The Imaginary Invalid

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Who knew that Molière could be responsible for the funniest play in town? Jeffrey Hatcher’s streamlined adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid is a total delight. Directed by artistic director Jess Berger this fast-paced farce skewers hypochondriacs and greedy doctors alike. In the original this rarely seen Molière play required ballet and music and it is one that famed poet Richard Wilbur never got around to translating. These may be the reasons that we have not seen this play in years, but now we have the Hatcher version to fill in the gap.

Protagonist Argan, a gullible rich fool, has been convinced by his many doctors that he has multiple illnesses, often requiring more than one enema a day. His solution is to marry off his daughter Angelique to Thomas Daifoirus, the son of his doctor, so he can get free medical attention 24/7. Unfortunately for his plans, Angelique has fallen in love with Cléante, while Béline, his second wife of only six weeks, wants to send her off to a convent so that she can eventually inherit all of Argan’s fortune. However, Angelique has an angel in disguise, her father’s long-time maid Toinette who has no intention of allowing any of these things to happen.

Not surprisingly, Argan sees four highly unqualified doctors in home visits in the course of the play. When Thomas arrives with his father Dr. Diafoirus to meet Angelique for the first time he proves to be the biggest oaf of all, needing his father to prompt him on every score. We also find out that Béline is having an affair with her lawyer De Bonnefoi who is writing up legal documents to cheat Angelique out of her eventual inheritance. It is Toinette who saves the day and straightens everything out including proving to Argan how deceived he has been about everyone in his life.

The play satirizes the medical profession with jabs at overbilling, ridiculous procedures, medical insurance, phony illnesses, and exaggerated diagnoses. The legal profession also comes in for some tweaking with De Bonnefoi’s not quite ethical tricks. The comedy also includes standard Moliere characters like the saucy maid, the ingenious ingénue, and the amorous swain. All of this gives the cast a good deal of grist for the mill. While there is much scatological humor, there is no more nor less than in Molière’s original. Hatcher’s version eliminated two minor characters (Argan’s brother and his younger daughter) and adds hilarious new lyrics to recognizable songs (“La Vie en Rose,” “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables, “Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera, and “La Marseilles”) for Angelique’s music lesson, as well as adding a silent film comic chase scene accompanied by a Can-Can.

Sarah Stiles turns Toinette, the saucy maid, into a star turn. Known for creating multiple roles in the same play, Arnie Burton playing three doctors at different times (as well as playing all three at the same time in one last scene) makes this into a tour de force. Emilie Kouatchou’s daughter Angelique is quite charming, while deadpan John Yi as her somewhat dim-witted swain Cléante is amorous in his attentions. As Béline, Argan’s gold-digger of a second wife, Emily Swallow is as cool as a cucumber and as brittle as glass. Manoel Felciano is totally gleeful as the wily lawyer De Bonnefoi. Dressed in a little boy’s sailor suit, hulking Russell Daniels is perfect as the lumpish and dull suitor Thomas. Surprisingly, only veteran Mark Linn-Baker seems to underplay his role as Argan but without adding to the satire.

The production design is equally clever. The blue and pink set by Beowulf Boritt in the style of Louis XIV suggests 18^th century theater with its painted look augmented by a blue brocaded dentist chair for Aragan. Mextly Couzin’s lighting amusingly switches from blue to pink lights for various dramatic effects. The colorful costumes are the work of Tilly Grimes which uses anachronistic fabrics and styles (Cléante in a blue denim vest, Toinette in pants, etc.) and takes us pleasantly by surprise. This is complemented by the period hair and wig designs of Sun Ju Kim. Lauren Page Russell may just take the brass ring for the steampunk enema machine brought onstage by Dr. Fleurant.

Creating his third outstanding and needed adaptation in conjunction with director Jesse Berger (The Government Inspector, 2017; The Alchemist, 2021), Jeffrey Hatcher has salvaged yet another comedy from the classic world theater which has been sorely neglected in the United States. All of these are large cast plays with lengthy speeches that have long needed pruning and updating for contemporary audiences. With Berger’s light touch and swift-paced production, this Molière is not only a delicious treat but a timely satire.

The Imaginary Invalid (through June 29, 2025)

Red Bull Theater

New World Stages, 340 W. 50^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or visit http://www.telecharge.com

Running time: 85 minutes without an intermission