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THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Second Stage, 307 W. 43rd St.; (212) 246-4422. Through Jan. 29.
IT'S a safe bet that Douglas Carter Beane won't be selling the movie rights to his new play anytime soon.
A raucous comedy about a closeted gay movie star and his burgeoning romance with a male hustler, "The Little Dog Laughed" might hit Hollywood a little too close to home.
But while the plot would seem to hold the promise of bitchy reference spotting, Beane seems to be working in a gentler mode, making his characterizations far more sympathetic than cutting. Although it gives the play a more human dimension, it also robs it of some of its fun.
Ironically, the most arresting figure of the piece isn't one of the male leads, but rather the movie star's rapacious agent, Diane, played in uproarious fashion by the invaluable Julie White.
Handling her client's career with a ferocity exceeded only by her hilarity, White's comic creation is an agent that anyone seeking to make it big in Tinseltown would kill to have.
As it turns out, Diane is in the service of Mitchell (Neal Huff), a mild-mannered, handsome actor who has, as she puts it, a "slight, recurring case of homosexuality."
Mitchell is in the habit of calling agencies like Manhattan Schoolboys when he's in town, which is how he meets Alex (Johnny Galecki, of TV's "Roseanne").
Although Alex is straight, and even has a devoted girlfriend (Zoe Luster-Jones), he finds himself drawn to his latest client, and the two strike up a tentative romance.
Needless to say, this sends Diane - who's just procured Mitchell a major role in a promising new film - into a tizzy. She sets about to rectify the situation with her usual brand of self-serving manipulation.
The play never quite lives up to its delicious premise, but the playwright provides more than a little amusement along the way. When Mitchell and Diane take a meeting with a playwright whose work they're interested in buying, the pair provide a pitch-perfect demonstration of Hollywood doublespeak.
Although the actors provide surprisingly nuanced portrayals, it's White who steals the show. As she did in such off-Broadway shows as "Bad Dates" and "Spike Heels," she combines sexiness with daffiness in a way that would make Lucille Ball proud.
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