Ruth Leon recommends… The Imaginary Invalid – Red Bull Theatre
Ruth Leon recommendsThe Imaginary Invalid – Red Bull Theatre
Following the simulcast on Monday February 19 at 7:30pm ET, the recording will be available On-Demand from February 20 –25. $30
Originally, Le Malade Imaginaire, (variously translated as The Imaginary Invalid or The Hypochondriac) was a three-act comedie-ballet by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It premiered on 10 February 1673 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.
Its premiere was something of a shambles and could be said to have been literally the death of its author because Molière had fallen out with the powerful court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, with whom he had pioneered the comedie-ballet form a decade earlier, and had opted for the collaboration with Charpentier. Le Malade Imaginairewas Molière’s last work. He collapsed during his fourth performance in the leading role of Argan on 17 February and died soon after.
This is an online simulcast of a reading of Moliere’s Le Malade Imaginaire, perhaps the most classic of all French farces, produced by the Red Bull Theater in partnership with the French Institute Alliance Française. The cast for the reading is very starry with a lot of big Broadway names. It includes Annaleigh Ashford, currently starring in Sweeney Todd on Broadway, Jordan Boatman, Will Brill, Arnie Burton, Kelley Curran, Mark Linn-Baker, Lorenzo Pisoni and John Yi.
The Red Bull Theater is a New York institution. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, it was the first London theatre to reopen after the Restoration. This bold spirit is central to its New York identity. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as their cornerstone, Red Bull Theater is New York City’s destination for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time.
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