Review: A dissatisfying 'Closeness of the Horizon' at the Odyssey "The Closeness of the Horizon," a guest production at the Odyssey, transpires primarily in the years 1969 and 1995. The play was supposedly inspired by playwright Richard Martin Hirsch's own 1969 road trip with a couple of close pals. When one of his friends, whom Hirsch hadn't seen in years, died prematurely, Hirsch began to question the nature of friendship and how people who seem almost mystically linked in temperament can ultimately drift apart. If that sounds like a promising premise, it sometimes is. The production, deftly directed by Darin Anthony, is certainly professional in almost every aspect, while Hirsch is a glib practitioner whose characters seem completely organic and of the moment. They also tend to be whiny and self-involved, intent upon aggrandizing scanty emotional travails into epic crises. Two hours in their fretful presence proves a bit of a strain. The worst offender is Paul (an able Bruce Nozick), a sporting goods magnate who has recently sold his company for a bundle. Paul is teetering on the brink of a midlife crisis when a visit to a dying friend, G (Daniel Kash), with whom he lost touch years ago, pushes him over the edge. Even after G's death, Paul can't reconcile himself to G's apparent abandonment. Of course, money doesn't equal happiness, but from the outside looking in, Paul is one blessed guy in just about every particular, so his ongoing anguish over one lost friendship seems childishly obsessive, at least in this context. Adding to the unmotivated dissatisfaction is Paul's wife, Annie (Shauna Bloom, markedly stiff here), who kvetches aplenty when her hubby tries to launch another business venture instead of settling into early retirement. Developing her own interests seems a foreign concept to Annie, who also seems irritatingly oblivious to her present good fortune. Exceptions to the generalized malaise are G's wife, Nissa (a refreshingly natural Mandy June Turpin), whom Paul has adored since high school, and Paul's pal Stein (a comically deft David Starzyk), now a network sports commentator. Established in frequent flashbacks to that seminal 1969 road trip, the moon landing is a recurring notif, and Paul's frequent fantasy chats with Neil Armstrong apparently have been designed to lift the play from the commonplace to the cosmic. Yet when even Armstrong grouses about the effects of his historic mission on his personal life, the play veers, yet again, into niggling complaint, at sad cost to its larger themes. Determined architects of their own misfortune, Hirsch's characters enthusiastically embrace catastrophe, even where none exists. "The Closeness of the Horizon," Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Ends June 24. $25-$30. (323) 960-1054. www.plays411.com/horizon.