‘UNCLE VANYA’: Steve Carell. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.
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UNCLE VANYA
By Anton Chekhov
A new version by Heidi Schreck
Directed by Lila Neugebaeur
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont
150 West 65th Street
https://www.lct.org/about/beaumont-theater/
By Scott Harrah
The Russian dramas of Anton Chekhov are never easy plays for American audiences to endure for numerous reasons. Unlike the classics of William Shakespeare, they were never originally written in English so anything poetic and florid about the language is often lost in the proverbial translation. Anton Chekov himself supposedly said Uncle Vanya was intended to be a comedy. If he indeed wanted the play to be interpreted for laughs, Mr. Chekhov would probably love the fact that this latest version—with an updated book by What the Constitution Means to Me playwright Heidi Schreck—at Lincoln Center stars none other than The 40-Year-Old Virgin himself, Steve Carell of “The Office” fame. Mr. Carell is about as American as one gets, and he’s one of our best comic actors. He gets laughs from the audience whenever he’s on the stage.
One might need to down a few vodkas to actually see this drama, first produced in Moscow in 1899, as a comedy, but Vanya (originally subtitled Scenes from a Country Life) and the plays of Chekhov in general are so lugubrious, talky and long that they have always been ripe for parody. Remember the hilarious Chekhov spoof from the 2012 Broadway season by the late Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike? However, this 21st century interpretation of Uncle Vanya is hardly a parody. It is more like a lighthearted Cliff Notes version of a Chekhov classic with contemporary comic touches.
It is hard to feel much sympathy for the Russian aristocracy portrayed in Uncle Vanya because they are so affluent, immoral and self-indulgent, bored with their summer days in their country home. The play is really about upper-class people who are afraid of wasting their lives, but do not bother to do anything meaningful or pragmatic to better themselves.
The story focuses on a couple from the city, Alexander (Alfred Molina), a professor in poor health, and his gorgeous young wife, Elena (Anika Noni Rose). They have traveled to the rural Russian village to check on their country estate and let everyone living there know they intend to sell the property. Vanya lives on the estate with his niece Sonia (Alison Pill) and he isn’t happy about the visit from Alexander, who is Vanya’s brother-in-law and Sonia’s father. Vanya manages his late sister’s estate with Sonia’s help. Vanya isn’t amused at all about all the hoopla everyone makes over the professor and his trophy wife. Vanya and the hard-drinking doctor Astrov (William Jackson Harper) are both hot for Elena. Sonia has a crush on the doctor.
Uncle Vanya is a drama originally written in four acts, with a plot that features everything from a love triangle to an attempted murder. Heidi Schreck does a fine job of trimming some of the narrative blather and updating the text for modern audiences, highlighting much of the humor Anton Chekhov supposedly inserted into the story. Mimi Lien’s stage design is a bit of a head-scratcher. The Vivian Beaumont has a vast stage and, as StageZine’s late co-publisher and managing editor David NouNou often said, it is difficult to produce any play in this theater without a lavish set because otherwise, the actors seem like they are being swallowed whole by a stage decorated with sparse scenery. Ms. Lien’s set sometimes resembles a dark city park or a campground.
Director Lila Neugebauer does her best to get fine performances from the stellar cast. Mr. Carrell is his usual charming self, and he definitely has the acting chops for drama (as anyone who saw him play a Marcel Proust-loving, neurotic gay man in Little Miss Sunshine back in 2006 can attest). The fact that Steve Carell is doing Chekhov is funny all by itself, but he approaches the role here with everything he has, and audiences will love him. He is droll and angst-ridden and gives one of the most original interpretations of the title character to date.
It is always a pleasure to see Alfred Molina on the Broadway stage, and this is a far different role than some of his previous shows, such as his Tevye in the 2004 revival of Fiddler on the Roof and his Tony-nominated roles as artist Mark Rothko in Red and Yvan in Yazmina Reza’s Art. Mr. Molina is more than convincing as ailing professor Alexander.
Another noteworthy performance is given by Broadway veteran and Tony-winning actress Jayne Houdyshell as Maria, Vanya’s mother. Ms. Houdyshell is consistently outstanding, and it’s too bad she didn’t have a larger role here.
The gorgeous Anika Noni Rose as Elena is another actress who is no stranger to Broadway. Ms. Rose starred in Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change and as Maggie the Cat in a revival of an all-Black production of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof opposite Terrence Howard, as well as A Raisin in the Sun. She has both the beauty and the onstage sexual chemistry to get all the guys pining for her. Ms. Rose skillfully plays up every aspect of Elena being a bored wife to her much-older husband.
William Jackson Harper, best known for his role on the NBC TV sitcom “The Good Place,” is delightful as the boozy doctor Astrov. Alison Pill’s Sonia has the right mix of vulnerability and naiveté.
Did Chekhov really think Uncle Vanya was a comedy? The same has been said about Chekhov’s most famous drama The Cherry Orchard, and this critic reviewed two mind-numbingly inept productions of that classic both on and off Broadway over the past 20 years. Let’s leave the question of “Russian drama as comedy” up to the academics. This new, abridged version of Uncle Vanya, with many modern comic touches by playwright Heidi Schreck and director Lila Neugebauer, won’t win over Chekhov purists, but it is accessible enough for present-day audiences to enjoy.
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 15, 2024
Reviewed at May 12, 2024 performance
‘UNCLE VANYA’: Alfred Molina & Anika Noni Rose. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.
‘UNCLE VANYA:’ William Jackson Harper & Anika Noni Rose. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.
‘UNCLE VANYA:’ William Jackson Harper & Alison Pill. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.
‘UNCLE VANYA’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus
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WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
Written by Heidi Schreck
Directed by Oliver Butler
Through August 24, 2019
Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.constitutionbroadway.com
By Scott Harrah
What the Constitution Means to Me is not traditional theater in any sense. It is a combination of a deeply personal monologue, a political lecture, a symposium for constitutional reform and an interactive civics lesson. The show originated Off Broadway in various forms, and was last produced at New York Theater Workshop in 2018. Now creator and performer Heidi Schreck has brought the show to Broadway. The play’s progressive slant and feminist theme make it timely in the “Me Too” era.
Ms. Schreck, now in her late 40s, recalls how as a 15-year-old in Wenatchee, Washington, she earned money for college by entering contests about the Constitution in American Legion halls throughout the U.S. with other high school students. In these predominantly white, heterosexual male institutions for war veterans, Ms. Schreck would debate other high schoolers about how the Constitution related to their everyday lives and families.
The first portion of the show is often riveting as Ms. Schreck recalls the conservative town she grew up in, an “abortion-free zone,” and the strong, long-suffering women in her family. Best of all, she recreates some of the speeches she gave about the Constitution as a teenager, looking back on them as an adult and making witty observations about them. Ms. Schreck, who calls the Constitution “a living, warm-blooded, steamy document,” is a gifted storyteller and her enthusiasm for the Constitution and her own progressive politics and feminism shines through her ebullient delivery. She educates the audience on how the Constitution was written by and for white male land owners. The founding fathers of America wrote it to protect the rights of white men. Women, African Americans and Native Americans were not included originally. In essence, the original Constitution was written to protect what we now call “white male privilege.”
The set by Rachel Hauck helps the audience understand just what a “boys’ club” American Legions were in 1987 when Ms. Schreck was a teen. The walls are covered with photos of war veterans, and one senses the isolation Ms. Schreck must have felt at age 15 speaking about how the Constitution related to her. In the first hour of this 100-minute work, Ms. Schreck packs in a lot of heady information about abortion, feminism, racism, discrimination against Native Americans, and more. She also talks about her harrowing experience when she became pregnant while working as an actress in Seattle and decided to have an abortion. With her wry humor and endless passion for the downtrodden, she delivers a scathing polemic on how white men have dominated others and usurped power in America since the country was born. She is such an entertaining speaker that it is easy to overlook the way she sometimes repeats her points as the evening winds down. However, we soon realize repetition is not the show’s only flaw.
What the Constitution Means to Me would have worked great as a one-woman monologue, but unfortunately the remainder of the show becomes jumbled with unnecessary filler. Mike Iveson, in a full military veteran’s uniform, initially plays a moderator for Ms. Schreck’s debates when she reenacts scenes from her teenage tours of American Legions. Yet for some reason, in the latter part of the show Mr. Iveson takes off his uniform and starts talking about his personal life, including his sexuality. It’s a pointless segue and we are left wondering why Ms. Schreck and director Oliver Butler decided to go in this direction.
The show’s final 20 minutes become a debate in which the audience is invited to participate as real copies of the U.S. Constitution are passed out. At the performance I attended, teenager Rosdely Ciprian, a New York City high school freshman, came out to talk about what modern-day teens think about the Constitution. (Ms. Ciprian alternates the role with another actor, Thursday Williams, at different performances). Ms. Schreck decided to debate whether the Constitution should be abolished and what might be the benefits of writing a brand-new Constitution. She picked an audience member to act as a judge. While this is certainly innovative and creates a dialogue about the Constitution, it will come across as gimmicky to some. If nothing else, the first hour is a compelling “herstory” lesson on American politics and feminism by Heidi Schreck.
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 3, 2019
Reviewed at April 2, 2019 press performance.
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Rosdely Ciprian. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck & Mike Iveson. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Rosdely Ciprian, Mike Iveson & Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus