STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Les Ms.’ Is Artfully Staged at the Odyssey

It’s Sunday noon. Theaters are quiet all over town except at the Odyssey, where four actresses, after a brunch in the lobby, are performing a musical revue about broken and mended hearts.

The title “Les Ms.” sums up the feminist viewpoint. These characters are contemporary, bewitched, bothered and, as several of the Broadway show lyrics tell us, survivors in the male-female fandango of heartache and rebirth.

It’s an artfully staged production, with dramatic vignettes bridging the two acts of tight musical harmonies, some sung in duet and quartet, under the pristine direction of performer Susan Kohler and the musical accompaniment of Sandra Rohr.

Thematically, the deck is stacked against men. Husbands and lovers are bounders, and the women pine and bond before forging new affairs. What makes all this agreeable is the balloon-like spell cast by the show and the fun in re-hearing Broadway melodies that illuminate the wavering emotions, i.e., “The Grass Is Always Greener” from “Woman of the Year”; “My Husband Makes Movies” from “Nine”; “Diary of a Homecoming Queen” from “Is There Life After High School?”

While director Kohler is the strongest vocalist, the others in the ensemble--Marla Adams, Julia Holland and Gail Edwards--enjoy shining moments.