Friday, October 12, 2012

...a stroke of genius unlike anything I had ever seen...

By Cleveland Jewish News

-Fran Heller

In an election year, with the health-care issue buzzing like a swarm of bees, "The Imaginary Invalid," Moliere's 17th-century comedy of manners about a hypochondriac at the mercy of his mercenary doctors, couldn't be more timely.

Great Lakes Theater's slightly naughty and wildly imaginative romp of a production, under the knowing wink of director Tracy Young, is the perfect antidote for whatever ails you.

Adapted by Oded Gross and Tracy Young, with original music by Paul James Prendergast and original lyrics by Gross, Prendergast and Young, this madcap, music-infused adaptation is fresh and funny – a show that will keep you laughing and entertained throughout.

Laying a blend of Italian commedia dell' arte and French farce over '60s U.S. pop rock and Jewish songwriter Phil Spector's "wall of sound" struck me at first as either madness or genius.

By the end of the long, silly first act, I still wasn't certain. But the production grew on me, and at the moving conclusion of the more thoughtful second act, I was convinced this unique coupling of classic and contemporary was a stroke of genius unlike anything I had ever seen.

Argan (Tom Ford) is a hypochondriac who believes he is afflicted with every possible sickness, as well as a father who puts self-interest above those of his children. His youngest daughter, Angelique (Kimbre Lancaster) is in love with the florist, Cleante, (Juan Rivera LeBron) and wants to marry him, but Argan has arranged for her betrothal to a young doctor in an effort to gain free medical care. He cruelly dismisses his oldest daughter, Louison, (Jodi Dominick), beset with an unsightly hump, as ineligible for marriage.

Argan's second wife, Beline, (Lise Bruneau) is a dissembling gold-digger in an affair with Argan's lawyer, Monsieur De Bonnefoi (J. Todd Adams). The shrew wants Argan to leave his entire estate to her while still alive and to put his daughters in a convent.

Foiling her plan is Toinette, Argan's cheeky, clever maid, (Sarah M. Bruner) who stands up to her master in an effort to "cure" him of his imaginary ills, secure happiness for his daughters and awaken him to his wife's scheme to take his money and run. The real doctor in the house is Toinette, without whom all their lives would be in disarray.

Set in Paris in the 1960s, Christopher Acebo's handsome presentation of Argan's book-lined library, with its imposing view of the Eiffel Tower through the large picture window, is pure elegance. Rick Martin's psychedelic lighting creates a colorful contrast of the fantastical and the real, like dreams brought to life. Acebo's extravagant costumes are outré chic.

Targeted references to the current state of medicine in this timeless satire hit home. Breaking the fourth wall, Toinette, a servant who cannot afford medical care, puts in a plug for a public option, while Argan, the very image of a Tea Party conservative, argues that Toinette's socialist fantasy would raise the national debt by trillions.

The witty play also deals with the perennial conflict between parents and children. Argan wants his daughter to marry for personal gain, but she wants to marry for love.

With a wild head of Einsteinian hair, dressed in purple pajamas, and imprisoned in his wheel chair, Ford is ideal as the petulant and demanding Argan, whining over every conceivable illness and medical bill. The sublime Bruner is hilarious as Toinette, who delights in tormenting her master about his imaginary ailments and is equally droll as a Scottish doctor in disguise.

M.A. Taylor charms as Toinette's "deaf" and "mute" brother, Guy, who communicates with his sister in nonsensical sign language.

Adams is extremely funny as the narcoleptic lawyer De Bonnefoi, who faints every time he tells a lie. Bruneau's comical, two-faced Beline professes love for her husband as she tries to steal his money.

Lancaster's rebellious Angelique and LeBron's Afro-topped Cleante plot their escape in the form of a musical recital. Despite her deformity, Dominick's Louison thinks she is perfect.

Dressed in white coat and boots and red satin chemise, Lynn Robert Berg is hilariously over the top as Argan's greedy physician, Doctor Purgon. With his wild hair, dark glasses, black leather garb and sporting a gigantic hypodermic, Miles Gaston Villanueva resembles Andy Warhol as the sadistic apothecary Fleurant. Ian Gould is the witless Thomas Diafoirus, Angelique's suitor, and Aled Davies, his overbearing father, Monsieur Diaforius.

The second act goes deeper. Guy's Dream Ballet beautifully underscores the reason for Argan's depression and unhappiness. Appearing in mime with music, Argan, as his much younger self, relives a time when he felt fully alive and in love.

The play is also about life and death and love and loss, epitomized in the character of Argan's sensible brother, Beralde, (David Anthony Smith), who loves Toinette despite their difference in station. The closing song, about living life to the fullest because all we have is now, won me over completely.

This memorable production proves laughter is indeed the best medicine.
-Fran Heller

In an election year, with the health-care issue buzzing like a swarm of bees, "The Imaginary Invalid," Moliere's 17th-century comedy of manners about a hypochondriac at the mercy of his mercenary doctors, couldn't be more timely.

Great Lakes Theater's slightly naughty and wildly imaginative romp of a production, under the knowing wink of director Tracy Young, is the perfect antidote for whatever ails you.

Adapted by Oded Gross and Tracy Young,...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

"...one of the best (and funniest) experiences we have ever had at any theater, anywhere."

By Laura (patron email)

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that my husband and I saw The Imaginary Invalid last Saturday, and we agreed that it was one of the best (and funniest) experiences we have ever had at any theater, anywhere. We are so lucky, here in Cleveland, to have such a talented and professional company. In addition, I want to thank GLT for offering teacher discounts. We'd been to see our first non-student-matinee production the weekend before last, for The Winter's Tale (obviously wonderful since we immediately booked tickets to see TII the next weekend). However, were it not for the teacher discount, we would not have been able to afford productions two weekends in a row. We are both English teachers and feel so strongly about getting kids (and adults) into the theater, and you really make it possible for everyone to attend in some capacity. Thank you so much for everything you do to enhance the lives of Northeast Ohio residents and especially students. I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that my husband and I saw The Imaginary Invalid last Saturday, and we agreed that it was one of the best (and funniest) experiences we have ever had at any theater, anywhere. We are so lucky, here in Cleveland, to have such a talented and professional company. In addition, I want to thank GLT for offering teacher discounts. We'd been...

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

"Your productions are absolutely the best in town..."

By Ken (patron email)

"[We] have subscribed for a number of years now and have, after each and every performance, left the Hanna having been fully entertained and awed by the incredible talent exhibited by your performers. Your productions are absolutely the best in town, indeed as good as any to be found anywhere. After returning home from a performance of The Imaginary Invalid, I am motivated (finally) to write and let you all know how much we appreciated the incredible amount of energy expended by the entire cast in keeping the audience in absolute stitches throughout the entire evening. And kudos to the director and everyone else involved in the production - as always, it was first-rate all around. See you at A Winter's Tale - thank you." "[We] have subscribed for a number of years now and have, after each and every performance, left the Hanna having been fully entertained and awed by the incredible talent exhibited by your performers. Your productions are absolutely the best in town, indeed as good as any to be found anywhere. After returning home from a performance of The Imaginary Invalid, I am motivated (finally) to write and let you all...

Saturday, July 07, 2012

"...this production is delightfully entertaining..."

By The News Herald

Satire, noted renowned playwright and drama critic George S. Kaufman, is that thing that opens Friday night and closes on Saturday. Yet, Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" - a rollicking send-up of the medical community that was first performed at the Palais Royal Theatre in Paris in 1673 - is currently on stage at the Hanna Theatre in downtown Cleveland.

Clearly, the play's survival is due to the cleverness of Molière's wordplay, the broadly drawn but immediately recognizable characters he created, and the shelf-life of its subject matter. The health care system, it seems, is still an easy target for ridicule and reform.

The thing about satire is that it requires refreshening if it is to remain relevant, for topicality is transient. As antiquated as our health care system is, 17 th-century allusions to apothecaries and lines about bloodletting could use a good, swift kick in the pants.

No one understands this better than the folks at Great Lakes Theater who have raised the tweaking of classic works to an art form. Last year, for example, Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" was transported from the 1590s to the 1980s, transmuted from the Italian city of Padua to a fashionable L.A. boardwalk, and transformed from a comedy to an all-out romp.

While enlivening the original work, Great Lakes never undermines its integrity or messes with its language. The play always remains the thing and, in "Shrew," everything that was Shakespeare's was upped in intensity, velocity and frivolity, but it was still Shakespeare's.

In "The Imaginary Invalid," however, director Tracy Young - who was at the helm of "Shrew" - takes so many creative liberties that it is unclear where Molière ends and revisions by playwright-for-hire Oded Gross begin. What starts out as a madcap makeover through an infusion of 1960s pop culture and original music by Paul Prendergast reveals an underlying cosmetic surgery.

A new character has been added. Molière's song-and-dance Interludes are now full-blown production numbers. The work's highly stylized burlesque presentation now takes on more farcical, commedia dell'arte stylings that change its tone and temperament. The language, which has long been tampered with through various translations and adaptations, is unrecognizable.

Fortunately, the cosmetic surgery is not of the Joan Rivers variety, where pieces and parts do not work as originally designed or operate in synchrony with one another. This reconfiguration of "The Imaginary Invalid" actually works remarkably well. In fact, this production is delightfully entertaining.

The story is intact. The wealthy Argan (Tom Ford) is a housebound hypochondriac who fears everything and is dependent on the advice of greedy and misinformed doctors (Lynn Robert Berg) to keep him alive. Saddled with medical bills and a secretly scheming second wife (Lise Bruneau) and her attorney (J. Todd Adams), he resolves to marry off one of his daughters (Kimbe Lancaster) to a wealthy medical student (Ian Gould) she does not love and send the other (Jodi Dominick) to a convent. Argan's grounded brother (David Anthony Smith) and mouthy maid (Sara Bruner) scheme to get Argan to embrace life, recognize his blessings, and see his wife and the medical community for what they really are.

The humor is intact as well, with Young, Gross and Prendergast embellishing the play's frivolity with contemporary references and enriching the existent lowbrow allusions to bodily functions by going even lower. The gorgeous apartment and costuming, designed by Christopher Acebo, are full of sight gags that work beautifully.

In lesser hands, the performance of this re-invented play would not work as well. In fact, a screening of the premiere production of Young's adaptation at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is good but not as impressive as the one currently on stage. Tom Ford is an incomparable invalid and those surrounding him share his impeccable comic timing and brilliant physicality. The play unfolds at break-neck speed but still manages to turn heads and leave room for laughs.

Perhaps this production should not be accredited to Molière but, rather, listed as inspired by him and titled "The Re-Imagined Invalid." The playwright's spirit can be felt, but it has been reduced to a lesser albeit blithe spirit.

Speaking of which, Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" is scheduled later in the Great Lakes season. Will it, too, be re-imagined, for where does the line get drawn between honoring a classic work and honing it to better suit the times? Great Lakes Theater, for good and bad, has now opened the floodgates wide. Satire, noted renowned playwright and drama critic George S. Kaufman, is that thing that opens Friday night and closes on Saturday. Yet, Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" - a rollicking send-up of the medical community that was first performed at the Palais Royal Theatre in Paris in 1673 - is currently on stage at the Hanna Theatre in downtown Cleveland.

Clearly, the play's survival is due to the cleverness of Molière's...

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

"...an absolute delight..."

By The Examiner

-Mark Horning

"The Imaginary Invalid" (a Great Lakes Theatre production, now playing at the Hanna Theatre) has a lot going for it. It is a modern send-up of the French Renaissance play "Le Malde imaginaire" written for Louis XIV by Moliére. Set in the Paris apartment of Argan (a chronic hypochondriac played wonderfully by Tom Ford*) it weaves a comic tale of deception and miscommunication among his household.
As the story unfolds you find that Argan plans to wed his youngest daughter, Angelique (played by Kimbre Lancaster*), to a nephew, Thomas Diafoirus (played by Ian Gould*) of his quack doctor, Monsieur Diafoirus (played by Aled Davies*), (who is also a doctor but quite geeky), send his hunchback older daughter, Louison (played by Jodi Dominick*), to the convent, try to convince his globetrotting vivacious brother, Beralde (played by David Anthony Smith*), how sick he really is, while his new wife Beline (played by Lise Bruneau*) plots with her attorney, Monsieur De Bonnefoi (played by J. Todd Adams*), who suffers from narcolepsy and falls asleep every time he tells a lie, to take all of Argan's money, meanwhile Angelique has fallen in love with a young florist, Cleante (Juan Rivera Lebron*), who shows up on the scene while Toinette the maid (played by Sara M. Bruner*) tries to keep the household together while fending off Beralde who is madly in love with her while a parade of quack doctors, Doctor Purgon (the premier physician of Paris played by Lynn Robert Berg*) and Fleurant, an Apothecary )played by Miles Gaston Villanueva*) attack Argan's imagined maladies from all sides meanwhile, Toinette's deaf/mute brother Guy (played by M.A. Taylor*), who is not really deaf or mute overhears all the various plots, counterplots and romantic entanglements and conveys his knowledge to Toinette who hatches a counter-counter-plot…pretty simple, Eh?
Into all this 60's infused mix is thrown a variety of upbeat and fun musical numbers, some hilarious 'sign language' bits and some of the best dramatic pratfalls performed on stage by J. Todd Adams as Monsieur De Bonnefoi, the hilarious passing out lawyer.
The writing is fresh and witty, the musical numbers spritely and the set is spacious with lots of interesting items that allow your eyes to keep busy between scenes. There is, however, one problem. In the first act, there is a space of time between the lawyer's pratfall down a ladder and the entrance of Monsieur Diafoirus and his nephew that seems to lose the audience. I found some members dozing off (perhaps due to it being a cold and dreary day outside) and overheard one member of the audience comment that it was only the entrance of the doctor and his nephew that kept him from leaving. Hopefully, this lag will be somehow 'spiced up' to make that sequence more engaging.
As for the rest of the musical play, it is an absolute delight. There are tons of one liners, little asides and local jokes thrown in to make the entire experience well worth seeing. There is even a surprise ending that lends a poignant feel to the play. The costuming is dramatically brazen lending a comic air unto itself. Lighting is exceptional with some very difficult sequences set to a perfect mood by the designers. All in all I found it very enjoyable and will give it four and a half stars (which will show up as five stars if the first act can be spiced up). Definitely make plans to see this. It is a great escape from the chilly air outside and a fun romp for your mind. -Mark Horning

"The Imaginary Invalid" (a Great Lakes Theatre production, now playing at the Hanna Theatre) has a lot going for it. It is a modern send-up of the French Renaissance play "Le Malde imaginaire" written for Louis XIV by Moliére. Set in the Paris apartment of Argan (a chronic hypochondriac played wonderfully by Tom Ford*) it weaves a comic tale of deception and miscommunication among his household.
As the story unfolds...

Monday, October 08, 2012

"...a fabulous theater performance..."

By Pam (patron email)

"What a fabulous theater performance on Sat. evening. I presumed that the 'Imaginary Invalid' was going to be a 'period' play. After all it was written by Moliere in the 18th century. I knew it would be a good opportunity to learn, and I just hoped Marty would enjoy. Instead, we found ourselves at a re-imagined play, based on the play by Moliere--modern dancing, wonderful comedy, and outstanding acting. Lots of laughter throughout. And we enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end. The renovated Hanna Theatre is beautiful...comfortable seats, and excellent viewing. All in all, we so enjoyed the evening. Thanks, ever so much!" "What a fabulous theater performance on Sat. evening. I presumed that the 'Imaginary Invalid' was going to be a 'period' play. After all it was written by Moliere in the 18th century. I knew it would be a good opportunity to learn, and I just hoped Marty would enjoy. Instead, we found ourselves at a re-imagined play, based on the play by Moliere--modern dancing, wonderful comedy, and outstanding...

Monday, October 08, 2012

"The performances were hilarious."

By Ken (patron email)

"What a crazy, fun show!!!...loved every minute. The performances were hilarious."

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

"All the actors were amazing..."

By Jan (patron email)

"All the actors were amazing as far as our group of 3 were concerned. We absolutely love the Hanna Theatre and enjoy the seating choices. We also like the opportunity to arrive early and relax while observing practice and getting ready for the performance. This past Sunday we really enjoyed the ice cream too. Very enjoyable, cozy and entertaining experience."

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

"...one of the best shows I have seen..."

By Amy (patron email)

"The Imaginary Invalid is one of the best shows I have seen there. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not realize all the musical talent of your company. And I really liked the new company members. Kudos!!!"

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

"...one of the best performances we have seen..."

By Lee (patron email)

"The Imaginary Invalid was terrific -- the acting, directing, set, costumes. It was one of the best performances we have seen at Playhouse Square. Keep up the good work!! We look forward to A Winter's Tale."

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"...thoroughly entertaining from the opening scene to the closing curtain..."

By Nancy (patron email)

"The Imaginary Invalid was a delight -- thoroughly entertaining from the opening scene to the closing curtain....and what a fascinating companion to A Winter's Tale. Once again, GLT scores!"

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"...I haven't laughed so hard in a while!"

By Bryan (patron email)

"...cast did wonderful job on the production of the Imaginary Invalid. I haven't laughed so hard in a while! Thank you!?"