SAINT JOAN

Written by Bernard Shaw

Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through June 10, 2018

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

261 West 47th Street

(212-239-6200), www.saintjoanbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Shaw’s Saint Joan in the best of productions is ponderous and lugubrious. And in the worst-case scenario, it can be like a bad college production with poor direction, acting of all different styles and no cohesion. Well, here we are, folks. What is most mystifying about this production is the direction of Daniel Sullivan, a brilliant director with occasional misfires. Last year at this same time, he directed Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes for the Manhattan Theatre Club with glorious results; fresh, crisp, and razor sharp. This time around everything is stale, wilted and tiresome

The proceedings aren’t made any easier by the mere fact of Bernard Shaw’s verbose text. It is so bogged down by repetition, you need a red pencil for major editing. Starting in 1429 in Vaucouleurs (in Northeastern France), the French have been at war with England for over 90 years and have been severely defeated, demoralized, and depleted. On top of it all, France hasn’t had a king for over 10 years, and a lot of the cities have been governed under British rule.

It is at this point that Joan (Condola Rashad), also known as “the Maid,” is presented to the squire of her province, Robert de Baudricort (Patrick Page), stating that the voices of St. Margaret and St. Catherine have spoken to her to lead an army against England. All she needs is a horse and a suit of armor to lead the men into battle. When presented with the obstacles in front of her, she states that it doesn’t matter, for she has God on her side.

Claiming victories and proving victorious, thus earning the respect of the men in her command, her next mission is to find The Dauphin, Charles VII, known as Charlie (Adam Chanler-Berat) and crowning him King of France. Charles has his own problems; he is a spineless twit, who gets no respect and just wants to be left alone and remain the nothing that he is. Joan persists and eventually crowns him as the next king.

Being vexed by Joan’s rising popularity and victories, the Earl of Warwick (Jack Davenport) wants her burned at the stake as a heretic, thus bribing the French Catholic Church to bring her in and charging her with sedition. The Bishop of Beauvais, Cauchon (Walter Bobbie), has some moral misgivings about prosecuting her. But due to her strong willfulness and refusing to renounce her voices and God, and her refusal to dress as a woman instead of a soldier, in a mock trial stacked against her, Joan signs her own death warrant and is burned at the stake. As history, this is a glorious tale of the hypocrisy of church and state. As written by Bernard Shaw and the unnecessary 20-minute epilogue that follows, it is an interminable evening.

Adding to the production’s misfires is Condola Rashad as Joan. Ms. Rashad is a lovely young actress, and one of the best of her generation. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee and deserved to win for each of her performances. The problem here is Joan is supposed to be a simple peasant girl whose motivations are clearly directed by the voices she hears. She is an innocent trapped by her own victories and strongheadedness. Ms. Rashad is by no means simple in any way, her actions seem of her own doing rather than the voices she hears, thus causing a major and tragic flaw to the balance of the play.

As for the rest of the cast, renowned as they are: Patrick Page, Walter Bobbie, Daniel Sunjata, John Glover, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jack Davenport are all doing various degrees of hamming. From Mr. Page’s Shakespearean intonations to Mr. Davenport’s unnecessary comedic buffoonery, each brings a different style from 1400s France to 2018. Wasn’t Mr. Sullivan out there watching the ensuing proceedings? Isn’t he supposed to bring them together and place them all on the same page?

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 30, 2018
Reviewed at April 27, 2018 press performance.

‘SAINT JOAN’: Condola Rashad. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Condola Rashad & Daniel Sunjata. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Adam Chanler-Berat. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Jack Davenport. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Walter Bobbie. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: John Glover. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Patrick Page. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SAINT JOAN’: Adam Chanler-Berat & Condola Rashad. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘Saint Joan’: Shaw revival misses the mark appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (Left to right) Kyle Beltran, Tavi Gevinson, Diane Lane & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
By Anton Chekhov
Adaptation by Stephen Karam
Directed by Simon Godwin
Through December 4, 2016
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212) 719-1300, www.roundaboutttheatre.org

By Scott Harrah

Anton Chekhov and his famous director Konstantin Stanislavsky must be rolling over in their graves regarding this misguided, unfocused adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. This revival is so inept that three questions arise immediately. Has it been produced as a vanity vehicle for Oscar nominee Diane Lane, who stars as Madame Lyubov Ranevskaya (she played one of the children back in a 1977 Lincoln Center revival with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia)? Or was it mounted because of a new adaptation by hot young playwright Stephen Karam, on the heels of his Tony Award-winning hit The Humans? Finally, why is Simon Godwin’s direction of the cast so haphazard and scattershot, with performances that are literally all over the place?

There is an ongoing argument in academic and intellectual circles about the true intent of The Cherry Orchard. Most theatergoers consider the four-act drama to be one of the greatest tragedies ever written for the stage. When first produced at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, director Konstantin Stanislavsky depicted a dark, lugubrious story of an aristocratic family, deeply in debt and about to lose their beloved estate. Most revivals have been true to the original Russian production, but some contend Chekhov was dissatisfied with the heavy-handed, gloomy tone the director infused into the text and the characters. Stephen Karam must believe—as some academics have pointed out over the years—that Chekhov intended the story to be a comedy because there are many humorous touches here, such as governess Charlotta Ivanovna (Tina Benko) hamming it up in some scenes, munching suggestively on a cucumber and doing card tricks and acting like a clown during a party.

Reinterpreting a classic like this may seem outrageous, but this is hardly the first production of Chekhov’s masterpiece with “comic” aspects. In 2005, an off-Broadway production at the Atlantic Theater (starring Brooke Adams) also played up the text’s more lighthearted moments, with equally dismal results. Whether New York audiences will agree that the story and its characters are funny is highly debatable. One simply cannot deny that the core of the plot itself is more heartbreaking than humorous.

Roundabout Theatre’s revival, directed by Mr. Godwin (a Brit who has directed numerous works at the National Theatre), features a stellar cast of Broadway and Hollywood veterans.

Diane Lane is Madame Lyubov Ranevskaya, the nearly bankrupt aristocrat who travels back to Russia from Paris to deal with the sale of her family’s orchard. Yermaoli Lopakhin (Harold Perrineau.), a onetime serf from the estate who has recently become a successful businessman, offers a simple solution to the problem—sell the orchard and build summer cottages on the land. Madame Ranevskaya and her ineffectual brother Gaev (John Glover) quickly reject the plan.

The Cherry Orchard is known more for its many subplots than one simple storyline. Chekhov created a complicated tapestry of dramatic incidents, existential philosophy and everyday encounters instead of a single narrative thread. The only villain here seems to be the changing socio-economic landscape of tsarist Russia—one that is quickly disassembling all former notions, privileges and traditions of the upper classes.

The cast has some distinguished names indeed, including the great Joel Grey (as the servant Firs), and Broadway notables Celia Keenan-Bolger as Varya (Ranevskaya’s daughter) and Tavi Gevison (recently in The Crucible) as Anya.

Scott Pask creates a fine set, complete with Calder-style mobiles that represent the cherry trees, and costumes by Michael Krass are lavish indeed

Ms. Lane certainly shows off her emotional range an as actress here, but her performance, like so many in the cast, never gels with the others because director Simon Godwin doesn’t rein in any of the actors, and it’s frustrating trying to figure out the myriad acting styles on display here. Mr. Grey’s portrayal of Firs is the only one that comes close to anything moving in this otherwise confusing and forgettable evening. Blame both Stephen Karam for this head-scratching adaptation and Mr. Godwin for his puzzling direction (or lack thereof). This new “spin” on The Cherry Orchard is simply the pits.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 20, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on October 19, 2016

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (Left to right) Harold Perrineau, Diane Lane & John Glover. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: Diane Lane. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (left to right) Tavi Gevinson, John Glover & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (left to right) John Glover, Diane Lane & Joel Grey. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: Harold Perrineau & Diane Lane. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (left to right) John Glover, Joel Grey, Diane Lane & Chuck Cooper. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’: (Left to right) Harold Perrineau, Diane Lane, John Glover, Joel Grey & Chuck Cooper. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘The Cherry Orchard’: Confusing spin on classic appeared first on StageZine.