STAGE REVIEW : ‘Sister George’ Without the Distractions

Sometimes the passage of years casts a play in a different light. “The Killing of Sister George,” at the Gene Dynarski Theatre, can now be seen as an exceptionally well-made black comedy without all the distracting lesbian notoriety that accompanied its premiere in the mid-1960s.

To walk into the production at the Hartford Theatre in 1968 (with Claire Trevor and Natalie Schafer) or to catch the movie that year (Beryl Reid and Susannah York) was a spicy cultural adventure. A lesbian relationship, even as sadomasochistic as this one, mercifully doesn’t stir up the fuss it once did.

Theatergoers now have a rare opportunity to taste a tangy British plum of a play written by a London drama critic (Frank Marcus) that’s rich in dark laughter. The pair of featured co-dependents (the swaggering, cigar-smoking Sandy Martin and the girlish Patrie Allen in a Baby Doll nightie) are superb. So is Judy Jean Berns as the tailored BBC lady who delivers Sister George her death notice.

Sister George (the tough character) is a veteran radio soap opera star whose popularity is waning. Not only is the BBC killing her off by flattening her under a careening lorry (Jay Teitzell and Mark Klastorin’s sound design is choice) but her live-in relationship with a selfish girl/child she calls “Childie” is also dying.

Snarly Sister George is a fighter, however. The fade-out, as she sits mooing like a cow, is tinged with pathos nicely drawn by director Susan Streitfeld. You don’t laugh at these characters. You empathize.

There are a few erotic moments, but sex here is almost an afterthought--which makes the director’s addition of Kimberlee Carlson’s rap number about gender issues, which frames the two acts, a stupid intrusion. The production (enhanced by cult movie actress Mink Stole’s fortune teller and by Sam Hale’s folksy set design) is otherwise razor-sharp.

* “The Killing of Sister George,” Gene Dynarski Theatre, 5600 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Ends May 6. $10-$14. (213) 465-5600. Running time: 2 hours.