Mountain laurel in fairly deep to deep shade will be "leggy". Cut it back if you want, but it would recover at glacial speed if at all.

Have you considered moving it to a less shady spot. It does fine here with just a few hours of sun.

have you considered just layering your view??? ... planting something smaller in front of it ... to hide the ugly trunks that are irritating you ???

and if you do lose it.. well .... you already have the replacement planted in front ,....

ken

In our Pine Barrens, when recurrent fires sweep through, the Mountain Laurel gets burned to the ground. It comes back slowly and just fine. I had once dug the roots out, and that became a fine bush in several years. I know better than to take plants from private property of public, now.

I had one pruned back very hard recently by an arborist. He cut back leaving some foliage on the trunks. The shrub was large and full but was blocking the view of oncoming cars on the corner of my street, so it was a safety issue. It looks naked but happy so far.