On and Off Broadway

The Cherry Orchard

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“If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Sometimes the same adage should apply to theater. After watching The Cherry Orchard, one might wonder why Stephen Karam (The Humans) adapted Anton Chekhov’s classic play. Mounted by Roundabout Theatre Company, the play offers a muddled version of the story of a once- affluent Russian family that has fallen on bad times. Now its estate, including the eponymous Cherry Orchard, is up for auction. The family, headed by Lyubov Ranevskaya (the beautiful, stately Diane Lane) and her garrulous brother Leonid (John Glover) are blithely unconcerned; they expect to be saved by a miracle. Although they talk about their situation constantly, they do nothing and then are stunned when it actually happens.
A businessman who himself was once a slave on the property, Yermolai (Harold Perrineau) urges them to convert the land to summer cottages, but they naively ignore his advice. So eventually he buys it himself.
Perhaps the play is dated and needs a revision, but Karam’s adaptation is confusing and, at times, bewildering. The landowners and the servants mix quite freely and there’s little sense of class distinction. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the costume party at the house in the second act. One might ask why Lyubov is spending money on a lavish party complete with live musicians when she is in dire financial straights.
The first scene occurs in Lyubov’s childhood bedroom that forces the characters to sit in toddler chairs. The chairs look awkward and uncomfortable, especially for Simeonov-Pischik, a neighbor who is constantly borrowing money (played by the rather portly Chuck Cooper.)
Karam refers to the serfs of the period as ‘slaves”, and the play has cast black men to portray most of the male servants in the play. The play is set at the turn of the century in Russia, yet inevitably the audience envisions the South after the Civil War.

The Cherry Orchard, Chekov’s last play premiered in 1904. The adaptation attempts to draw parallels between that time and today. At the beginning, Michael Krass’ elegant costumes are reflective of the period but by the close of the play, the characters are wearing modern clothing. The stunning set design of the orchard (Scott Pask) is composed of 11 metal mobiles that hang from the ceiling.
It’s the character of the elderly servant Firs portrayed by Joel Grey who is the most touching. Firs doesn’t say much until the end but he is a constant reminder of what life was once. He speaks nostalgically of the good old days, but those days are ending, especially with the rise of the bourgeois class. In the final scene, all the characters leave the estate as the destruction of the orchard begins. However, Firs is mistakenly left behind. He sits down and then lies down, and, we assume that, like the old way of life, dies.
The only constant is change; the world for the Russian landowners is about to change. History has recorded the tumultuous changes. Maybe the drama should remain as it was originally written - a record of that time.