Anton Chekhov's final play, The Cherry Orchard, premiered in Moscow just six months before his death, in 1904. It was immediately well-received, but the author was frustrated with the production. Chekhov considered it a comedy, but Moscow Art Theater director Constantin Stanislavski staged it as tragedy, with what the playwright felt was an insufferable amount of "weepiness." Over a hundred years and a hundred thousand boring Chekhov productions later, one imagines the author would have been pleased with Andrei Belgrader's fresh revival of the play at the intimate Classic Stage Company, where an almost sublime balance of absurd humor and poignant wistfulness has been achieved, thanks to a splendid ensemble featuring John Turturro, Dianne Wiest, Josh Hamilton, Alvin Epstein, and Daniel Davis.
Theater Review: The Cherry Orchard, Starring Dianne Wiest and John Turturro
Pencil This In: New Year's Eve in NYC Edition
MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross and the idea of a mountain uniting heaven and earth.
Theater Thrills
Believe it or not, there have been some truly exciting moments in theater during the past month, albeit unintentionally. Theater blogger What’s Good/What Blows alerted readers to this NY Post interview with two stars of the Broadway hit Spring Awakening. It seems the show’s sizzling sex scene has provoked audiences in more ways than one. Actor Jonathan Groff divulged that "some guy was kicked out of the mezzanine for masturbating.” Since Spring Awakening also seats some audience members up on stage, we think the producers may want to get out ahead of this thing and invest in some Gallagher-esque ponchos for the first few rows. (Read about one theatergoer’s onstage experience here.)
Opinionist: A Spanish Play
In Yasmina Reza’s A Spanish Play, we watch actors rehearse an unnamed play by a Spanish playwright. Two characters in this play within the play are actors, and one of them repeatedly runs lines for her upcoming role in an unnamed Bulgarian play. So, in what’s intended as a frolicsome demonstration of reality’s manifold layers, we’re sometimes watching a play within a play within a play. That adds up to three plays, which is a bit of a problem since they’re forced to share less than half a story.
Theatre This Week: Brains, And an Already Brawny Lineup
The past couple weeks have been a little slower than usual in Theatreland, with fewer openings, numerous closings, and performances on limited schedules. This week, as we all get back up to speed, there’s already quite a lot to choose from.
Monk Casting News
The new season of Monk begins on January 16 on USA; Turturro's episode will air on January 23. Gothamist also saw Turturro and Shalhoub share the stage in the Classic Stage Company's Waiting for Godot; Turturro's son Amedeo had a bit part in it but is better known as the young Richie Tenebaum in The Royal Tenenbaums.
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