Claudia Shear's new play, Restoration, takes us to contemporary Florence with the middle-aged art restorer who wins the prize of restoring Michelangelo's famous statue of David for its 500th birthday celebration. This job is certainly a coup in the art world, and Giulia, the heroine, works hard on her task, clambering up and down the scaffolding, arguing with the handsome museum guard, fighting to use the methods she has invented, resenting the press, ignoring the tourists -- in short, she connects to the high art of the Renaissance and gives herself over, heart and soul, to David. He is young, he is heroic, he is marble, he is beautiful.

But what does one do with a play that is neither very good nor very bad? Describe it with kindness, I suppose.

The play is entertaining, witty at times, clever in its staging, but essentially tame. It reminds me of the worst of Wendy Wasserstein -- plays for people who don't want to be over-stimulated. Restoration is a play without risk or significant conflict. All of Giulia's battles are easily won. She is a feisty and determined woman, not a beauty, not an obvious sexual object. But her conservatorial talent and dogged fierceness pay off. Month by month she moves up the body of the statue, cleaning, patching, restoring, admiring, while slowly becoming the friend of all those with whom she comes into contact. It's like a feel-good movie where you can see every plot device coming a mile off. Every little tiff is ultimately resolved in a sentimental moment of connection.

I suspect that having the playwright as the lead is a problem. She probably knew from the start how she wanted to play it, and that kind of certainty is at odds with the artistic process. There is nothing wrong with the acting; all of the actors acquit themselves well. But no moment really grabs one. Everything is safe.

Besides reminding me of Wendy Wasserstein, Shear's work also falls into the category of the middle range of plays at Lincoln Center: pretty, humorous, mildly dramatic, handsomely staged, and utterly unmemorable. The audience claps politely at the end, then trots off for a cup of chamomile tea.

Are we living in the age of bland, unthreatening corporate culture? Have the arts been invaded and conquered when we weren't looking? Films, television, theater? Is this why I -- who yearn for the edgy, the surprising, the unconventional -- became quite addicted to the seriously over the top (and scandalously tasteless) Nip/Tuck on the FX channel? I think I'll leave those questions for another time. - Victoria Sullivan

Restoration runs through Sunday, June 13.
New York Theatre Workshop
79 East 4th Street

Ms. Sullivan is a poet and playwright who lives in Manhattan and has a little cabin outside of Woodstock, NY. When not brooding, she is generally traveling, writing, or staring at the trees. She also loves to laugh.