NEW YORK (AP) – “Almost, Maine” could take place “Almost, Anywhere.”

In fact, a generic setting might be more in keeping with John Cariani’s generic play, a feather-light comedy that attempts to say something about the quirkiness of romance and relationships.

That’s not to say that there aren’t references to lobster, cold weather and a bar with the inevitable name of the Moose Paddy in this series of sugary vignettes that opened Thursday at off-Broadway’s Daryl Roth Theatre.

But the mentions are in passing, and they don’t provide enough atmosphere to disguise the fact that much of the material here is sitcom thin. All the scenes take place in midwinter at 9 p.m. in Almost, a small town in northern Maine where snow is piled high and stars shine bright and clear, thanks to designer James Youmans’ frosty setting.

The playlets, eight episodes with a prologue and an epilogue, are one-on-one encounters, different couples attempting to connect or disconnect, as the case may be. Four hardworking actors – Todd Cerveris, Justin Hagan, Miriam Shor and Finnerty Steeves – play all the roles. They are a talented crew and manage to make the many quick changes with surprising ease under Gabriel Barre’s fast-paced direction.

Because there is a revuelike quality to the evening, the performers are unable to build any momentum from scene to scene. For one thing, the characters are plot devices rather than real people, defined mostly by oddball traits that the actors handle with considerable theatricality.

The titles of each scene pretty much give away what they are about: “Her Heart,” “Sad and Glad,” “This Hurts” and “Story of Hope,” for example. Among the topics covered are loves lost and found, new love, old love and the pain of love. Most are of the heterosexual variety, although there is one instance of a budding gay romance that is a long way from “Brokeback Mountain.”

Cariani, best known for his Tony-nominated performance as a hyperactive Motel the tailor in the recent revival of “Fiddler on the Roof,” has a flair for the kooky, a knack that occasionally peeks through the predictability of the stories. Yet the overall effect is slight and insubstantial, like the occasional snow flakes that fall on Youmans’ icy set.

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