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Sun. Feb. 4 An alternative to Super Bowl "frenzy?" A kind of artsy thing at that? A slap in the face to the vast American public, like not-shopping on Black Friday? Pick one or none, but tonight is the last night for Chekhov's last play, "The Cherry Orchard," at the Huntington Theatre, as directed by Nicholas Martin and a dapted by Tony-award winning playwright Richard Nelson. It was first staged in 1904 and very little has changed. The pre-occupation with money, the undercurrent of class strife, the longing for what once was and will never be again, the tug of the heart. As well as personal dilemmas like the one posed by the pistol-packing guitar-strumming, semi-peripheral character, Yephikhodov (Jeremy Beck), "Do I go on living or do I shoot myself? Just in case, I keep my revolver with me." Talk about resonance! The star of this show is Kate Burton – you may know her as the Alzheimer’s impaired ex-doc on "Grey’s Anatomy" – and she’s a tour de force as Ranevskaya, the owner of the Cherry Orchard estate who’s thrown into hard times by carefree spending and bad choices. She’s a complex character – mother of a dead son, family abandoner, reluctant home seller, who nevertheless possesses a certain joie-de-vivre in spite of it all. She does have a good line, addressing the "common" folk: "You people shouldn’t go see plays," because they have such dull lives. Hope that’s not a double entendre about us!
This being Chekhov, it’s a wordy play with a fair amount of bitterness and ennui. (A bit of death too, but we won’t spoil anything here.) ART company player Will LeBow takes on a Jon Lovitz tone for Lopakin, the merchant who’s risen from poverty and urges a moneymaking estate sale on Ranevskaya before an auction must happen. We think he’s going to be unsympathetic, but he’s not. He also says, “I see that I exist through work,” and another bell has been rung. There’s a lovely musing by the student, Trofimov (Enver Gjokaj) about what happens after death – maybe our five senses are gone forever, but perhaps we have 100 and 95 others live on somehow.
For us, the most trenchant part may have been the end, when Ranevskaya and her family (extended and otherwise) must bid adieu to the Cherry Orchard. “Goodbye old house,” she says. “Hello new life.” We suck in the walls we’ve spent two hours with and feel her sadness, and, yet, sense her determination to move the house to her memories and push on. This is a place we’ve all been. As director Martin notes, “Chekhov is too great to be reduced to a single concept, philosophy or political agenda – that is why he remains relevant.” Tuesday-Thursday shows at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday shows at 8, Matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2. Tickets: $75-$44. It's up Tues-Sun through Feb. 4. 527 Tremont St., 617-266-0800 huntingtontheatre.org |
