The Cherry Orchard

March 9th, 2006
Mark Taper, Los Angeles
Play

Annette Bening and Alfred Molina starred in this Chekov play about families and social responsibilities. It's also a study of how a privileged family is dislodged from their comfortable past toward a more uncertain future.

The first act has a lot of characters, is long, and spends a lot of time setting up relationships. I noted people walking out after this. We stayed. 2nd & 3rd acts (no intermission between them) were together shorter than the first and moved more swiftly, and were more alive and engaging.

We enjoyed seeing Annette Bening and Alfred Molina on stage. Both have stage presence and appeal. The uneven casting in the minor characters was noticeable but easily ignored as the characters spent less time on stage. For a crusty old Chekov play, it's very contemporary in its themes, and despite it's overlong 1st act, we stuck it out because we were curious. We've seen it now. Doubt we'd willingly do so again.