The Widow a la Mode and Other Plays

Four French comedies on marriage, love, and manners. In THE WIDOW A LA MODE, by Jean Donneau de Vise, the death of an aged husband forces his young widow and other members of his family to scramble quickly to save their fortunes while pretending to be overcome with grief. WAYWARD WENCHES, by Jean-Franois Regnard, is a collection of skits about bad girls who've gone wrong. Michel Baron's THE ABDUCTIONS is a one-act farce about the vagaries of love in a country setting, including cross-dressing and knock-about slapstick shenanigans. Alain-Ren Lesage's THE SCHOOL FOR LOVERS is a comic fantasy opera about what makes romance last--and what kills it. A magician whisks young men and women to an enchanted isle--where they become bored to death with love! The characters in these plays are still recognizable, even in modern settings; and this quartet of comedies still makes us laugh. Great entertainment!