Uncle Vanya – Lite

It’s generally agreed that Anton Chekhov’s 1897 play, Uncle Vanya, is a tragicomedy. Circumstances depict life’s blatant injustices while unfeasible desires and unrequited love elicit empathy for the human condition. No one is happy, there’s no rosy resolution, yet the playwright mines humor with a kind of parental tenderness. Any successful production must have contrast.

Like much on Broadway these last years, the latest iteration has been defanged. Harmony was harsh at the Edmond J. Safra Hall Theatre at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, homogenized on Broadway. The second version of Prayer for The French Republic reduced impact with an omnipresent narrator who cut tension. Water for Elephants barely shows its original underbelly… Uncle Vanya is a story of despondent and pointless lives. Lincoln Center’s version is bland.

William Jackson Harper (Astrov), Alison Pill (Sonia)

Eliminating specifics of time and place gives us no historical context for social standards/tradition or economics. Modernization eliminates both the grace and hardship of making do. Rewiring cuts characters’ musing, signs of inner lives.  (A beverage cooler, contemporary phonograph playing Miles Davis, and allusion to buying a beach house are steps too far.)

Vanya (Steve Carell, worthy of better opportunity) represents the old country. Ostensibly past middle age and bitter, he suddenly wakes up to his usury when brother-in-law Alexander (Alfred Molina – splendidly obtuse and imperious), for whom he’s sacrificed everything, reveals himself to be not a critical giant of art, but all wind and demands. Educated and capable, Vanya “might’ve been a contender.” (Marlon Brando- On the Waterfront.)

Alfred Molina (Alexander), Anika Noni Rose (Elena)

That the freeloader shows up penniless with young, beautiful wife Elena whom Vanya covets, is a last straw. Anika Noni Rose is not up to the usually complex role additionally made less serious by extremely low cut costumes as if to say that’s the attraction. In some productions, Vanya is the sad fool= us. Here, but for a moment in Act II, he’s just impotent. Seeing him try to shoot Alexander would’ve helped rectify this, but it happens off stage.

Sonia (Alison Pill – marvelous), Vanya’s niece, Alexander’s daughter, for whom he takes no responsibility, in whom he shows no interest, is tethered to the farm and its responsibilities. Her lack of options is decidedly set in another era. Otherwise, the most credible character here, she’s been for many years secretly in love with oblivious local doctor Astrov. William Jackson Harper grows into personification as the play progresses, but never embodies physical and existential exhaustion.

William Jackson Harper (Astrov)

Alexander’s constant hypochondriac complaints find Astrov increasingly at the estate compounding Sonia’s feelings. The doctor is also drawn to Elena, though apparently with more lust than Vanya’s idealized love. Either she toys with him or is conflicted. It’s difficult to tell in this portrayal. Reaching towards beauty is often a Chekhovian trope.

Rounding out those in situ are Vanya’s mother Maria (Jayne Houdyshell, a tiny part for a terrific actress), nanny/housekeeper Marina (Mia Katigbak, low key and appealingly wry), friend-in-residence Waffles (Jonathan Hadary – excellent – and he plays concertina!) and a neighbor – likely the son of someone connected to the production – who has no real role/reason for being there and whose violin playing is excessive.

Mia Katigbak (Marina), Jonathan Hadary (Waffles), Steve Carell (Vanya), Jane Houdyshell (Maria), Alfred Molina (Alexander), Anika Noni Rose (Elena), Alison Pill (Sonia)

Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me was wonderful, but hardly indication she might be able to handle this. With her feet planted firmly in contemporary mores, so much has been lost.

The usually excellent Lila Neugebauer’s direction is vague and uninspiring. We hardly care. Moments – Sonia’s laying in a freshly minted rain puddle, Vanya’s crawling across a table to confront Alexander, the doctor’s enthusiasm about artwork that turns out to be topographical maps – remind us of past creativity.

Mimi Lien’s sets are a hodgepodge of furniture from various periods floating on the big stage with no cohesion. Kaye Voyce’s costumes – excepting that of Elena – ably fit the “now” aspect.

Much of the cast is admirable, but the wrongheaded production offers little leeway.

Photos by Mark J. Franklin
Opening: Steve Carell (Vanya) and Alison Pill (Sonia)

Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
A New Version by Heidi Schreck
Directed by Lila Neugebauer

Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont