PicksInSix Review: The Cherry Orchard - Goodman Theatre
“All Things Come To An End.”
PicksInSix® Gold Review |Ed Tracy
On my first visit to Chicago, I took a brisk late morning walk from Streeterville down Michigan Avenue across the DuSable Bridge to Wacker then North Dearborn and into the lobby of the Goodman Theatre. I was on a quest, of sorts. I browsed the impressive donor wall and peered in on the staff bustling around next door at Petterino’s.
It was mid-March 2002 and I had visited a hundred theaters or more before but could immediately feel the unique energy emitting from this slumbering giant of a venue. The feeling was palpable and inspiring.
I ventured upstairs and—remarkably by today’s security standards—into the Albert Theatre balcony, settling quietly into the last seat on the aisle, watching stagehands prepare for the next performance of the Robert Falls-directed masterpiece, “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
It was not apparent to me at the time just how much influence one person could have on an institution, particularly when it is in the business of the performing arts and operates at such an extraordinary professional level as the Goodman Theatre. Falls’ work had been recognized with numerous awards, most notably a Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and for directing “Death of a Salesman.”
An amazing career for someone who had served as Artistic Director at Goodman since 1986. But Falls was just getting started. Twenty years passed before a new generation of artistic leadership would begin writing the next chapter. The foundational work by Falls and longtime Executive Director/CEO Roche Schulfer is an epic story of partnership and passion for the arts. One need only look at the last six pages of the program to witness the investment by individuals, corporations and foundations whose support has enabled groundbreaking new work and educational opportunities to flourish on multiple stages.
Countless years of opening nights at Goodman were top of mind as I entered the Albert on Monday for the opening of Falls’ brilliant production of Anton Chekov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” a play choice that speaks to his long range vision and embraces a legacy that will be lasting and permanent. Falls is an artist extraordinaire and an innovator who has operated at the pinnacle of his craft through a defining and challenging era for contemporary theater.
This is a production to see and to savor.
Change is inevitable and “all things come to an end” a resoundingly appropriate quote from the play that sums up our human urge to reconcile with the past even as we keep a hopeful eye to the future. Adapted by Falls from a translation by George Calderon, “The Cherry Orchard” bursts with life, love, anguish and longing, showcasing an aristocracy trapped in its social mores, vulnerable yet oblivious to the generational change that is consuming them. It is theater of the highest caliber, a classic running spritely on all cylinders with production values that are rich, textured and sublime.
It is also a play for our time, when our own creative culture is at a tipping point and theater itself in the middle of a seismic shift. Falls has molded Chekov’s vision of the collapse of mid-19th century servitude society into an assessable production that looks and feels very much like it might have at the Moscow Art Theater during its debut at turn of the 20th century. Now enhanced for a modern audience, it emerges with all the joy and sadness that Chekov might have imagined—delightfully entertaining, absorbing and captivating—elevated to new heights by an extraordinary ensemble led by the blistering performance of Kate Fry (Lubov Ranyevskaya) and inimitable Chicago stage veterans including: Kareem Bandealy (Lopakhin), Christopher Donahue (Leonid Gayev), Matt DeCaro (Boris Semyonov-Pishchik), Alexandra Escalante (Varya), and Amanda Drinkall (Dunyasha) with two of the most endearing and heartfelt stage turns of this or any season by Francis Guinan (Firs) and Janet Ulrich Brooks (Carlotta).
Todd Rosenthal’s artful scenic design of the estate of Lyubov Ranevskaya, the stunning costumes by Ana Kuzmanic and evocative lighting by Keith Parham, all coalesce to provide the perfect visual tapestry.
The page has now been turned. We can only dream that the next glorious chapter of Goodman Theatre history will be as exciting, and satisfying, as this one. “The Cherry Orchard” plays through May 7.
PHOTO|Liz Lauren
GOODMAN THEATRE
presents
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
EXTENDED through May 7
Albert Theatre
170 N. Dearborn St.
(312) 443-3800
GOODMAN THEATRE HISTORY
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