STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

One of 17th-century French actor and playwright Moliere’s comic plays gets a groovy, funky ‘70s makeover when Wood River High School presents “The Imaginary Invalid” tonight through Saturday.

In this hilarious adaptation the student actors will perform upbeat songs with a ‘70s vibe against a colorful backdrop in which they have painted sunflowers and rainbows on the stage floor.

“Painting the floor was great as it brought the cast together. It shows the love we have for this play,” said Anna Wiese, who plays the maid’s sister Guya.

The play, which also goes by the name “The Hypochondriac,” revolves around Argan, an ill-tempered man who wants his daughter to marry a doctor so he can save on his vile bile removers and the elixirs he requires to drive out bad humours. The daughter initially thinks he’s talking about her marrying Cleante, a young man she met and fell in love with a week earlier, and so she couldn’t be happier.

But the maid Toinette, who knows the real score, tells him that Angelique will never agree to the marriage he has in mind. She forbids the union, despite her lowly status as a maid. Meanwhile, the plot thickens as Toinette learns that Angelique’s stepmother is plotting to get Angelique’s inheritance.

Soon, the entire household joins in a madcap scheme to save true love and give Argan’s doctors a dose of their own medicine.

Moliere’s play is made all the merrier by the antics of Toinette, who disguises as herself as a doctor to convince Argan that not everything doctors tell him is true. In Moliere’s version, for instance, she tells him one of his arms is taking up all the nutrients so he should have it amputated to make the other one stronger. In this version his wife Beline, intent on hastening his death so she can inherit his estate, prescribes bacon and cheesecake—and lots of it—as a health food and night scares to build his reflexes.

“Argan is a man who was happily in love with his first wife and his children. But he hasn’t left the house since losing his first wife,” said Elena Tamayo, who has donned the neck ruffles of the 17th century, painted a goatee on her face and left her hair disheveled to portray a man who has been bedridden for too long.

“He locked himself away after his true love died and spiraled downward,” she added. “He’s a man who has to learn to move on.”

Toinette, in contrast, provides a voice of reason among the absurdity and chaos, said Eva Hatzenbuehler, who pays the maid. “She’s the glue in this family—she helped raise the two daughters. She’s feisty but in a good way. She needs to be the opposing force because she’s been dealing with stupidity. They need her to step up and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing the wrong thing.’ ”

Another important character in the play, said Hunter Ervin, is Argan’s brother. “He’s constantly encouraging the people around him to live their dreams,” said Ervin. “It’s a good message—live your lives, live your dreams.”

The play by Moliere was adapted by Oded Gross and Tracy Young, who collaborated with Paul James Prendergast on music.

“It’s a very funny adaptation of the Moliere classic and, while not a fully musical, it does have five pretty groovy ‘70’s-based tunes that the student-actors are doing a great job presenting,” said Karl Nordstrom, WRHS speech, drama advisor.

Nordstrom said he decided to stage the play after seeing it at the University of Idaho where a former student was involved.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is a show we can do. But I wanted to modernize it,” he said. “The songs are great, it’s fast paced and its hilarious. Moliere always made fun of the elite, the bourgeois society. Once you get past that, it’s a love story.”

The students are jazzed about the songs, which include “Tomorrow,” a song reminiscent of Carole King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Another—“Breathless”—is a fun take on Argan’s doctors as the cast sings, “Use my skills on your ills I’ll press this, undress that, caress this and leave you breathless.”

While “The Imaginary Invalid” is not technically a musical, Tamayo said it’s the first play with music that she’s been involved in since taking up acting at WRHS four years earlier.

“My last show, my first musical—a nice way to say goodbye,” she said. “Because of the music, we spent time doing breathwork, learning how to project our delivery. I plan to study math because I know it’s difficult to make a living in theater. But theater has given me a sense of confidence, a rush of adrenaline, a feeling of freedom and happiness. It’s taught me about time management and it’s given me public speaking skills.”

IF YOU GO:

The Wood River High School theater department will present “The Imaginary Invalid” at 6 p.m. tonight and Thursday, Feb. 28-29, at 7 p.m. Friday, March 1, and at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater at the Community Campus in Hailey.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors, veterans, WRHS students and Blaine County School District staff, available at the door. They’re $3 for Wood River Middle School students.

Elena Tamayo plays Argan and, Eva Hatzenbuehler, Toinette, the maid-servant. Andrea Pettinger plays the daughter Angelique and Anabelle Sheffield, Cleante, while Hunter Ervin plays Monsieur De Bonnefoi, Argan’s brother.

Others in the cast include Anna Wiese, Sophia McKnight, Diana Gomez, Nox Trujillo, Madi O’Very,  Campbell Leady and Sophie Gomez.

The crew is comprised of Skylar McCord, Trevor Ward, Holden Blair, Alex Parris, Reese Herold, Sheccid Chona and Scout Kendall.

Karl Nordstrom is the director; Hannah Nye, the music director; Melodie Mauldin, the choreographer; Cathy Reinheimer, in charge of costumes and props and Hilarie Neely in charge of lights and sound.