Where M. Jourdain Becomes a Mamamouchi

Moliere Five Plays: Moliere Five Plays: The Would-be Gentleman by Molière
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was very funny. It feels a bit like a silly high school play, but in a good way.

This is my 5th Molière play, and I only really liked one before; the other three I gave 3 stars for various reasons, but they weren't fun. The one I liked--The Misanthrope--wasn't exactly fun, either, but it was engaging and thought-provoking. Finally, I found one I unironically enjoyed.

It has the usual tropes of French plays of the age: a goofy rich man, a saucy serving girl, an angry wife, a clever servant (rather like Figaro), a number of people taking advantage of the foolish rich man, and lots of pointless arguing. Generally, the arguing and back-talking gets old, but it is managed in a funnier way this time. (How so? Hard to say. Better pacing? Broader farce? Anyway, I liked it this time.)

The "would-be gentleman" is trying to impress a woman not his wife with gifts and entertainment. A nobleman friend, Dorante, is pretending to help him, but every gift M. Jourdain sends to her with him as go-between is given to her in Dorante's name. Meanwhile, his daughter wants to marry a decent young man but her father wants her to marry someone higher on the social ladder. The humor is watching M. Jourdain trying to learn dance and music and language and all the things he believes real gentlemen are supposed to know. He's gullible and easily impressed and comes off like any super-dumb Joey Tribiani type of character off sitcoms. He's rather likable, though it's easier to laugh at him when he's rude to his family and trying so hard to cheat on his wife. The centerpiece of the play is a big trick her daughter's suitor and a servant play on him, presenting him as the Grand Turk who wants to marry his daughter. They speak gibberish and put on a spectacle that would be great fun to watch live, I think.

Happy ending. Funny story. Lots of dance and song in between scenes. I think this one's a winner.

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