If you heard that a South Florida theater was getting ready to open Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman), you might wonder which crazy company would be taking a chance on a large-cast classic in the middle of summer.

Chances are, you wouldn't guess Mad Cat, the vibrantly edgy company that performs in the tiny space at the Light Box. But Mad Cat it is.

On the cusp of his 10th season, founder-artistic director Paul Tei has transformed The Bourgeois Gentleman, one of the many comedies by the author of The Imaginary Invalid and Tartuffe, into a different look at social striving, taste and the value of art. Retitled Viva Bourgeois! and opening this weekend, the play is now is set at Graceland circa 1971. And the gent himself is pudgy Vegas-era Elvis.

``In thinking about updating the play with an iconic figure, I thought about George W. Bush and his life post-presidency, but [the movie] W didn't do well, and people seemed to be over him,'' says Tei, who plays the recurring role of Barry the money launderer on the made-in-Miami TV series Burn Notice.

``I thought it was kind of like Elvis: lots of money, lots of talent and no taste. So why not make it Elvis?''

Not that Tei is an Elvis hater, thank you very much.

``I loved Elvis as an entertainer. I loved his lust for life,'' he says. ``I toured Graceland, and by the time I got to the eternal flame, I was in tears.''

Much of Tei's script is straight, translated-from-the-French Molière. So are the lyrics (the show features lots of songs), though the music evokes memories of Love Me Tender and, for a character inspired by Michael Jackson, pop tunes.

Tei plays around with time in the script, hence the presence of Jackson (called Leon and played by Troy Davidson) as a suitor for the bourgeois gentleman's daughter Lucille. The daughter (played by Caitlin Geier) is modeled after a marriageable Lisa Marie -- though Elvis' only child was 9 when he died.

Tei began writing the adaptation in May, after letting the idea ripen -- ``I have to gather nuts like a squirrel, til I'm ready to start eating them,'' he says -- but it was written before Jackson's sudden death, a tragedy that just makes the character's presence in the play more interesting.

``Michael Jackson hasn't been this popular since the Thriller days,'' Tei says.

The play's Elvis character, the social-climbing Mr. Jourdain, is played by long-time Mad Cat company member Erik Fabregat. Though he jokes that he's ``hoping the jumpsuit does all the work for me,'' Fabregat has studied Elvis movies and sees the King as a man of ``monstrous appetites, ego and libido. Subtlety wasn't his stock in trade . . . I'm portraying him in an exaggerated way, almost like a cartoon, but it's done lovingly.''

Joe Kimble, a Mad Cat company member who plays both a music teacher and a Southern senator in Viva Bourgeois!, says Fabregat's interpretation works: ``He has an easy grasp of someone who's iconic but who is also a completely fallible human being.''

Erin Joy Schmidt plays Jourdain's wife, one of the few characters who speaks to her noveau riche husband honestly. She's not quite Priscilla (who was ``really quiet and gentle,'' Schmidt says), and she wasn't sure at first that Tei's whole Elvis a la Molière notion would work.

``I'm such a purist with language -- the play is the thing -- but I've grown to appreciate this,'' she says. ``I'll hear something and wonder if it could really have been a line in The Bourgeois Gentleman, and it was. It's amazing how ahead of his time Molière was.''

Viva Bourgeois! is the third play-with-music for Mad Cat this season, following the collaborative Mixtape and Marco Ramirez's Broadsword. The production is ambitious for a small company that gets almost no grants and relies on the kindness of individual donors (including artistic directors from other theaters) and the Miami Light Project, which gives Mad Cat a home at its Light Box performance space.

Substituting creativity for cash, Tei and Mad Cat have built a solid reputation for quality, an avid following among younger-than-usual theatergoers and have reached their 25th show with Viva Bourgeois!. In the works for next season, Tei says, are plans to take Mad Cat shows to new venues, including Miami Beach's Colony Theatre and Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

Nothing specific to announce yet, but Kimble says, ``The attention that has been paid to Mad Cat as a business over the last two years could be bearing fruit. The dedication and hard work haven't just shown up onstage. They make us much better prepared to roll with changes and take advantage of opportunities.''

Christine Dolen is The Miami Herald's theater critic.

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