If comedy is timing, then the San Diego Rep's production of the "Imaginary Invalid" is the funniest thing to hit San Diego since the Padres stadium proposal.
Monsieur Jean Baptiste Poquelin ‹ best known as Moliére, the father of modern comedy ‹ would be overjoyed with the Rep's rendition of his classic commentary on the medical profession and people's zany dependency on it. The set is bright and marvelous, the material updated, and best of all, the cast bounces magic off each other: They get spastic breakdowns and even have a Michael Jackson moonwalk down to perfect timing. And the crowd roars.
The hilarity is centered around Argan (Ron Campbell), a wealthy man who insists on his 20 enemas a month ‹ prescribed by his "credible" physician Dr. Purgon ‹ to "soften, moisten, refresh, flush, irrigate and scowl the bowels." He pops pills like candy and gets waited on hand and foot by his two dancing nurses (performed with fluidity and grace by Renee Larsen and Dana Perri of San Diego's Eveoke Dance Theatre).
The catch: There's nothing wrong with him. Argan is as healthy as his rambunctious daughters, Angelique and Louison.
Campbell is an authentic Argan ‹ he spits and sputters to uproarious proportions, checking his tongue for any sign of disease and tilting his rump in the air for his daily "irrigations," like an eager seal awaiting fish. Bravo to costume designer Brandin Baron who put him in hosiery braces, bloomers and an oversized, gaudy cigar robe.
Another noteworthy performance is Sandra Le Beauf's‹ as Beline ‹ Argan's young, money-hungry wife who's waiting for her husband to croak so she can roll around in his dough with her attorney (yet another defined, farcical character). Le Beauf's ticket is exaggerated, slapstick comedy. She executes this performance with more success than her 1996 San Diego Rep's "Streetcar Named Desire" performance as an overly gangly Stella.
Lamont D. Thompson plays dual parts as the enema master and Monsieur Fleurant; at one point Thompson steals the stage to deliver side-splitting evangelism, think Arsenio Hall introducing Sexual Chocolate in "Coming to America."
Even with these rich performances, the pick for the theatrical glue of the play goes to Carla Harting, who plays Argan's maid Toinette. Dolled up like an '80s punk-rocker and armed with her feather duster, Toinette seems to be in the way at all the right moments. She plays off Argan's wimpiness ‹ when Argan tries to marry off his daughter to a nerdy doctor, it's Toinette who cautions his selfish ways. Harting gets to spew all the witty one-liners.
Director Todd Salovey's strengths in this comedic attempt are in his uniquely envisioned, finely crafted characters. They are all funny; no actor overshadows another. The choreography is wacky and original. Don't be thrown by the Michael Jackson music in the prelude and intermission of the play. Just go with it.
Moliére's classic is refreshing to modern HMO-suffering audiences: 13th century France's enemas and neck straps are today's co-payments and excess antibiotic prescriptions. The Rep's "Imaginary Invalid" reminds us that comedy is timeless, and when done properly, truly an art.
"Imaginary Invalid" is playing through Feb. 22 at the San Diego Repertory Theater. Ticket prices are $20 to $30. Performance times are 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, and 2 p.m. matinees on Sunday. For tickets and information, call the San Diego Rep box office at (619) 544-1000.
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