The Cherry Orchard
Tickets from $57 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
Chekhov doesn’t need any flourishes to strike a chord with contemporary audiences. Yet the more the Roundabout Theatre’s revival of The Cherry Orchard pushes to show similarities between contemporary America and Russia at the turn of the 20th century, the less rewarding it becomes.
Bold and messy, this production — the first American revival to hit Broadway since 1977 — marks Diane Lane’s return to the Great White Way for the first time since 1978. (She was in the ensemble of that last Cherry Orchard at the age of 12.) Lane dazzles as the emotionally erratic Madame Ranevskaya, whose once prosperous family is on the verge of losing the estate, with its vast cherry orchard, that they’ve occupied for generations unless they can pay their debts. Cutting down the trees and building summer cottages to generate income is suggested, but flatly rejected.
What’s billed as a “new version” by Stephen Karam, the insightful young playwright of this year’s Tony-winning The Humans, and directed by Brit Simon Godwin, making his Broadway debut, emphasizes Chekhov’s theme of societal upheaval. Godwin’s production is impressive in parts, but it charges along at such a dizzying pace that there’s little time to feel the characters' sadness or loss as the middle class gains ground at the expense of the aristocracy.
From Scott Pask’s minimalist set to Michael Krass’s wide range of costumes (from period to modern to costume ball crazy), there’s never a sense that this Cherry Orchard is tied down to a specific setting. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, but this ambiguity creeps into the performances. References are Russian, but there’s a perception of the American South, especially since Lopakhin, the businessman whose ancestors were once owned by Madame Ranevskaya’s family, is played by Harold Perrineau, an African-American actor.
Lane and the always brilliant John Glover, as Ranevskaya’s brother Gaev, deliver the most memorable performances as their characters have a jolly good time and refuse to think it could all be coming to an end. Kyle Beltran imbues perpetual student Trofimov with smarts and sensitivity. And Joel Grey has a touching turn as an elderly servant who knows no other way of life. But Tavi Gevinson and the usually luminous Celia Keenan-Bolger don’t find much fire in the roles of Ranevskaya’s daughters.
Even with its problems, The Cherry Orchard is a brisk two hours and 15 minutes. But it doesn’t yield much tasty fruit.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/Shows-Events/The-Cherry-Orchard.aspx
Cast
Diane Lane, Joel Grey, Chuck Cooper, Tavi Gevinson, John Glover, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Harold Perrineau, Kyle Beltran, Tina Benko, Susannah Flood, Maurice Jones, Quinn Mattfeld, Peter Bradbury, Philip Kerr, Lise Bruneau, Jacqueline Jarrold, Ian Lassiter, Carl Hendrick Louis
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/16/2016
Closing 12/4/2016
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 9/15/2016
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-719-1300
Theatre Info
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !