Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

02 February 2006

The Cherry Orchard

I saw a production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard this evening at the Mark Taper Forum (where I am a subscriber). Actually, before the show I hung out with my friend Danny who works nearby. We got ridiculously cheap food and then I sat down for two and a half hours of sublime Chekhov. It starred Annette Bening, Alfred Molina, Frances Fisher and Lothaire Bluteau. I enjoyed it thoroughly. If you don't already have tickets, though, you probably won't be able to get them for very long. i hear it's selling out. It was sure sold out tonight.

Chekhov is an interesting thing: I get why not everyone digs the plays and I understand why directors always fuck them up, but it is really nice to see good Chekhov. This Cherry Orchard is not without its problems: it has dialect inconsistencies that I found incomprehensible and Alfred Molina is too old to play Lopakhin, but Annette Bening and Frances Fisher were wonderful and the new adaptation by Martin Sherman moves right along and has loads to say. I loved it.

One day, hopefully before I'm thirty, I'd like to play Lopakhin in a production of Cherry Orchard. I don't see how it will ever happen, considering I never act in anything and haven't in, like, three years, but it is a dream I've had for a long time.

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