The Imaginary Invalid

The Imaginary Invalid is a comedy by Molière, the 17th-century French actor, playwright and director, in a new English version by Bill Irwin. Its central figure, Argan, is a rich Parisian who is certain he is gravely ill. He is not, but his faith in doctors and their remedies rules his household, down to the choice of a husband for his elder daughter. Molière wrote it in French as Le Malade imaginaire, and English versions have also gone by The Hypochondriac and The Would-Be Invalid.

This is a revival of a classic rather than a new play, though the script is new. Irwin began by asking Doug Skinner for a new, literal English translation and then reworked it into his own adaptation. Brandon J. Dirden directs, and Roundabout Theatre Company produces it at the Todd Haimes Theatre as a limited engagement, the first production of the company's 2026-2027 Broadway season. As of October 2026, Irwin also plays Argan, a part he first took on as a high school student.

It was the last play Molière wrote, and he was playing Argan in its original run when he died. On Broadway, the play had not been seen since 1967, so this staging ends a gap of nearly 60 years.

The outline below follows Molière's original text; this adaptation runs as a single act.

The play is set in Argan's household in 17th-century Paris. Argan fusses over his medicines, checks the apothecary's bill and bickers with Toinette, a quick-witted maid who gives as good as she gets. His second wife, Beline, has soothing words for every complaint and one eye on his fortune.

The trouble starts with a wedding. Angelique, Argan's elder daughter, loves a young man named Cleante, so when her father says he has picked a husband for her, she assumes the news is good. It is not. Argan means Thomas Diafoirus, a physician's son on the verge of becoming a doctor himself, because a son-in-law with a medical degree would keep care close at hand. Toinette tells her master exactly what she thinks of the plan. Beline calms him down and nudges him toward rewriting his will in her favor, with a notary on hand, while Toinette promises Angelique she will get a message to Cleante.

Cleante slips into the house disguised as a replacement music teacher. The two Diafoirus men pay a call: the son recites stiff, rehearsed compliments, and the father brags that the boy wants nothing to do with modern medical ideas. Cleante and Angelique then swap vows of love disguised as a made-up opera scene, sung right under Argan's nose, until he puts a stop to it. He gives his daughter four days to accept Thomas, with a convent as the alternative. Argan's brother Beralde arrives and takes his mind off things with a show of singers and dancers.

In the last act, Beralde, who has little faith in doctors, argues that Argan is perfectly healthy and that physicians know far less than they claim. When the apothecary Fleurant is sent away, Purgon, Argan's doctor, flies into a rage, drops his patient and forecasts a grim decline. Toinette then turns up in disguise as a visiting doctor whose absurd advice overturns every treatment Argan has ever received. What Argan does next is described at the very end of this page.

Molière wrote the play as a comédie-ballet, a form that blends spoken comedy with music and dance. The 1673 original runs in three acts, with musical interludes between them and a musical finale. Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed the music and Pierre Beauchamp created the dances. Molière had made earlier works in this form with Jean-Baptiste Lully, the court composer, but the two had fallen out, so he turned to Charpentier.

Molière drew several of the characters from the stock types of the commedia dell'arte. Argan has the outline of Pantalone, the doctors recall the Dottore, Angelique and Cleante are the Innamorati, and Toinette is a cousin of the servant Columbina. The targets are medicine and hypochondria, but the plot also turns on money and marriage. Irwin has described the play as a satire of medicine and money that is also about mortality and family. He calls it his favorite play, and also a problem play that he wanted to solve together with Dirden.

The 1917 and 1967 Broadway productions were billed as translations; this one is billed as an adaptation. For this staging, John Gromada has written original music and also designed the sound.

As of October 2026, the company has eight actors, with Irwin as Argan. Rachel Bloom makes her Broadway debut as Toinette; she co-created and starred in the TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which won her a Golden Globe. Ava Lalezarzadeh, who made her Broadway debut in English, plays Angelique, and Daniel Croix Henderson makes his Broadway debut as Cleante. Dylan Baker, a Tony nominee for La Bête, is Beralde, and Crystal A. Dickinson, a Theatre World Award recipient who has appeared on Broadway in You Can't Take It With You and Clybourne Park, is Beline.

With more characters than actors, some performers double up. As of October 2026, Brooks Ashmanskas plays both physicians, Dr. Diafoirus and Purgon; he has three Tony nominations, for The Prom, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and Smash. Hiram Delgado, whose Broadway credits include the Tony-winning revival of Take Me Out, covers three roles: Thomas, the apothecary Fleurant and the notary Bonnefoy. Four understudies back up the company: Brandon Dial, Eboni Flowers, Madeline Seidman and Bill Timoney.

Molière, whose birth name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was born in Paris in 1622. Le Malade imaginaire had its world premiere at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on February 10, 1673, with Molière as Argan. On February 17, 1673, he was taken ill during the fourth performance, got through the show and died later that evening.

Canada's Stratford Festival staged it in 1958, 1974, 1993 and 2016. London's West End saw it in 1968 at the Vaudeville Theatre, where Richard Wordsworth played Argan. In 1990, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris presented it with Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie, performing the original music and dances. In the United States, Yale Repertory Theatre used a version by James Magruder in 1999, and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco staged an adaptation by Constance Congdon in 2007.

The play first reached Broadway at the Liberty Theatre, opening on March 19, 1917, and closing on March 31 after eight performances. That production used Katherine Prescott Wormeley's translation and was produced by Charles Coburn and Ivah Wills Coburn. Fifty years later, the American National Theatre and Academy produced it at the ANTA Theatre, today the August Wilson Theatre, in a translation by Miles Malleson, directed by Jack Sydow. That version began previews on April 26, 1967, opened on May 1 and closed on May 13 after six performances, with Denholm Elliott as Dr. Diafoirus.

The road to this revival began on April 16, 2026, when Roundabout announced a 2026-2027 season that would open with it. Performance dates followed on July 21, 2026, and the full cast and design team on August 17, 2026. Previews began on September 25, 2026, and opening night was set for October 22, 2026. At the Todd Haimes Theatre, the season continues with Mix and Master and The Full Monty.