Christopher Durang’s modern-day
Chekhovian pastiche, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (heretofore V&S&M&S), has re-emerged at the Paper Mill
Playhouse in Millburn NJ. To repeat some of what I wrote in my
initial review:
While
Durang’s play on aggregate doesn’t “knock it out of the park,” it’s pleasant
enough company for being an affectionate send-up; and enough of a play unto
itself not to be so hollow as a mere send-up. The play, set in a rambling Bucks County farmhouse offers
amusing spins some of the standard Chekhov archetypes. First and foremost
there’s the central couple who have no other existence but service to the
house, 50+ brother and sister Vanya—the sober, bemused foil to
eccentricity; a gay straight-man, if you will (Mark Nelson) and
manic-depressive Sonia, who has no relationships other than with Vanya and “no
life” (Michelle Pawk). They are visited
by their sister, the phenomenally self-absorbed film star Masha (Caroline
McCormick) who controls the purse strings
and can determine the fate of the house and its inhabitants; and she arrives
with her new, twentyish boy-toy, punkish star-on-the-rise Spike (Phillipe
Bowgen). There’s also a voodoo-practising
house servant, Cassandra (Gina Daniels) and a convenient ingénue next door to liven things up: Nina (Jamie
Ann Romero).
The
play rambles rather like the house and in its self-referential anachronism
strains its own illusion; for example, Vanya and Sonia are aware of Chekhov
because they have been named by their (now-deceased) parents for Chekhov
characters. But that also gives Durang license to move away from any obligation
to be wholly Chekhovian, and sometimes that works too.
Though
featuring an entirely different cast—none of whom is beholden to his or
her counterpart in the original NY company—the production’s entirely
different director, Don Stephenson, may
be somewhat beholden to his “predecessor,” Nicholas Martin…but if not, he’s
keyed into the same sensibility—greatly enabled by his having the same
set design (David Korins) to
work with. It’s really more like watching an A+ sert of replacements or an A+
national company than a new iteration. So on aggregate, it’s pretty much the
same experience as it was in NY.
And
there’s one thing that’s better: Ms. McCormick’s Masha. Whereas I’d thought the
role’s originator, Sigourney Weaver, affected a
portrait of self-absorbed vacuity that was a comment on self-absorbed vacuity—full of poses and indicative
“winks” to underscore the joke, making you always aware of an actress at
work—Ms. McCormick gives it a far more genuine spin; vacuous her Masha
may seem, but she hasn’t been formed in a vacuum; there’s a real sibling
connection, and glimpses of her real self at war with her self-protective
persona.
All
of which adds up to a good thing. If you care to see the play again, you’ll be
happy at how well it holds it shape and tone, even as all new folks have at it;
and if this will be your first time, you can be content that, whatever you may
think of it, you’re seeing it performed about as well as it can be. Which is
very well indeed.
(Alas,
my own show's obligations made this upload too late to benefit the
Paper Mill run, which has closed since I drafted the review above. But
as it's a production rife for remounting, I leave it as a record of
what may yet appear elsewhere.)
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