In the Next Room or the vibrator play

'The electric vibrator, invented in the 1880s, is one of history's biggest ironies. 

It was designed as a medical device to cure fragile women from symptoms of "hysteria." Though women responded enthusiastically to the electric stimulation and color returned to their cheeks, male doctors apparently failed to consider whether their patients had in experienced an orgasm instead of normal therapy.

"In the Next Room or the vibrator play," Sarah Ruhl's first play on Broadway following several major Off-Broadway mountings, is raw, fascinating and madly entertaining. It represents a strange mix of Victorian costume drama, sex farce, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Freudian psychology, symbolism and family feuding. Though Ruhl is primarily concerned with exploring marriage and repressed sexuality, she also touches upon lesbianism and breast-feeding.

Set in the upper-class home of a boyish but pompous medical doctor (Michael Cerveris) and his young, lonely wife (Laura Benanti), the stage is neatly divided between confined drawing room and the doc's adjoining medical office, which contains his big, buzzing contraption. Eventually, his wife works up the nerve to pick the lock of the separating door and try the device out on herself.

Benanti and Cerveris are musical theater favorites that have proven to be just as effective in dramas. While Benanti is absolutely radiant as she strives to make an emotional connection, Cerveris gives a deadpan performance that is believably aloof and unintentionally condescending.

The second act could be trimmed by about ten minutes, but ends with a striking finale in which the drawing room set disintegrates to reveal a wintry garden where the couple proceeds to undress, make snow angels and finally engage in passionate sex.

Les Waters' Lincoln Center Theater production gracefully mixes psychological realism and humor with Ruhl's unique lyricism. Though there are numerous female "awakenings" and unexpected nudity from Cerveris, the staging is never vulgar.

Given the stunning creativity of "In the Next Room," it's tempting to imagine what other plays might be inspired from similar sexual devices.

Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200, lct.org. Through Jan. 10.