Posted: 10/25/15 at 1:52pm
Saw Clever Little Lies Saturday night. Seeing "That Girl" Marlo Thomas was the draw here and reading that there was a twist ending made me a little more interested.
Aside from the use of a cell phone in part of the plotting this felt like an old fashioned situation based comedy with serious undertones that would probably have played better in 60's or 70's.
I spent the first 30 minutes of this 90 minute piece trying to figure out why it was here other than to give Marlo a vehicle close to home. It's very bald face in its construction and annoying at times but the performances and some well placed laughs move things along. The twist was not that fulfilling for me probably because the characters are all so poorly written. The 90 minute structure obviously relies on the plot as its key factor here and again for me it didn't work.
Also just caught up with Theater Talk where the author and Marlo were Riedels guest where he gushed at having seen this in The Hamptons and championed it to move to NYC. This explains why a Riedel would not be enamored with a Hamilton.
This also comes from the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey where that other 60's, 70's throw back musical comedy It Shoulda Been You came from. Things can't be that boring in central Jersey that these are the best pieces of theater they can export.
Updated On: 10/25/15 at 01:52 PM
