The acclaimed and prolific duo of David Ives and Walter Bobbie present their sparkling comic take in hilarious verse on Moliere's immortal comic classic The Misanthrope.

Cast & Characters: Mamie Gummer (Celimene), Jenn Gambatese (Elainte), Hamish Linklater (Frank), Stephen Boyer (Dubois/Basque), Frank Harts (Clitander), Rick Holmes (Oronte), Hoon Lee (Philante), Matthew Maher (Acaste), Alison Fraser
View the gallery for more pictures The bright and shiny Mamie Gummer (not lost to the boards, it seems, despite her starring role in ABC’s “Off the Map”) is also pretty irresistible as that arch coquette, Celimene. She’s also irresistibly pretty as coiffed by Paul Huntley and poured into a stunning champagne gown.

The lovely, coquettish yet waspy Celimene is played with delightful radiant charm by Mamie Gummer. Wearing a mature, sweetly cynical expression, Gummer illuminates the young widow’s fascination with a man who steadfastly defies all polite conventions.

It’s been a long, action- packed theater season, but make time for “The School for Lies.” A delectable offer ing from David Ives, this is a bright, refreshing sorbet of a show, brought to irrepressible life by actors – led by Hamish Linklater and Mamie Gummer (cool, sexy and smooth) – in perfect sync.

Gummer, all alabaster cool good looks and warm heaving bosom, has more difficulty speaking in rhyme, but is otherwise his perfect match in every witty tête-à-tête. Truth be told, they are reason enough to go to the theater.

Gummer – more than ever a dead ringer for her mom, Meryl Streep – delights with her soft-spoken hauteur.

The acid-etched impersonations performed by the object of Frank’s affection, Celimene, played with delicate glamour and wit by Mamie Gummer, may be familiar to aficionados of reality television. One is a sleazy lawyer who talks like a beef-brained lunk on “Jersey Shore,” and another could be any of the coddled blondes from “The Hills,” a girl so deficient in vocabulary that all 10 syllables of her last line of verse consist of the word like. Mr. Linklater and Ms. Gummer trade their barbed words and hot caresses with buoyant conviction.

Gummer turns in a performance of such blissful control and dryness, which tremendously enriches the character’s comic side Classic Stage Company official website
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Review by The New York Times (May 02, 2011)