‘Dress’ Struggles to Get Right Fit

Nelson Rodrigues’ “The Wedding Dress” at Theatre 40 runs like the nightmare wedding that everyone dreads attending. It’s tediously long, full of embarrassingly insipid moments that only an indulgent grandmother can appreciate, and the moments of inspiration are alarmingly few.

Translated into English by Joffre Rodrigues (the playwright’s son) and Toby Coe, the play dramatizes the wild imaginings of Alaide’s (Stephanie Moffet) unconscious mind as she lingers near death after an automobile accident. Memory mixes with reality and hallucinations--all hint at a double betrayal. Alaide steals her sister Lucia’s (J.J. Snyder) boyfriend Pedro (Demetrio James) and marries him. Lucia and Pedro become lovers and are perhaps plotting Alaide’s death.

Yet all the steamy, lurid possibilities of this triangle are doused with director Paul Warner’s slow pacing and Joanie Fox’s distracting choreography. Moffet and Snyder don’t come close to expressing vixen sexual allure, and as the legendary Madame that Alaide admires, Rhonda Lord is all looks and no lustful luster.

* “The Wedding Dress,” Theatre 40, Beverly Hills High School campus, 241 Moreno Drive. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends April 27. $15-18. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.