UNCLE VANYA Reviews

Backstage is MIXED-TO-NEGATIVE:

"Despite the choice to play it over the top, O'Hare imbues Vanya with vibrancy and pathos. As Astrov, the dissolute doctor also smitten with Yelena, Peter Sarsgaard takes the opposite route, underplaying the role to the point of indifference. He throws himself into the character's physical actions, but his Astrov seems bored rather than repressed. Sarsgaard was similarly diffident as Trigorin in the recent Broadway production of The Seagull. Astrov doesn't even seem particularly interested in Yelena, played by Sarsgaard's real-life spouse, Maggie Gyllenhaal, with a bubbly, coquettish air. Veteran character actor George Morfogen skillfully conveys the physical aches and stunted spirit of the crotchety Serebryakov, and Cyrilla Baer, Louis Zorich, and Delphi Harrington give rounded performances in the smaller roles."

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003941342

---

The New York Times [with Ben Brantley] is VERY NEGATIVE:

"Even in quieter moments, these hearty folks remain unstintingly hands-on — grasping, clasping, cuffing and massaging one another. The effect is of a reunion of alumni of the Esalen Institute, determined to show they can still get in touch with themselves by touching others.

I can understand the reasoning behind Mr. Pendleton’s attack on the play. He’s trying to shake the stiffness and stasis out of a classic and to loosen his cast out of brooding poses. You might even say that his approach is not unlike that of Chekhov, who in “Uncle Vanya” (as in many of his plays) jolts his habit-stifled estate dwellers out of their lethargy by introducing the catalyst of urbane visitors who stir up dormant hopes and resentments.

But the impression here is less of people running after elusive dreams than of actors running after elusive roles. You’re always conscious of the scrabbling sound of performers digging deep into their psyches in search of buried emotions, as if you were sitting in on a session at the Actors Studio. Everyone still seems to be trying on insights for size.

Unlike the recent Broadway revival of “The Seagull” (in which Mr. Sarsgaard appeared to better advantage) this production never stays still long enough to achieve emotional focus. Nearly all of the performers have tears in their eyes at some point, and I didn’t doubt that they felt real emotions. The problem is, they didn’t make me feel them too."

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/theater/reviews/13vany.html

---

The NY Post praised Mamie Gummer... She seems to be the only shining cast member... Congrats to her!

Thank you, sir!


AM New York gives the show 3 OUT OF 4 STARS:

"At first glance, what separates “Uncle Vanya” from the recent productions of “Seagull” and “Cherry Orchard” is the intimacy of Classic Stage Company’s three-quarter stage. Here, audience members actually feel like they have entered a Russian country house and are just flies on the wall.

But perhaps more important is the total lack of an English director’s pretentious footprints. In “Cherry Orchard,” for instance, Mendes hurts the flow of the story by adding fussy, unnecessary touches in his attempt to be noticed. Austin Pendleton, who is also an accomplished playwright, brings straightforward but nuanced clarity to the drama by focusing on its seething sadness and character complexities."

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/stage/blog/


The Bergen Record is POSITIVE:

"Vanya is angry as hell, and he wants everyone to know it. He moves swiftly, gestures impatiently; he's intoxicated by his new clarity of vision, yet bitter at what he feels he's lost.

It's not a performance that a traditionalist would call Chekhovian, but, in wearing his heart — and his hurt and sense of betrayal — on his sleeve, O'Hare makes a strong emotional impact.

It's also a portrayal of some subtlety, as he suggests the sadness in Vanya's exaggerated sense of his own possibilities, and even the awareness that a life in such a deep rut cannot easily be altered."

http://www.northjersey.com/entertainment/stage/39542062.html?c=y&page=2


The New York Daily News gives the show 1 OUT OF 5 STARS:

"Sometimes a moment can come to define an entire production, whether for good, bad or ugly. In the star-studded but rudderless revival of "Uncle Vanya" now adrift at the Classic Stage Company, such an instant comes when Denis O'Hare, in the title role, huffs "Whatever!" in response to another's observations.

There are no serfs on stage, let alone surfer dudes in Carol Rocamora's translation, but that doesn't stop the "Take Me Out" Tony winner from uttering "Whatever!" with contemporary peevishness, like he's channeling Alicia Silverstone in "Clueless."

Does it fit with Chekhov's story of domestic and romantic frustrations in 1890s Russia? As if."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/02/13/2009-02-13_starry_chekhov_revival_is_uncle_vanya_is.html


The New York Post gives the show 2 1/2 OUT OF 4 STARS:

"THE marquee attractions of the new off-Broadway production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" are Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (our local equivalent to Brangelina) and Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare ("Take Me Out") in the title role. But the revelation of this revival by the Classic Stage Company is Mamie Gummer.

As the lovesick Sonya, this young actress, who has already delivered several fine performances on local stages (and who happens to be Meryl Streep's daughter), delivers a performance of such heartbreaking intensity that any doubts as to whether talent can be inherited are instantly erased."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132009/entertainment/theater/uncle_relatively_minor_revival_154887.htm


Newsday is MIXED-TO-POSITIVE:

"If the production never quite comes together - and unfortunately it does not - the problem comes down to Denis O'Hare's crazed but not vulnerable Vanya. This Vanya is so busy raging and being sarcastic - and, once, literally chewing the pillar in obsessive love and disillusionment - that we stop caring that he wasted his life on meaningless work. Things get silly, instead of foolish, finally dwindling into a meaner kind of emptiness than Chekhov, the clear-eyed humanist, demands.

Still, there are many pleasures in this engaging, thoughtful staging, including Peter Sarsgaard (Gyllenhaal's real-life love and fellow indie star) as Astrov, the put-upon village doctor and environmental idealist. While the actor seemed too soft as the rogue Trigorin in the recent "Seagull" on Broadway, he captures the lights and shadows in this more likable character."

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etthelede6032196feb13,0,3572417.story


Time Out New York gives the show 5 OUT OF 6 STARS:

"Mood swings abound and even though the characters embrace, kiss and dreamily paw one another, they are wracked by the frustration of nonconsummation. In the first five minutes, Dr. Astrov (Sarsgaard) weeps openly, remembering a lost patient. Later, when he shows up drunk, he’s stinking and roaring. Gyllenhaal, soigné and listing against furniture in an orgasmic half swoon, teases Vanya shamelessly, but she’s ultimately as miserable as the rest. Pendleton doesn’t let anyone go halfway, and the result is wondrously rich and textured, some of the best American Chekhov in years."

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/theater/71583/uncle-vanya

---

Updated On: 2/13/09 at 11:19 AM

Yes, thanks for your efforts. Here's one more:

The Hartford Courant is POSITIVE:

"O'Hare delivers a lively performance in the title role, and Gummer is deeply moving as Sofya Aleksandrovna, who suffers because she is "plain." Gyllenhaal ultimately blossoms as the glamorous Yelena Andreevna, and her real-life husband, Sarsgaard, moves from brooding moodiness to flights of eloquence as the tree-hugging doctor, Mikhail Lvovich Astrov....

O'Hare's performance abounds in energy as well as regret. His outbursts give Pendleton's production a much-needed momentum."


Hartford Courant