Overview
- Roundabout Theatre Company’s production opened this week at the Todd Haimes Theatre with Bill Irwin starring as Argan in his own new adaptation directed by Brandon J. Dirden.
- Reviews praise Irwin’s tight physical comedy and comic timing as the production’s central draw and describe his version as “a handshake with history.”
- Rachel Bloom makes her Broadway debut as Toinette and critics single her out for giving the audience a lively entry point into the play’s schemes.
- Design elements from Beowulf Boritt’s scenic work, Karen Perry’s costumes, Nikiya Mathis’s hair and wigs, Allen Lee Hughes’s lighting and John Gromada’s sound are widely praised for sharpening the show’s comic and visual life.
- The production runs 90 minutes with no intermission, uses Doug Skinner’s translation as the source text, and connects Molière’s 1673 satire to contemporary debates over medicalization and wellness trends.