Susan Granger’s review of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (Golden Theater – 2012/2013)
If you’re looking for laughter, you’ll definitely find it at Christopher Durang’s blithely hilarious Chekhovian riff. Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Nielsen play unhappy siblings Masha, Vanya and Sonia, spending time at their ancestral home in bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Lonely spinster Sonia (Nielsen) and her sad-sack gay brother Vanya (Pierce) have devoted their lives to caring for their now-deceased professor parents on the family estate, living on funds supplied by their glamorous, globe-trotting movie star sister Masha (Weaver). Sonia, in particular, despairs that life has passed her by since she was adopted and has never felt as privileged as her siblings. Their gloomy ennui is relieved only by the dire premonitions voiced by their high-strung housekeeper, Cassandra (Shalita Grant): “Beware of Hootie-Pie!”
Arriving somewhat unexpectedly, narcissistic Masha (Weaver) is obviously undergoing her own midlife crisis, accompanied by her hunky aspiring actor/boy-toy, Spike (Billy Magnussen), who has problems keeping his clothes on, particularly when their doe-eyed, naïvely demure neighbor, Nina (Genevieve Angelson), appears.
Wryly written by Christopher Durang (“Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You,” “The Marriage of Bette and Boo”) and adroitly directed by Nicholas Martin, this whimsically contemporary, satirical and often surreal comedy-of-manners first opened Off-Broadway last fall at Lincoln Center. Durang explores themes of longing and loss, as he mixes-and-matches storylines from four different plays by Anton Chekhov (“The Cherry Orchard,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Three Sisters,” “The Seagull”), along with Aeschylus’ “The Oresteia” and wacky allusions to Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” And the title suggests Paul Mazursky’s 1969 social commentary “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.”
Each actor/actress has some memorable moments, the two most notable being Kristine Nielsen’s poignantly channeling Maggie Smith from the movie “California Suite,” and David Hyde Pierce’s impassioned second-act soliloquy, in which he yearns for the simpler culture in which we were raised, railing against the change brought about by technology and expresses anxiety about the future.
Production designer David Korins’ picturesque stone farmhouse set, drenched in Justin Townsend’s lighting, delightfully adapts Chekhov’s beloved Russian dacha into contemporary architecture. And Emily Rebholz’s costumes are perfection. Get tickets NOW because it’s a limited run through June 30.