A Sparkling ‘Imaginary Invalid,’ With Bill Irwin, Is the Cure for What Ails You
Bill Irwin, who may well be our greatest living clown, stars in his own adaptation of Molière’s 1673 play about a domineering hypochondriac paterfamilias.
The play "The Imaginary Invalid" is struggling to engage its audience, as evidenced by Bill Irwin's Argan attempting to leave the bathroom during his morning enema without eliciting much laughter. The only brief outbursts of amusement come from his second wife, Beline, played by Crystal A. Dickinson, as she momentarily assumes her husband is dead and performs a striptease out of sheer joy.
The audience's disinterest is further demonstrated when Argan's daughter, Angelique, played by Ava Lalezarzadeh, and her lover, Cleante, played by Daniel Croix Henderson, attempt to lighten the mood with an improvised opera mocking their father. This revival of Moliere's classic features extravagant costumes that seem excessive, even for the most whimsical of comic operas.
The 17th-century French comedy originally ran over three hours with two intermissions, but here it's condensed to a mere 90 minutes with no break, making it feel interminable. Despite some actors breaking through the slapstick to deliver genuine laughs, such as Brooks Ashmanskas as one of the charlatan doctors and Hiram Delgado as another quack with his high-pitched voice, the overall experience remains stifling.
One moment of joy, however, occurs when Argan finally overcomes his phobias and Irwin performs a charming soft-shoe dance on a cane, offering a welcome distraction from his many enemas.
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