The reviews are in for The Imaginary Invalid, Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Molière’s last comedy, which opened at the Todd Haimes Theatre on Thursday, October 22. Bill Irwin has adapted the play from a translation by Doug Skinner and stars as Argan, the hypochondriac bleeding his fortune into quack doctors, with Rachel Bloom as his maid Toinette and Brandon J. Dirden directing. The critics split almost down the middle: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Deadline and New York Stage Review are delighted, while Time Out New York, the New York Post, TheWrap and TheaterMania find the laughs missing. Almost everyone agrees on Karen Perry’s costumes and on Hiram Delgado, the supporting player the reviews single out most often.
The verdict: fifteen reviews in so far, and a genuine split. Three outlets give a score, New York Stage Review, Culture Sauce and 1 Minute Critic, at 4 out of 5 apiece, and Time Out New York files it under “Not recommended”; the rest publish no rating. The New York Times leads the enthusiasts, with Vulture, the Wall Street Journal, Deadline, New York Stage Review, Culture Sauce and 1 Minute Critic on the same side. Time Out New York, the New York Post, TheWrap, TheaterMania, New York Theatre Guide and Cititour all report a quiet house, while Exeunt NYC and New York Theater land in between. Opinion on Bill Irwin himself divides the same way, but even the doubters praise Karen Perry’s costumes and the scene-stealing Hiram Delgado.
What are critics saying about The Imaginary Invalid?
The New York Times
"A Sparkling ‘Imaginary Invalid’ Is the Cure for What Ails You"
Reviewer: Helen Shaw
Helen Shaw finds Bill Irwin’s ballet-free adaptation light, graceful and quick on its feet, and is won over from the wordless opening, in which the set assembles itself around him.
"The rubber-faced, telescope-necked, precision-pratfaller Irwin may well be our greatest living clown."
She calls Brooks Ashmanskas brilliant as the quack doctors, and finds Rachel Bloom surprisingly restrained as the maid Toinette.
Vulture
"Bill Irwin Gets The Imaginary Invalid Up on Its Feet"
Reviewer: Sara Holdren
Sara Holdren enjoys Irwin’s charm in a part that keeps him pinned to Argan’s armchair for most of the evening, and sees the irony of so bendable a clown playing a man who performs frailty.
"…he turns even long seated monologues into delicately physical showpieces…"
She thinks the company has not yet nailed the farce’s timing, but singles out Crystal A. Dickinson’s Beline, Ashmanskas’s Dr. Purgon and the pop-up-book opening devised by Brandon J. Dirden and Lorenzo Pisoni.
Deadline
"Molière Gets Clowned By A Winning Bill Irwin"
Reviewer: Greg Evans
Greg Evans enjoys a loud, color-coded, pared-down 90 minutes in which the clowning matters at least as much as the jabs at American health care.
"At its frequent best (and as directed by Brandon J. Dirden), this take is lots of fun."
He calls Bloom a standout as the household’s truth-teller and concludes that Irwin, who can upstage a busy stage while barely leaving his chair, is the reason to go.
TheWrap
"Bill Irwin Loses Something in Translation"
Reviewer: Robert Hofler
Robert Hofler reports thin laughter in the house, even for the enema gags, and finds Karen Perry’s costumes excessive.
"Irwin’s adaptation cuts it down to an interminable 90 minutes with no break to get a much-needed drink."
Ashmanskas and Hiram Delgado are the two he credits with breaking through, and he enjoys Irwin’s little soft-shoe at the curtain more than anything before it.
TheaterMania
"Revival of The Imaginary Invalid Is Terminally Short on Laughs"
Reviewer: Pete Hempstead
Pete Hempstead sees Irwin’s cheekiness and Dirden’s stiff pacing pulling against each other, with no shared comic sensibility to unite the cast.
"So yes, this Invalid’s heart is in the right place, but its funny bone is out of joint."
When the jokes land he credits Bloom, Delgado in all three of his roles, Beowulf Boritt’s set and Perry’s costumes, and he understands why a satire of medical bills feels timely now.
Time Out New York
"The Imaginary Invalid gasps for Molière"
Reviewer: Adam Feldman · Not recommended
Adam Feldman blames neither Molière nor the play, pointing to Red Bull Theater’s funny Off-Broadway version last year, but a production that takes its own theatricality very seriously.
"This should be a cakewalk for Irwin, a supremely gifted clown; instead, it feels rushed and fumbled (and mumbled)."
The ensemble earn laughs in individual flourishes without a shared rhythm, he finds, while Bloom brings hints of inner life to Toinette.
New York Post
"Unfunny Molière revival on Broadway makes you scream ‘Sacré bleu!’"
Reviewer: Johnny Oleksinski
Johnny Oleksinski describes a near-silent house and a cast straining to make up for it, and calls the improvised-opera music lesson a misfire.
"Coming as a disappointing surprise, one of the most underwhelming performers of the lot is Bill Irwin as Argan…"
He gives Delgado’s Thomas credit for some genuine giggles and names Bloom the best actor on stage, precisely because she does the least.
New York Stage Review
"The Imaginary Invalid: Just What the Doctor Ordered"
Reviewer: Melissa Rose Bernardo · 4 out of 5
Melissa Rose Bernardo finds the satire of a health-care system nobody trusts curiously timely, and notes that Irwin plays Argan as the butt of the jokes rather than the clown at the center of them.
"Either way, Invalid—adapted by and starring Irwin, directed by Brandon J. Dirden—is an absolute delight."
She lets Perry’s costumes run away with her praise. Her colleague Michael Sommers also gives it 4 out of 5 in a second notice, praising Delgado and Dickinson in an exuberant, quickly paced staging.
Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s full review at New York Stage Review
Culture Sauce
"‘The Imaginary Invalid’ makes a mountain of laughs out of a Molière hill"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 4 out of 5
Thom Geier admires the lush staging and Perry’s glowing costumes, and feels the committed cast sell material that is sometimes thinner than the fabric.
"In a cast full of committed hams, Hiram Delgado stands out as a full case of fine swine."
Irwin seems more at home in his rare moments of clowning than in a role carried mostly by words, he thinks, but on balance it works.
1 Minute Critic
"Can anyone afford to be sick? Molière asked first in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’"
Reviewer: Jerry Portwood · 4 out of 5
Jerry Portwood reads the adaptation as a satire of today’s wellness industry, with Argan as a modern consumer caught in a self-care trap, and finds Irwin as lithe as ever at 76.
"In a spectacular Broadway debut, Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) matches him as the sharp-witted maid Toinette…"
Some of the antics tip into shrieking for him, but Dirden’s direction stays crisp and the design is stunning.
New York Theatre Guide
Reviewer: Kyle Turner
Kyle Turner finds that the passing nods to AI and wellness culture cannot stop the characters reading as cardboard archetypes, and that the cast’s vocal flourishes feel vague.
"…the 90-minute show emerges as dull as a medical waiting room."
Delgado and Dickinson are the exceptions he names, with a word for Ashmanskas’s too-brief Dr. Purgon and Perry’s costume work.
Exeunt NYC
"A new adaptation of Molière is more droll than hilarious"
Reviewer: Nicole Serratore
Nicole Serratore finds the play’s themes of love, greed and listening to your body still relevant, but the whole a bit slight, with a melancholy tint to Irwin’s Argan.
"It is more a droll situational comedy with some “life lessons” thrown in."
Delgado’s lovesick Thomas supplies the funniest moments for her, while the masked commedia troupe framing the evening did little to settle the tone.
New York Theater
Reviewer: Jonathan Mandell
Jonathan Mandell calls it a starry, gorgeously designed production, but finds it too stylized for many of the laughs to land for him.
"…Moliere’s excoriating satire about doctors and the medical profession still resonates."
He notes Bloom’s colorful Broadway debut and closes on the verse of medical advice Irwin has added to the ending.
Cititour
"The Imaginary Invalid Is Ill-Conceived"
Reviewer: Brian Scott Lipton
Brian Scott Lipton wonders why a great physical comedian would take a role that keeps him in a recliner, and finds Bloom underpowered until Toinette’s doctor disguise.
"Finally, he stands and we stand -- but, at least in this iteration, the play doesn’t stand up so well."
He enjoys Ashmanskas going for broke, the young lovers Ava Lalezarzadeh and Daniel Croix Henderson, and Perry’s magnificent costumes.
Also reviewed by: The Wall Street Journal (Charles Isherwood, “‘The Imaginary Invalid’ Review: Bill Irwin’s Hilarious Hypochondriac”), whose review sits behind a paywall.
Catch up on our roundups for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at The Public Theater and Other Desert Cities at the Hudson Theatre, or look back at our first look at the production.
The Imaginary Invalid runs at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, through November 22, 2026. The running time is about 90 minutes, with no intermission. Production photos by Joan Marcus.
