THE CHERRY ORCHARD Previews- Page 5

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/29/16 at 3:23pm

little_sally said: "How is Kyle Beltran in this? He was one of the main draws for me after seeing his excellent performance in The Flick.

 

"

Kyle Beltran was excellent. We didn't see the full cast - Harold was out - so of who we did see, Kyle was easily the strongest member of the cast. He was the only one that kept me engaged.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 9/29/16 at 6:56pm

Can someone clarify what's wrong with the costumes? Anyway, this is all rather disappointing. I'm glad I held off on getting a ticket. 

somechrysanthemumtea said: "Last year they weren't off to a good start either - Thérese Raquin and Old Times didn't exactly inspire critical praise."

I liked Therese Raquin. I loved the set. The performances were generally pretty solid and I liked the script, never having seen or read any other version. 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/2/16 at 9:21am

I saw this yesterday. I was going in expecting this to be absolutely horrible based on what I have read, but I actually ended up enjoying this. Is it perfect? Not even close. But is it a nice afternoon in the theatre? Yes.


Diane Lane is simply marvelous in this. Her performance has a very grand and regal-like quality to it. The rest of the cast was also great. There is definitely a lot of talent up on that stage.
 

The set has been much discussed on here. I REALLY liked it. It was simple, yet evocative and beautiful. The lighting was also stunning. The same can not be said for the costumes, though. The costume design was a big miss.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

The decision to have the characters in modern day clothes for the final act made no sense. I know earlier posts reported Diane Lane wearing a pantsuit in the final act, but yesterday she was wearing a knee-length maroon long sleeve dress with black tights and heels.

 

The show clocked in at exactly 2 hours and 20 minutes, so they have gotten the running time down a bit. This was my first Chekov play, and I had a lovely time. 

Updated On: 10/2/16 at 09:21 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/2/16 at 9:37am

Re: the costumes (spoilers)

 

I know some people have commented about Lopakhin's lime green pants. I personally thought it worked -- remember that Lopakhin is a self-described nouveau riche with more money than taste -- but it seems to offend some people.

In the final scene, after the cherry orchard has been sold, the characters who heretofore wore period dress appear in modern clothes: Ranevskaya in a pantsuit, Gaev in a contemporary suit, Anya in jeans and a sweater than looks like its from H&M. 

[little_sally]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 12:59pm

I saw this yesterday and really didn't hate it as much as I was expecting to. It was fine; I've certainly seen way worse at Roundabout (Hedda Gabler and Therese Raquin spring to mind.) It ran about 2:15 and it didn't drag for me at all. Yes, some of the adaptation and directon is clunky and questionable but I didn't mind the costumes or set. I especially liked the live music. Overall the cast is fine, with Perrineau and Beltran being the standouts. Diane Lane barely registered for me. 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 6:23pm

I attended the performance on Saturday night and thought it was... fine. The costumes didn't bother me- they were clearly late 1910s-early 1920s   styles- until the modern dress in the final act, which just seemed inexplicable. 

The adaptation and style seemed to be working overtime to make Chekhov's play accessible and contemporary, to the point that everything just seemed unmoored to any real place or circumstance. Having an African-American Lopakhin is potentially interesting, but having text specifically referencing his family having been owned as slaves further muddies things here and is just a very shallow attempt to connect the Russia of Chekhov to America. I appreciated the comedy, though, as far too often these plays are presented as tragedies. 

The performances ranged in quality; I thought Keenan-Bolger was the most consistently effective. 

This just all seemed to be parts that don't cohere in a totally satisfying way. 

 

 

 

Updated On: 10/10/16 at 06:23 PM

[Copperfield2]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 9:44am

I'm only seeing The Cherry Orchard in November. It seems in several American productions of Chekhov I've seen it is very hard for an ensemble to get acting styles on the same page. I saw The Cherry Orchard in Russian at BAM last spring and it blew me away, though.

The director of this production has done good work in London so I do hope these very talented actors can become more cohesive with time.

I haven't seen Lane yet but she usually does good work. I would hate to think her Broadway debut would be badly received. She may not return if that happens. Her acting in Sweet Bird of Youth in Chicago was quite effective. I wonder if that should have been revived instead with a new director.

[Harriet Craig]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 11:14am

There's an interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal about the design choices in the production. I'm not sure if this link will work for nonsubscribers, but it's at:

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/channeling-change-in-the-the-cherry-orchard-1476139747

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 11:24am

Kad said:  "Having an African-American Lopakhin is potentially interesting, but having text specifically referencing his family having been owned as slaves further muddies things here and is just a very shallow attempt to connect the Russia of Chekhov to America."

Wasn't something quite similar attempted by Josh Logan in The Wisteria Trees, his Cherry Orchard adaptation set in the American south? 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 11:32am

I'm not familiar with that work, unfortunately. I wouldn't have an issue with an adaptation of the play taking that direction. I just don't think it works if the context is still early 20th century Russia, as it is in this production.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 11:33am

The Lopahkin character in THE WISTERIA TREES (called Yancey Loper) is meant to represent the southern nouveau riche who made his money in the antebellum south, whereas the stand-ins for Lyubov and Gaev are meant to represent an old slavery family. Loper is white in the play (Kent Smith played him), so it diverges from the presentation of Lopahkin as a black man that has been done in several productions of THE CHERRY ORCHARD. It's been a while since I've read THE WISTERIA TREES (it was in college, when I wrote a term paper on Logan) but I believe he was presented as a former (white) sharecropper.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 1:26pm

Thanks, AC.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/14/16 at 2:35pm

Bump- opens on Sunday.