The advantages are significant: The songs aren't associated with one voice and one style, but are stories written to be acted. Reviving this 1989 revue has disadvantages, though, as the Act II Playhouse's production reveals.

Closer Than Ever collects 22 saccharine songs about relationships, performed by two men and two women accompanied by music director Jim Ryan on piano and bassist Matt Cantwell. Some say little: "The Sound of Muzak" matches its subject's tediousness, and the opening number "Doors"—as in "Every day another door"—apparently inspired Nick Embree's generic set of, golly, door frames. "The March of Time" and the title song rehash insights gleaned from Ziggy cartoons: Hey, life can be tough, but you gotta love love.

Some explore failed relationships, from the glum ("She Loves Me Not," "Life Story") and cynical ("You Wanna Be My Friend," "One of the Good Guys") to the creepy ("What Am I Doin'?" portrays a stalker). A few are comedies: "The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster and the Mole" wittily lectures about species that don't need males except for "one mindless spasm," and married, harried executives foist their baby on one other in "Fandango."

Just when we're slipping into a syrupy stupor, propelled by congenial mugging and silly costume-change-covering exits in William Roudebush's breezy production, a few engaging moments emerge. Lynette Knapp plays "Miss Byrd," a mousy secretary revitalized by lunchtime trysts, and purrs the jazzy, sultry "Back on Base," the one song that doesn't sound like all the rest.

Scott Boulware and Christopher Sapienza (the one voice that really fills this small theater) team with Ryan for the heartfelt "Father of Fathers," and Knapp and Therese Walden play mother and daughter in "It's Never That Easy/I've Been Here Before." Near the end, we sense the form's true potential as a showcase for singers who act (or actors who sing) to transform meaningful songs into fully realized short plays—something most pop songs in those anthology shows won't support.

The moment passes, however, and by the time our shoes touch main street Ambler's sidewalk, the memory of Closer Than Ever fades into musical theater mush.

CLOSER THAN EVER Through June 11, Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, 215-654-0200 or www.act2.org