Three Sisters

Sooner or later, every theater company worth its salt attempts "Three Sisters." In more than 25 years of reviewing, I've seen about 20 productions of Anton Chekhov's moving comedy-drama about the Prozorov siblings and their longing to return to Moscow, the city of their birth and the symbol of their unrealized selves. The large cast of characters offers numerous juicy roles and staging challenges. But there are pitfalls. Because the characters are bored with their lives, many directors make the mistake of staging the play at a glacial pace, casting a gloomy pall over every minute of four long acts. Austin Pendleton carefully avoids that hazard in his production for Classic Stage Company. An insightful actor himself, Pendleton knows that the sisters and their friends have a desperate will to live, though they are trapped in confining marriages, dead-end jobs, and a culturally barren town.

Pendleton maintains a lively pace and draws some vital, engaging performances from a cast of theater and film veterans, but he's made some odd choices as well. As the vulgar Natasha, the wife of Andrey, the sisters' brother, the usually reliable Marin Ireland seems to have dropped in from 2011. Her manner is contemporary, and translator Paul Schmidt has given her surprisingly contemporary dialogue. "Andy, whatcha doin'?" she inquires of her husband. Anson Mount's surly Solyony shakes and trembles like a drug-addled junkie. The middle sister, Masha, and her cloddish husband, Kulygin, appear physically affectionate and intimate, even embracing tenderly as Masha expresses her boredom. This lessens the impact of her passion for Vershinin, the dashing but disillusioned captain with whom she carries on an affair. Maggie Gyllenhaal's smirking, sarcastic Masha doesn't appear to be desperately unhappy, just mildly upset. She seems to drift into her liaison with Vershinin, rather than grasping at it as if it were her last chance at sexual and emotional fulfillment. On the other hand, Paul Lazar's Kulygin is so fully realized in his empty-headed contentment that he makes a more sympathetic figure. When Kulygin is more interesting than Masha, usually the center of the play, things are definitely off.

Yet there are characterizations worth savoring. After quirky, off-center turns in two previous Chekhov revivals—"The Seagull" on Broadway and "Uncle Vanya" at CSC—Peter Sarsgaard has settled down and delivers a straightforward, compassionate rendition of Vershinin. Jessica Hecht is heartbreakingly detailed as the lonely eldest sister, Olga, and Juliet Rylance perfectly captures the unrealistic romantic yearnings and subsequent disappointment of Irina, the youngest. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as Baron Tuzenbach, Irina's suitor, is endearingly forlorn, while Josh Hamilton richly mines Andrey's conflict between his academic aspirations and his having to settle for a membership on the town council. Louis Zorich does a fine job with the alcoholic despair of Chebutykin, a doctor, but he misses the character's thwarted passion for the sisters' dead mother. As family retainers, Roberta Maxwell and George Morfogen display their years of stage experience by conveying years of their characters' lives in just a few lines.

Walt Spangler's simple set makes you feel as if you're sitting inside the Prozorov home. Marco Piemontese's character-evoking costumes and Keith Parham's naturalistic lighting add to the intimate effect, creating a homey environment for an uneven "Three Sisters."



Presented by and at Classic Stage Company, 136 W. 13th St., NYC. Feb. 3–March 6. Tue.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 2 p.m. 212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.classicstage.org. Casting by Calleri Casting.