voice in tunes such as "She Loves Me Not," "One of the Good Guys," "Life Stories," "The March of Time," "Father of Fathers," "Miss Byrd" and others.
But as delivered by a game four-man/four-woman cast, the music's magic plays a frustrating round of hide-and-seek in this nearly-recessive production bereft of brio, as if the audience must lean in to experience the full effect, rather than performers putting it all out there.
Better miking would help, but director Cheryl Baker's staging bespeaks a fear of going over the top, when the show actually underwhelms in its too-polite tone, muffling the emotional energy of a robust score.
Among the cast, Terri Gandy is a petite blonde with near-professional talent, Richard Wilson is a big guy with a delicate sweetness and Dan Frank is a stirring vocalist when he's not busying himself with fussy gestures. Rick Bindhamer's clean, two-tiered keyboard set is simple and attractive, with a three-piece band tucked stage-right.
But Closer Than Ever needs to drop the timidity and add the temerity.