‘Sisters’ Returns for Midlife Crisis

With more than a passing nod to Chekhov’s trio of farm-bound siblings, “The Sisters Rosensweig” contemplate their respective brands of midlife paralysis in Theatre 40’s polished and often poignant revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s comedy.

Under Jodi Binstock’s finely nuanced direction, a peek behind carefully nurtured false fronts ensues during a weekend birthday celebration reuniting three sisters who’ve fled their Brooklyn Jewish origins. Single mom Sara (Katherine Henryk) has reinvented herself as a London-based bank executive, complete with phony accent and an even phonier Thatcherite boyfriend (William Gratton). Pfeni (Sheryl Nieman), a globe-trotting journalist, has settled for an unsatisfying part-time relationship with a gregarious but commitment-shy bisexual theater director (Todd C. Mooney). Adding Midler-esque brassiness is housewife-turned-radio-psychologist Gorgeous (Amy Ryder), whose supposedly perfect marriage is on the rocks.

Romantic sparks convincingly ignite Sara’s ambivalent tryst with solid but unglamorous Mervyn (John McCormack), a furrier whose unapologetic Jewishness cuts too close to home. Here, as in many Wasserstein plays, the preoccupation with personal fulfillment borders dangerously near self-absorption. Social issues seem to exist merely as steppingstones for the shaping of identities--as in Sara’s daughter’s (Hannah Logan’s) flirtation with her boyfriend’s (Joshua Schulman) Lithuanian activism.

Also evident is Wasserstein’s trademark severed generational continuity (the sisters’ unseen parents exist only as a source of psychological opposition)--perhaps her most telling observation about the boomers she chronicles with such singular focus.

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* “The Sisters Rosensweig,” Theatre 40, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 18. $15-$18. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.