Fine, but Where’s the Decadence?

With some plays more than others it’s important to get the clothes right, and “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” is one of those plays.

The new Pasadena Playhouse production boasts all the frills and brocade you could wish for, nicely tailored for the elegant weasels at hand. For this we must thank costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac, who won a Tony Award for “Marat/Sade” and an Emmy for a decidedly non-Louis-XVI project, “Battlestar Galactica.”

But even in a style wallow such as “‘Liaisons,” clothes alone don’t make the libertine. Director Sheldon Epps’ staging has other things going for it; it’s an elegant and often artful mounting, with scenic designer John Iacovelli’s set pieces gliding and turning this way and that, and lighting designer Michael Gilliam casting an impressively varied moral pall over the proceedings. Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of the notorious 1782 novel holds the stage as confidently as ever.

So why are the results here on the mild side?

Largely it’s in the casting. Too many performances among Epps’ ensemble--including a key one--struggle for a kind of tri-cultural compromise, a “no British, please” playing style encompassing a pre-revolutionary 18th century French setting, as written in distinctly British cadences, delivered by actors too often effecting a Clunkus Americanus notion of period flair.

Former lovers Merteuil (Lynnda Ferguson) and Valmont (James Sutorius) make a revenge pact against their lessers, involving the despoliation of the virgin Cecile (Gemma Massot, desperately overplaying the ninny). Valmont has another sexual adventure in the making, the conquest of Tourvel (Monette Magrath, who shows promise).

“To seduce a woman famous for strict morals, religious fervour and the happiness of her marriage: What could possibly be more prestigious?” Valmont queries rhetorically. Merteuil and Valmont are like dueling Richard IIIs without the hunchbacks; they’re evil, they tell us what they’re going to do next, they do it, and the audience eats it up. And then they learn their little lessons. Come the revolution, they’ll be eating cake.

The highly addictive novel told this tale entirely by letters. Choderlos de Laclos brought Valmont and Merteuil together only once; Hampton’s version, by contrast, generously provides them with plenty of joint stage time.

At her best, Ferguson’s Merteuil acts as a grounding wire for an often uncertain ensemble. Her early scenes carry a deceptive warmth (too much, probably, for this hollowed-out creature). But the performance gathers strength and cloaked ferocity as the play unfolds.

Her partner in amorality, Sutorius, is a modest presence and an engaging enough actor--he suggests a bantamweight Tony Roberts. And he’s essentially all wrong for the part. There is no optimal type for a role such as Valmont: Alan Rickman, who originated the role in London and played it on Broadway, exists on a planet far, far away from the film version’s John Malkovich. (Frank Langella played Valmont in the L.A. premiere.) Different types, all.

Sutorius’ Valmont is simply too diffident. Too often he favors a tame, middle-of-the-road brand of untrustworthy pleasantry. He lets loose with some good, angry stuff late in the game. Getting there, however, affords not enough fun, not enough cold relish.

So there’s a subtextual battle afoot, savvy performers--Ferguson, Channing Chase as Mme. De Volanges, Ivar Brogger’s valet Azolan--up against the less attuned. “Liaisons” is no stuffy museum piece; it doesn’t need a suffocating degree of fan-flipping panache. But the characters should belong to the same rancid-frosting world.

In Hampton’s earlier play “The Philanthropist,” one character describes sophistication as “a rather feeble substitute for decadence.” Director Epps gets the job done here, but the particular sophisticated decadence of “Liaisons” remains seen without being fully heard.

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* “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends April 22. $15-$42.50. (626) 356-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Lynnda Ferguson: La Marquise de Merteuil

Channing Chase: Mme. De Volanges

Gemma Massot: Cecile Volanges

James Sutorius: Le Vicomte de Valmont

Ivar Brogger: Azolan

Magda Harout: Mme. De Rosemonde

Monette Magrath: La Presidente de Tourvel

Abigail Revasch: Emilie

Drew Ebersole: Le Chevalier Danceny

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Written by Christopher Hampton, from the novel by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos. Directed by Sheldon Epps. Scenic design by John Iacovelli. Costumes by Jean-Pierre Dorleac. Lighting by Michael Gilliam. Sound by Stafford M Floyd. Wigs by Linda Andreani. Production stage manager Ed De Shae.