Deuce

Terrence McNally commits a double fault with Deuce, a painless trifle about famous former pro-tennis partners starring Marian Seldes and, in her first Broadway offering in 24 years, Angela Lansbury. There is no reason for this production to exist except to bask in the glow of these two theatrical grande dames, and their instincts and timing are still razor sharp. But why McNally’s 95-minute effort is so thinly conceived and stagnant — literally; the women rarely rise from their U.S. Open seats — is a mystery even Jessica Fletcher couldn’t solve. C+