Steel Beam delivers fresh, heartfelt 'Ordinary Days'

“Ordinary Days,” the disarming 2009 chamber musical by composer/lyricist Adam Gwon, perfectly suits Steel Beam Theatre both in terms of style and scale.

With a cast of four and an orchestra of one, the show is ideal for the intimate space. The company's 91st main stage production, “Ordinary Days” ranks among the best Steel Beam shows I've seen.

It's a familiar tale of men and women coming together and pulling apart, sorting out their future, accepting their past and struggling to make room in their lives for someone else. Wracked by self-doubt and insecurity, the characters, New York City residents all, wonder more than once where their lives are headed and whether a detour is in order.

The result is a fresh, surprisingly moving show with a sprightly score made up of breezy melodies and clever, revealing lyrics zestfully played by music director/pianist Matt Gruel.

The action unfolds against a brightly colored New York City skyline and centers on four characters: aspiring artist Warren (Kevin Chlapecka, endearingly earnest and entirely authentic); harried grad student Deb (the plucky, deliciously acerbic Katie Bates) and 30-something couple Jason (quintessential nice guy Tony Calzaretta) and Claire (a nicely ambivalent Cynthia Fortune-Gruel).

Warren works for a successful painter passing out fliers printed with his boss' inspirational sayings. He's that sensitive, endlessly optimistic guy that New York City crushes under its heel. In his spare time, he collects from the street lost and discarded items like a stray photograph, an unopened Valentine and a book containing dissertation notes. The latter belongs to Deb, a suburban refugee desperate to find her place. She agrees to meet Warren at the Metropolitan Museum of Art so that he can return her book.

Warren believes their meeting will blossom into friendship, which he lays out in the sweet, amusing “Sort-of Fairy Tale.” Deb just wants to retrieve her book and go home. (One of the ways “Ordinary Days” distinguishes itself from similar relationship musicals is the way Gwon upends romantic comedy conventions by portraying the men as emotionally available and eager to pursue relationships, while the women come across as wary and commitment-averse.)

Meanwhile, Claire and Jason — who have recently moved in together and are still negotiating the rules of cohabitation — discover their new living arrangement is pushing them apart. The ever-widening gulf becomes evident in the witty duet “Fine,” in which the couple bicker over a bottle of wine — among other things.

Director Richard Pahl's unfussy, well-paced production features a solid ensemble led by charismatic newcomers Chlapecka and Bates. A bit forced initially, Calzaretta's performance becomes more honest as the show proceeds. And Fortune-Gruel delivers the bittersweet 10 o'clock number, “I'll Be Here” — which explains Claire's reluctance to let go of the past — with an unaffected truthfulness that tugs at the heartstrings and brings a tear to the eye.