"Having made his money in the rag trade, Monsieur Jourdain prepares for High Society by studying music, dancing, fencing and philosophy. He insists that his daughter, Lucile, will marry royalty. And so she does... Sort of.

Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670) is unjustly neglected. Conceived as a comédie-ballet for Louis XIV, it demands musical resources far beyond the means of present-day theatre producers. And yet its hilarious take on the evergreen theme of social climbing merits pride of place in Molière's catalogue of satires on human foibles: misanthropy, hypocrisy, greed, etc."