Mauckingbird Co.'s 'The Sisterhood': A delectable Molière bonbon for right now
Oooh, la la! What a delectable little puff pastry of a play this is. Mauckingbird Theatre Company's The Sisterhood is a contemporary gay adaptation of Molière's 17th-century comedy The Learned Ladies. But, as the program tells us, Paris may be the Place, but the Time n'est pas importante. Buckles on shoes, cellphones in hands.
Oooh, la la! What a delectable little puff pastry of a play this is. Mauckingbird Theatre Company's
The Sisterhood
is a contemporary gay adaptation of Molière's 17th-century comedy
The Learned Ladies
. But, as the program tells us, Paris may be the Place, but the Time
n'est pas importante
. Buckles on shoes, cellphones in hands.
Ranjit Bolt's script is filled with confectionary couplets, and director Peter Reynolds keeps the prancing and the swishing at just the right heights, while the accomplished cast never misses a rhyme. As Reynolds did in Mauckingbird's 2008 production of Molière's The Misanthrope, he provides a gauge: the sweet, trustworthy characters are the ones without makeup.
Crysale (Matt Tallman, who has the trickiest bisexual role) is the father of two sons. Henriette (the excellent David Reece Hutchison) longs for a husband and children and happiness and hopes to marry Clitandre (Kevin Murray). His brother, Armande (Nate Golden, who camps it up with high style), wins the approval of his mother (Donna Snow), who has changed their home into a pretentious salon. She's the one with the cash: Follow the money.
She is enamored of Belise (Doug Greene, who rather overdoes it), "the lewdest man in France," and Trissotin (Luke Brahdt - what a hairdo!), who writes rubbish poetry. There is his "Sonnet on a Purple Porsche," which rhymes mauve with lauve. A servant, Martine (Grant Uhle), is fired for confusing "sign" with "signify." and so the subtext (sorry, sorry) chastises the intellectual affectations of the Academy. Derrida and Foucault, you have been schooled.
Andrew Laine's set is filled with excellent excess, and Marie Anne Chiment's costumes are charming. The cellist (Matthew Mastronardi - quelle spit-curl!) begins the proceedings with the "La Marseillaise," and at intervals the music slides into "La Vie en Rose" and winds up, as any French party should, with musical champagne. Which is to say The Sisterhood has, expectably, a happy ending: Love triumphs and pretention is kicked to the curb.
Despite Mauckingbird's mission to "serve the gay community," this show is a delight for anyone, gender orientation irrelevant, who enjoys high comedy and is in the mood for a frisky theatrical valentine.
Mauckingbird Theatre Co. at The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th St. Through Feb.21. Tickets $15-25. Information: 215) 923-8909 or www.mauckingbird.org.
Through Feb. 21. Mauckingbird Theatre Company at The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th St. Tickets: $15-25. Information: 215-923-8909 or www.mauckingbird.org.