Saturday, December 02, 2006

"Masterpiece in the making"

Terry Teachout raves about Voyage in the subscription-only Wall Street Journal. Luckily there's an extract of his review at his blog, About Last Night. The relevant bit isn't extracted but here it is from the print version:

The actors are uniformly fine, with Mr. Crudup and Jennifer Ehle taking top honors. Mark Bennett's incidental music adds considerably to the total effect of the production ... but I'm out of room! I'll have more to tell you in a few weeks, but so far, "The Coast of Utopia" shows every sign of being a masterpiece in the making.

The Hartford Courant has a spoilery blow-by-blow writeup of the show by Malcolm Johnson. Mentions:

As acted by Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton, Kellie Overbey and Annie Purcell, they are a bright, winsome and innocent gaggle of tutored goslings, much in awe of their brother, Michael. Ethan Hawke, dashing in a red-and-blue infantry officer's uniform, endows the younger Bakunin with a cocky charm, and endless intellectual pretensions.
[...]
The headstrong Michael manages to head off the marriage of Ehle's sweet, thoughtful Liubov to Baron Renne (Andrew McGinn), a young, rich cavalry officer. But by the spring of 1835, Plimpton's more sour and tough-minded Varenka has wed her Dyakov and become pregnant. Soon, Varenka rejects her dull husband.

Link found via American Theater Web's comprehensive roundup. At Talkin' Broadway two orchestra tix to Shipwreck and Salvage are being sold for merely $30 apiece, a bargain.

Point and counterpoint: Scene 4's Michael Bettencourt vs reader Jerrod Bogard on the political impact of Voyage. Chris Nakimasha-Brown is "puzzled by the well-coordinated establishment media plugging" of Utopia. Blogger Greg found it went over his head.

Playbill summarizes the critical reception of Voyage:

The reception of The Coast of Utopia - Voyage was something of a happy surprise. The trilogy got mixed marks in London, but a winnowing of the text seemed to do the trick and the critics all sounded downright surprised that that they like the show so much. Calling it involving, exciting, expertly staged and acted, and declaring their appetite well-whetted for Part Two, they did prose back flips to convince their readers the show was more than just the snob hit of the season. An extension is expected. There's still Shipwreck and Salvage to come, and anything could happen, but for now Lincoln Center Theatre must be feeling that its millions were spent well.

Remember Shipwreck previews open on Weds Dec 6, with Ms Ehle in the lead female role of Natalie Herzen.

PS. From tomorrow morning I'm on furlough...with a stop at the front lines on Dec 9-10, when a group of us are going to see Utopia. Yay! Come say hi if you're there - look for hyperventilating females. Depending on time and net availability there may be reportage from the trenches. Otherwise, til Jan 5, Chelsea's holding the fort solo (owe ya!). I'll be checking the jenniferehle@gmail.com inbox when possible, but if you have anything important forward it to jenniferehle2@hotmail.com, Chels' "work" address. Reports and tips etc would be great. She is going on a short trip next weekend as well, so you'll have to fend for yourselves for a few days.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Voyage continued, continued

  • Rumour has it that an extension of The Coast of Utopia is being announced tomorrow, as well as more marathon dates.
  • Blogger Moxie the Maven reviews Voyage, as does Karl:
    I certainly enjoyed the first section. I had expected excellent performances by Richard Easton, Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton and Brian F. O'Byrne .. and they did not disappoint. But Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup were revelations.

  • David Cote blogs about his Time Out NY review.
  • Here's a Theatermania photo feature we forgot to post earlier. There's one photo of Ms Ehle.
  • BroadwayWorld is already announcing the start of Shipwreck previews on Dec 6.
  • Someone's Tony nomination predictions features Utopia and Utopians prominently (check out the bottom category).
  • Voyage, continued

    Francis X. Clines of the NY Times is as amused by the action in the audience as on the stage. In Time Out NY David Cote gives a 4/6 review. There's also video: go to "This Week in NYC" then "Theater: Week of 11/30/06" (dialup unfriendly). Polly Wittenberg of NY Theatre Guide quotes press reviews and gives the show a thumbs up.

    The large cast is full interesting actors but the star of Part 1 is an almost unrecognizable Billy Crudup playing the defiantly working class critic Belinsky, making his way in a world of social though not intellectual betters. Also memorable are the sincere Jennifer Ehle and the sparky Martha Plimpton as the Bakunin sisters Liubov and Varenka respectively. Making rather brief appearances here are the estimable Brian F. O’Byrne as Herzen and Josh Hamilton as Ogarev who play larger parts in Parts 2 and 3 of the epic. So much to look forward to.

    Don’t miss it.

    Joseph Hurley of the Irish Echo also covers the show, and Slate has a brief roundup.

    Thursday, November 30, 2006

    Playbill on Voyage opening

    Playbill has an article on the opening with photos and quotage from everyone. Everyone except - yep, you gussed it.

    Ctrl-F-"Ehle" goodness:

    [sez Jason Butler Harner, aka Turgenev] "The second play is so beautiful. Jennifer and Brian are incredible in it. It's smaller in scope. It's still 10 years, but it's more about relationships, friends growing old together. They've all known each other about 10 or 15 years now so it's much more Chekhovian."
    [...]
    Stunning-looking by Tavern light, Amy Irving gamely played Mother for the play. "I get to be Mother Earth in this one — and, in the next one, not so much," she says with a sexy smile. "It's nice to be able to move from mother to Jennifer Ehle's contemporary."

    The latest press review is from the New York Observer by John Heilpern. There's a blog review at Stories of a future librarian, discussion of Tony categories at BWW (the Tony awards administration committee is considering this question when they meet on Nov 30, says Playbill), and Terry Teachout responds to The Playgoer's post on the cost of Utopia tix.

    More: review by Elysa Gardner of USA Today:

    Stoppard's portrait of the effete complacency of the privileged set is infused with great wit. Richard Easton has many fine, funny moments as the arrogant patriarch Alexander Bakunin, while Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton, Kellie Overbey and Annie Purcell amuse as his sometimes frivolous daughters.

    Variety covers the opening and Greg Stepanich is inspired by Belinsky's line about the breath of a single eternal idea. Blogger Amy attended opening night and spotted some celebs. Word at All That Chat is that Salvage has sold out- hope you've got your tickets already.

    Wednesday, November 29, 2006

    Voyage opening night videos


    Here's a video from opening night at Broadway.com. Very dialup-unfriendly, but worth the download as it contains clips from the play and soundbites from the cast. Thanks for the tip Kate! There's quotage from Ms Ehle about three-quarters of the way through, about how you don't need to do any homework for the plays (David Harbour concurs).

    NY1 has a video and written review of the play. Ehle-filter:

    Adding romantic complications are Bakunin's four daughters, two of whom are portrayed by Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton. Stoppard might have fleshed out the women's roles more, but these fine actresses are excellent nonetheless.

    Here's a blog post from that critic, David Cote. There's another review by Leonard Jacobs of Backstage as well, no particular mentions. Broadway.com has "Word of Mouth" reviews by three "real theatregoers", also with video.

    Much discussion of The Coast of Utopia at All That Chat meanwhile: on Stoppard's letter to the editor, on whether the plays need to be seen in order, on whether there are really across-the-board raves or not, on how the trilogy will be considered at the Tonys, and a couple of responses to the NY Times review. There are a few more reader reviews at the NY Times as well.

    The photo up top is one of nine high-res ones that Josie sent (ta!). Check out the rest at our photo album.

    Ready?



    First up: photos! BroadwayWorld has opening night ones and AM New York's slideshow has a few stage stills. Hold on, more opening night photos at Theatermania...and a trillion more if you search for "Coast of Utopia" or "Ehle" at BrunoPress, FilmMagic, Getty Images, WireImage, Isifa. And still more in the Broadway.com photo gallery (photo 11 is with Oskar Eustis, 33 is with Martha Plimpton).

    Now, reviews. Click through to read the whole reviews; quoted here are the bits that mention her perf. Spoilers galore.

  • Matt Windman, AM New York. Audio and slideshow.

  • Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News.
    O'Brien expertly guides the large cast. Hawke delivers a high-octane and edgy performance as the egotistical Bakunin; Easton adds dignity as his loving father. Crudup steals the show as the impassioned and impoverished Belinsky. Jennifer Ehle, as Michael's lovesick sister, provides much-needed emotion for the proceedings, while Martha Plimpton makes a vivid impression as his most adventurous sibling.

  • Clive Barnes, NY Post.
    There will be more time later in the story to consider the actors swirling through the trilogy (O'Brien makes telling use, by the way, of the often derided Beaumont stage), but even at this first stopping point, enormous praise is due to Crudup's mousy-looking but valiant sketch of the great Russian critic Belinsky; O'Byrne's centered revolutionary, Herzen; and the shining-faced Ehle as the doomed, Chekovian-like Bakunin sister, Liubov.

  • David Rooney, Variety.
    Harbour carves a soulful, amusing character out of excitable Stankevich, while in smaller roles, O'Byrne, Hamilton and Harner all suggest further developments to come. Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton make vivid impressions as two of Michael's adoring sisters. The romantic idealism of the Bakunin girls, inspired by George Sand, is poignantly echoed in the sad outcomes of their relationships.

  • Ben Brantley, NY Times.
    As for the central performances, there isn’t space here to describe them in the detail they warrant. If some lack the subtlety of their London predecessors, none are wanting in present-tense vividness. (Mr. Easton, Amy Irving, Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton, as members of the same fraught family, are especially affecting. And I enjoyed David Cromwell’s take on an aging, worldly man of letters.)

  • Michael Sommers, Newark Star-Ledger.
    Vivid flashes of humanity are rendered by a 44-member company under O'Brien's masterful direction. An anarchist in the making, Michael is excitingly portrayed by Hawke as the 1800s equivalent of a rock star. Among his confederates, Billy Crudup's bumbling journalist, David Harbour's doomed philosopher and Brían F. O'Byrne's steely idealist are standouts.

    On Michael's home front, Richard Easton's lordly paterfamilias and Jennifer Ehle's consumptive sister are especially touching.

  • John Simon, Bloomberg.
    The acting is mostly admirable from a populous cast of both major and minor players. To list only my personal favorites (yours, with equal justice, may be different), I adduce David Harbour's naively generous, sweetly impractical Stankevich and Billy Crudup's passionately admonishing, sublimely unworldly Belinsky. Also Martha Plimpton's at first carping but eventually pragmatic Varenka and Jennifer Ehle's fragile but not spineless Liubov.

  • Eric Grode, NY Sun
    The cast includes several Stoppard veterans, each of whom seizes on delicious new angles to past successes. Ms. Ehle, all poise and certainty in 2000's Broadway revival of "The Real Thing," dazzles as the far less assured Liubov. (She won a Tony in 2000 and is even better here.) Mr. Easton's Alexander Bakunin is as emphatic as his A.E. Housman was tentative in "The Invention of Love." And Mr. Crudup, who launched his career as the Byronic tutor Septimus in "Arcadia," is almost unrecognizable as the adenoidal, fidgety Belinsky, who describes his impetuous writings as "chaos, excess, and no mercy."

  • Linda Winer, Newsday.
    Brían F. O'Byrne - first seen as an old man - establishes the ultimate moral center of Alexander Herzen, who sees the contradictions between surface civility and oppression. And the actresses - especially luminous Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton - struggle nobly against our unavoidable sense that these ecstatic young characters have wandered in from a Eurocentric Russian production of "Little Women."

  • Jeremy McCarter, NY Magazine.
    Stoppard tends to use domestic scenes like these to lighten up the heavy thinking in his plays: Consider Jumpers, which leavens its three hours of philosophical debate with marital spats and stripping. In Voyage, the pattern’s reversed. Stoppard delves into the romantic troubles of the Bakunin girls, who seek, reject, and are rejected by an array of suitors. But it’s never clear why we ought to care about their heartache, despite the best efforts of Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton to persuade us. Some wonderfully scandalous love affairs are due to arrive later in the trilogy, so Stoppard may yet recover the light touch for relationships he’s shown lately. For the time being, it’s a relief to leave the Bakunins’ personal lives for the simpler ground of Kantian metaphysics.

  • Robert Feldberg, NorthJersey.com.
    It is relatively minor characters, Bakunin's sisters -- stimulated by the novels of George Sand into yearning for romantic love -- whose relationships we hear about. (Most of the action takes place offstage.)

    The only courtship we see is that of Bakunin's oldest sister, Liubov, played with great charm and sweetness by Jennifer Ehle, and the shy young philosopher Stankevich, portrayed with comparable appeal by David Harbour.

  • Ann Marie Walsh, Union-Tribune.
    Toward the end, this vital cast conjures cresting and contrasting emotions with such insight and visual brilliance they confirm O'Brien as Stoppard's foremost interpreter. From the depths of the Beaumont stage, four crouching serfs haul thick ropes to roll a pianoforte forward. Lit by candlelight, Liubov Bakunin (Jennifer Ehle) and Nicholas Stankevich (David Harbour) are seated there, playing a Chopinesque duet as they talk.

    Their dewy, tentative sympathy makes their fates all the more poignant; each, so full of promise, will soon die of consumption. Harbour's Nicholas, smitten by German idealism, seems a likable dreamer, pure of heart, if short on experience. The glowing Ehle – as emotionally focused and quietly commanding an actor as her real-life mother, the legendary Rosemary Harris – creates a tremulous, though common-sensical Liubov.

  • Michael Feingold, Village Voice.
  • Michael Musto, Village Voice. (not exactly a review)
  • Frank Scheck, Reuters.
  • David Finkle, Theatermania.
  • Peter Marks, Washington Post
  • Toby Zinman, Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Jacques Le Sourd, The Journal News.

    Other bits on the blogs and elsewhere:
  • New Yorkology roundup.
  • Popsurfing's roundup and review.
  • Michael Sendrow's review.
  • Review from NYC Critics' Corner BroadwayWorld blog.
  • Steve on Broadway rounds up a few reviews.
  • A (brief) mention of Jennifer Ehle at the LCT blog in Brendan Lemon post on the opening night partay:
    Voyage had an opening last night, and the reviews today are wonderful, but just because the play is about Fichte, Hegel, and Kant doesn't mean you don't want to know about Chanel, Dior, and Ralph Lauren -- what everyone was wearing. I wish I could be more help in this department, but by the time the cast repaired to the Upper West Side bar Fred's for the after party I realized that my camera phone had broken down. Here's all I remember on the fashion front: actor Robert Stanton was wearing Nicole Farhi and every woman was sporting something to show off her figure.

    Among a group of theater people the Farhi connection is understandable: she's married to playwright David Hare. The women's clinging fabrics also make sense: if you had to wear form-concealing crinolines every night on stage you'd want to bust out, too. Call me a sexist if you like, but even before I downed a drink I was quite content to observe Kellie Overbey in her shiny '60s number (and new bangs); Jennifer Ehle appearing like she'd just come off a Hollywood red carpet; Patricia Conolly looking beautifully made up; and Erika Rolfsrud inhabiting precincts of glamour usually reserved for Vogue cover girls. Martha Plimpton may have been the most ready-for-her-closeup: she not only knows how to wear a spangly black cocktail dress with utter nonchalance but, when the clamor for booze at Fred's, her usual civilian hangout, overwhelmed the bartender, she displayed another skill: she broke the pub's fourth wall and assisted him. [...]
  • Hooo boy

    As rain is to pours, rave is to.....? So. Many. Reviews. Hardly even know where to start. Ehle-filtering of the reviews will happen post-sleep. For now keep an eye on others' roundups: there's a pretty comprehensive BroadwayWorld forum thread that is tracking most of the Voyage reviews, and Broadway Pulse also has a few with quotage.

    Also here's Tom Stoppard's response to the earlier "required pre-reading" piece in the NY Times, and an article by Martha Plimpton in the NY Daily News.

    Tuesday, November 28, 2006

    Setting sail

    The first press reviews for Coast of Utopia: Voyage are out! A little earlier than expected, but who's complaining.

    Matthey Murray of Talkin' Broadway gives a rave:

    There are few greater pleasures in living a theatre-full life than expecting to be drowned by a towering show and instead finding yourself washed away on a tide of exciting, thought-provoking entertainment that nonetheless eventually deposits you safely on shore. Or should that be the coast?

    Let's go with that, if only for the moment. For tribute must be paid to The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy of plays that just got its official start with the opening of its first chapter, Voyage. Lincoln Center Theater is occupying itself with this mammoth opus for the better part of the season, and if you want to step foot in the Vivian Beaumont between now and March, the only way to do so is by way of 19th century Russia. Believe it or not, this is less threatening - and more rewarding - than it sounds.

    Despite Stoppard's not entirely undeserved reputation for writing dense plays on esoteric subjects ranging from philosophy and chaos theory to literature and England's occupation of India, Voyage is some of the most instantly accessible Stoppard Broadway has seen in years. Advanced word from London, where The Coast of Utopia premiered a few years back, was that the work was compelling and brilliantly written but stuffy and perhaps even self-absorbed. Under Jack O'Brien's direction here, Voyage doesn't smolder or steam - it crackles and blazes. [...]

    Michael Kuchwara for AP is also positive:
    "Voyage" is a tantalizing curtain raiser, a taste, one hopes, of what's to come.

    The play is the opening salvo of Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia," a nine-hour trilogy that is epic in its sweep, yet, judging from this first episode, surprisingly personal, intimate even, in the emotions that flow through this passionate piece of theater. [...]

    One of the strange things about "Voyage" is that the women almost seem like an afterthought. It takes a while to differentiate among the four Bakunin daughters, portrayed by
    Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton, Kellie Overbey and Annie Purcell. Their mother (an underutilized Amy Irving) also comes across as a minor accessory. Eventually, Ehle as the most tremulous of the daughters, become something more than a cipher as she pines for the elusive Stankevich.

    If Stoppard's language is dense (at least for the men), the production design — sets, Bob Crowley and Scott Pask; costumes, Catherine Zuber; lighting, Brian MacDevitt — is buoyant and staggeringly beautiful. There are some memorable images, particularly an endless line of peasants spread across the wide Beaumont stage, and a wintery Russian palace, looking as if it were constructed out of ice.

    Despite the many changes of seasons in "Voyage" and the liveliness of the talk, there is an autumnal, almost Chekhovian feeling to the proceedings. It's the beginning of the passing of the old order although no one seems to realize what exactly is happening. Yet it's this anticipation of the unknown — and the willingness to confront it — that makes "Voyage" so theatrically vibrant. [...]

    Word from All That Chat is that there's a review of Voyage in today's New York magazine by Jeremy McCarter, not yet online.

    On the blogs, Ryan describes the striking opening sequence of Voyage and is positive about the show:

    [...] I said to Craigy that what I really liked about it was how it's so thoughtful and philosophical, but it tempers that just perfectly with enough humor that it never felt too heavy. Ethan Hawke is in it. I don't really like him, but I'll have to say he was really not too bad at all. Martha Plimpton is in it, and she was great, but her part wasn't too terribly huge. Amy Irving, too. [...]

    Johann also recommends it. Jesse Wilbur of if:book writes a thoughtful rave:

    [...] Prior to seeing the play I was concerned that the first act of a trilogy would have a sense of being open in the way a cliffhanger is open. I was watching it with two visitors from out of town, and it is unlikely they'll be able to return to see Shipwrecked or Salvage. I didn't want them to leave with a sense of the work being unfinished. While the action is indeed open-ended, there is a very strong sense of closure at the end of the second act. It is more portentous than unfinished: there is war and exile and a nobleman at the end of his life, contemplating the loss of his son and the dissolution of his estate. It is a nod to the great Russian novels, but with the unfussy delivery that I recognize from other Stoppard plays.

    One of the things I kept noticing during the performance was the presence of books. When Stankevich passed a book to Bakunin, I felt the transfer of knowledge. The play expresses ideal of what we think about at the Institute: books as vehicles for big ideas. There is a treatise waiting to be written about the view of literature defining a nation (explosively presented in a monologue from Belinsky). And there is, throughout, a very powerful sense that the printed word is vastly important. But there is also that sense of impending loss, which makes us question where we are today. Do we live in a world where idealism is lost, and where the gilt-edged books filled with new philosophies are no longer valued? Or is it the opposite? Do we live in a world where the book is doing better than ever, and idealism takes so many forms that it is unrecognizable?

    smore2 from ATC is harder to please however, finding little to praise in the play.

    As for random bits and pieces, Playbill's announcement of the opening includes a photo of Bakunins Sr and Jr. At Musings from the Lehigh Valley, there's a response to the NY Times profile on Tom Stoppard, and BroadwayWorld forumers speculate on the chances of Utopia being extended beyond March.

    Monday, November 27, 2006

    "Too much philosophy"

    Michael Riedel via The Playgoer:

    "Voyage," Tom Stoppard's new play about radical politics in pre-revolutionary Russia, is dense, dazzling, beautiful and demanding.

    But it's not for everyone. Indeed, there are always a few bail-outs at intermission. Stoppard, who ducks out of Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater for a smoke after the first act, keeps an informal tally of the people leaving his play. Lately, he's started asking them why.

    The dialogue goes something like this:

    Stoppard: "Excuse me. Why are you leaving this play?"

    Lincoln Center Theater subscriber (age, about 97): "Who are you?"

    Stoppard: "I'm the playwright."

    Subscriber (fidgeting with infrared hearing device): "We can't tell you!"

    Stoppard: "Please. I really want to know. Are you leaving because it's boring?"

    Subscriber (crinkling a cough-drop wrapper): "Well, yes."

    Stoppard: "Why is it boring?"

    Subscriber: "Too much philosophy!"

    David Hare, who has a play of his own in previews - "The Vertical Hour," starring Julianne Moore - says he envies his friend Stoppard's "sang-froid."

    "I don't have it myself," he adds. "I can't bear to listen to what people say about my plays. Not once have I ever heard a single person say anything nice. The very first comment I ever heard, at the first preview of my first play, was: 'I'm sorry, darling. That was my idea.' "

    Prediction: "Voyage" will get terrific reviews. And audiences who devote their full attention to the play will be richly rewarded.

    "Hemorrhaging art"

    The buzz is loudening!

  • Juan Pedro Quiñonero responds to the mammoth NY Times Coast of Utopia reading list with his own pared down list of five books. In Spanish, so Babel it.

  • Jeremy at CitySpecific gives a qualified thumbs up to Voyage but found Ms Ehle's character too tearful.

  • NPR's Weekend Edition has a piece on the staging of the play (transcript here). Found via Charles Deemer's blog.

  • Newsweek article on Sir Tom. Some quotage from the man:

    [...] Stoppard, a master at using wit and humanity to lighten up Big Ideas, denies his play is a polemic. "It's about a family, and brothers and sisters and struggles between lovers, and parents and children." Lofty ideals may drive his characters but they can't escape the emotional turbulence of their own lives, and Stoppard focuses on this human messiness. Exhibit A is the writer and early socialist Alexander Herzen (played by Brían F. O'Byrne), who appears in "Voyage" and anchors the next two plays, set mostly in Europe where the gentlemen revolutionaries go into exile. "Herzen was an early feminist," says the playwright. "He didn't think men had the right of possession over their wives. But it never occurred to him that his wife might fall for somebody else. For a little while, it destroyed him." [...]

  • Sign On San Diego has an article about Jack O'Brien. It's about his relationship with the Old Globe mostly, but there's quite a bit on Utopia:

    [...]The first of Stoppard's trilogy of historical plays, “Voyage,” opens at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center tomorrow night with a star-studded, 46-member cast.

    While performing “Voyage” on weekends, the cast rehearses with O'Brien on weekdays for the second drama in the trilogy, “Shipwreck,” before tackling “Salvage.” All three plays center on the mid-19th-century radicals whose ideas transformed czarist Russia.

    With a $7.5 million budget and a gleaming, lacquered set by British designer Bob Crowley, Stoppard's trilogy plays larger than the big, Globe-sprung commercial musicals – the “Damn Yankees” revival and “The Full Monty” – that first earned O'Brien his New York reputation.

    “I have never been prouder of anything in my life than my work on 'Coast of Utopia,' ” O'Brien said. “I'm hemorrhaging art. My veins are open and it's just cascading out of me.

    “And we have this miracle company of basically young people,” he added, referring to a cast headlined by film stars Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup, and Tony winners Brian F. O'Byrne and Jennifer Ehle. [...]

    Also there's an account of the cast's response to Richard Easton's onstage collapse.

  • A love letter to Utopia and Billy Crudup by Katurian at Broadway World:

    You know the moment during "Keep it Gay" in "The Producers" where Carmen & co. flash the mirror around to the repeated tune of "Tony", "Tony", "Tony", "Tony?" That's exactly what was on my mind as I left the Lincoln Center Friday night. You know, along with questions about the human soul, the essence of socialism and communisim, and thoughts on the orgin of ideas. Typical mind flashes for anyone who wisely ventures to this production. [...]

  • And more love at All That Chat from WWriter:

    I did not go into Coast of Utopia optimistically. I know nothing of that period of Russian history and wasn't sure I even cared. In fact, my friend and I were discussing to whom we might sell our tickets to Parts II and III.

    Well, considering that Tom Stoppard has been my favorite playwright for 30 years, I shouldn't have worried! Coast of Utopia, Part I, is a tremendous piece of work, funny, warm, involving, moving, and fascinating.

    It is, however, occasionally hard to follow, I will admit--lots of people with Russian names, lots of quickly spoken dialogue, lots of plot. But that's only a minor problem, since there is so much to chew on and enjoy.

    Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup are both brilliant. Vibrant. Convincing. Entertaining. They may have to arm wrestle for the Tony--and Brian O'Byrne hasn't even had a chance to make his impact yet!

    I just want to throw positive adjectives at this show. [...]
  • Friday, November 24, 2006

    Shrapnel soufflé

    Ode to O'Brien by Brendan Lemon of the LCT blog:

    Since it's Thanksgiving week, I'd like to write about someone to whom I owe a debt of gratitude: The Coast of Utopia's director, Jack O'Brien. Of all the fine performances being given during this enterprise, the one that audiences will never see is the one he is giving back stage. By calling his behavior a performance I do not mean to suggest that his tireless activity is somehow insincere. Too many times I've seen his joviality turn suddenly dead-serious, and the first time actors experience this shift can be a little disorienting.

    No, I mean simply that, at least backstage, Jack is every bit as entertaining as the actors. (So many of the best directors are, whether like Mike Nichols they have been actors themselves or whether they could have been had they not inherited a gene for bossiness.) Sometimes Jack's comedy is in his off-kilter observations: one day, he referred to a scene of delicately phrased political shouting in Shipwreck as a "shrapnel soufflé"; I got such a case of the church giggles that I had to leave the room. Other times, Jack's gift is in his movement: at the first rehearsal for the big party scene in Voyage, he demonstrated the servants' subtle gambols past the lamps with such aplomb I swore Astaire was there. [...]

    William Grimes of the NY Times writes an article on The Coast of Utopia with suggested books for pre-reading. There's also a multimedia slideshow that is absolutely beaut- Jack O'Brien narrates over a bunch of stills from the production (some including Jennifer Ehle).

    Over at BroadwayWorld the peoples are saying nice things about Voyage and that you should get tix before the official opening on Nov 27. Ignore the blog pimping, svp.

    Wednesday, November 22, 2006

    The toe green onion

  • A NY Sun interview with Coast of Utopia director Jack O'Brien:

    Director Jack O'Brien currently has a new Broadway production. He also is in rehearsal with another Broadway venture. This is not surprising; Mr. O'Brien is one of the busiest theatre directors in America. What is unusual is that the show in performance and the one in rehearsal are the same play.

    Well, sort of. Mr. O'Brien is in the midst of a six-month commitment to the American premiere of "The Coast of Utopia," Tom Stoppard's heady three-part examination of 19th-century Russian thinkers. The first part, "Voyage," began previews October 17 and will open November 27. Meanwhile, rehearsals began on November 2 for the second section, "Shipwreck," which will start previews December 5.

    "The first one hasn't really been seen by the press and we're already starting work on the second," Mr. O'Brien said. Despite his pressing situation, Mr. O'Brien sounded more chipper than anxious. Actually, he sounded chipper and anxious at the same time, and always does. "What was very interesting is we had been all through it in September. We did the text work on all three plays. Then we put that away and went to work on the first one."

    All those "we's" refer to his 44-member cast, a gathering the size of which no other Broadway play and few musicals can boast. "[Director and choreographer] Jerry Mitchell and I are laughing about it,"said Mr. O'Brien, mentioning his collaborator on "Hairspray." "He's about to go into rehearsal for the musical ‘Legally Blonde,' and we have more people in ‘The Coast of Utopia!' Unbelievable." (The trilogy's $7.5 million budget is also musical-sized.) [quite a bit more...]

  • Stars spotted in the audience by Theatermania:

    As if anyone needed further proof that celebrities have better things to do on Sunday and stay home and watch football, November 19 was a very starry affair at the theater. The matinee of The Coast of Utopia at the Vivian Beaumont brought out the play's author Sir Tom Stoppard, Caroline Kennedy, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, actors Phyllis Newman, Linda Emond, Estelle Parsons, Howard McGillin, and Bernard White, producer Margo Lion, and Vineyard Theatre artistic director Doug Aibel.

  • Korean review on Voyage...I think. Babelfish it for a laugh.

  • John Ehle's The Land Breakers gives old ladies insomnia.

  • There's an interview with Tom Stoppard at WNYC on the Leonard Lopate Show. Can't find a direct mp3 link, you might need to subscribe to the podcast. Or try this link (stream audio?) given by The Playgoer, who laments the price of tickets. [edit: here's the mp3 of the Stoppard interview]

  • Word from All That Chat is that there are TDF tix to the opening night of Voyage on Nov 27.

    Happy 19th, C!
  • Monday, November 20, 2006

    Same old

    A report from Voyage by law professor Leonard Link:

    [...] Saw a matinee preview on Saturday of "Voyage," the first of three parts of Tom Stoppard's trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, at Lincoln Center Theater. This is Stoppard's ambitious attempt to provide a sweeping account of the young Russian intellectuals of the mid-19th century who chafed under the stifling Czarist system and sought a new nationalism grounded in Russian themes and intellectual freedom. It is the usual Stoppard mix of drama and comedy, with characters occasionally breaking into set speeches which defy the conventions of normal dialogue, sounding more like prose textbook than human speech. But those moments are merely scattered through the show; otherwise the dialogue is convincing and idiomatic.

    The cast is very strong, especially Ethan Hawke as the fatally egotistical Michael Bakunin. It is a huge cast, wielded expertly by director Jack O'Brien in a stunning production. There was still some learning of lines going on, I think, since I heard a few slips, but then it has not officially opened yet. The house was pretty full, and the audience very enthusiastic, for good reason. Stoppard is capable of writing interminably long acts, but in this case the successions of short scenes keep things from becoming over-extended, and the cast is so marvelous to watch that the time flies by. One does have to concentrate hard with Stoppard, and it really helps to arrive early enough to read the synopsis of the action. The construction is unusual - Act I sets out events from the Summer of 1833 through the fall of 1841 at the Bakunin country estate of Premukhino; then Act II reverts back to Spring 1834, giving us the same events from the perspective of Moscow and St. Petersburg. In other words, a strictly chronological presentation would have intermingled the scenes of Acts I and II, with the same characters as they traveled backed and forth between the locations.

    Does it always work? Well, Act I can have a disjointed feeling, but Act II hangs together and has many "aha" moments when the gaps in Act I are filled in with what was happening away from the country estate in the interim between scenes. By the end, one has a fuller picture and the characters are coming into focus.

    I'll be seeing Part II in December. It is possible towards the end of the run to see all three parts in close proximity, although that would be a big investment of time over a short period.... Anyway, this one is definitely worth seeing.

    And the show inspired a meditation on art at AgapeAngst:

    [...] Seeing Tom Stoppard's fine play today made me excited to think - to engage in pretentious debate -to search for something beyond the real - beyond the base acts of survival, sex, and food consumption. I felt invigorated with the spirit that I , no we, can make culture - we can make the history of our choosing. We are bound by the follies of war and oppression - but we , we make what remains, what endures - we leave behind our spirit - we leave behind our life. That is our immortality. That is our art.

    I don't want to write about art - I want to make art. I want to be art.

    I don't know what I've just said - but I know that I have a feeling, a nagging to get it all out - there aren't words that can define it. I just want to feel it and know.

    By the way, a reader has written in to ask if anyone's going to see Voyage or Shipwreck from Dec 18 - Jan 3. It's her first time in NYC so she would like to go to the theater with other fans. E-mail jenniferehle@gmail.com or leave a comment here if you're interested.

    Saturday, November 18, 2006

    Self-explanatory


    Thanks to the LCT folks! Click on the pics to see the humungo verions.

    For blog searchy purposes: Coast of Utopia: Voyage photos with Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton, Ethan Hawke, David Harbour, Kellie Overbey and Annie Purcell.

    Friday, November 17, 2006

    Etc

  • YouTube video of John Ehle doing a book reading.
  • New Spider-Man 3 trailer and a detailed writeup that includes a photo and description of a scene that Rosemary Harris is in. There's also a mention of her in an article about a new animal welfare food labelling scheme.
  • Interview with Jack O'Brien, Coast of Utopia director.

    [...] The Coast of Utopia, whose first part is now in previews and opens Nov. 27, is a much-anticipated project. The three plays that make up Stoppard's epic- Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage - chronicle the lives and ideas of five artists and thinkers who laid the groundwork of the Russian Revolution: socialist writer Alexander Herzen, anarchist Michael Bakunin, novelist Ivan Turgenev, poet Nicholas Ogarev and critic Vissarion Belinsky.

    "Tom never writes a play about one thing," O'Brien said. "He writes a play about a lot of stuff. This play is historical. All of these things actually happened to these people. It's very witty. It has to do with philosophy. It has to do with the evolution of independent thinking in Europe and Russia in the 19th century."

    O'Brien previously directed Stoppard's Hapgood and The Invention of Love, but they didn't really prepare him for The Coast of Utopia, which the director called "the theatrical equivalent" of Wagner's Ring cycle. "It's some sort of experience," he said. "It's like watching a novel."

    The cast of 44 includes Billy Crudup, Jennifer Ehle, Ethan Hawke, Amy Irving, Brian O'Byrne and Martha Plimpton, an unusually starry group for a long run with a nonprofit theater company.

    Part Two of the trilogy begins in December and will play in repertory with Part One as Part Three is being rehearsed. By Valentine's Day, all three will be up and running in tandem and continue through mid-March. The last three Saturdays of the run in February and March are marathons when all three plays - a total of 81/2 hours - can be seen in one day. The marathons are already sold out.

    O'Brien thinks a marathon could be too much. For out-of-towners, he suggests catching consecutive performances of the three plays over two days by taking advantage of the Wednesday and Saturday matinees.

    "So in an overnight, you can see all three plays, but you're not sitting there for an entire day and you have a little time to think and absorb it. I think that's the best way of doing it." [...]

  • Misc "saw it, liked it": Dan, HEad of the ages, Andrew Guest:
    [...] Last night we saw Voyage the first part of Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" trilogy of plays. Thoroughly dramatic opening, with a stunning special effect of waves crashing on the stage got me to sit up in my seat. It was long and wordy, no surprise for Stoppard, but I was mesmerized. It helps to have read some Turgenev, to understand how modern ideas of the self came to Russia really at just the wrong time. To our eyes and ears, the Russians seem almost laughably naive, but they were struggling against a thousand years of groupthink, and needed time to adjust to seeing themselves as individuals in a modern setting. I hope to get back to see parts two and three next year. [...]

  • Sunshine review from a Jewish perspective.
  • Latest word from Verve Pictures is that Alpha Male has been entered for consideration for the 2007 BAFTAs. Nominations come out in January.
  • More blog mini-reviews: DBG is disappointed but there's love for Voyage at One scheme of happiness despite lack of preparation. She delivers this high praise:
    [...] Of course, a cast boasting Ethan Hawke, Martha Plimpton, Amy Irving and Billy Crudup guarantees a full house, even if the show were a dissertation on the redeeming qualities of cat poop. Luckily for us all, Stoppard's jaunty script provoked far more interest and humor and kept the audience closer to the edge of their seats than any litterbox chatter I've encountered recently. [long, read on]

  • New post at the LCT blog on how actors spend their waiting time between scenes.
    During a technical rehearsal last month for Voyage, when a light cue was being rewritten and much of the cast was hanging out in the audience seats of the Vivian Beaumont, Ethan Hawke remarked, "The waiting is harder than the acting."

    Many actors would agree. Passing the time between set-ups, in fact, is such an integral part of the actor's life that it's a wonder no Stanislavsky or Uta Hagen has written a guide on The Art of Waiting. [...]

  • Sherry Grindeland of the Seattle Times recounts her trip to the city that never sleeps, meeting Voyage company member Erika Rolfsrud.
  • Another giveaway of the Pride and Prejudice 10th anniversary box set at Elegant Variation.


  • Plus, we just passed the 100 000 visitors mark recently. Yay!

    Monday, November 13, 2006

    Tsar Georgiy


    Photo from the New Yorker, via Agent E (thanks!). And Brendan Lemon of the LCT blog finds echoes of the recent mid-term elections in The Coast of Utopia, or vice versa, or something.

    It has been difficult to see daily life today in terms of anything but last night's election. And when daily life involves a play about politics, the associations in the rehearsal room are bound to be frequent. One example among many: in a scene from Shipwreck being run today, about the European revolutions of 1848 and the pressures for change they exerted on European royals, Herzen remarks, "The Tsar will have to make a gesture." (News flash: "Bush Says Rumsfeld To Resign!") [...]

    Oh, and there's free booze if you answer a quiz about Voyage correctly. Have a look in the book for clues. Or buy and read the thing!

    Friday, November 10, 2006

    Voyage stuff

  • Review from John Meyers, Connecticut Post.
  • Cheaper Ironies - guestbook message from someone who got to see rehearsals.
  • MrSmearcase feels intellectually bullied.
  • Doug Marino says it's packed with standout performances, but wonders whether average Joe theatregoer will get it.
  • Mixed views and debate at All That Chat.
  • Japanese review, or something.
  • Jaime loved it.
  • New but negative reader review at NY Times.
  • Some Billy Crudup love at IMDB.
  • Photo of Ethan Hawke as Bakunin at Theatermania.
  • Last and best, a slideshow from Martha Plimpton's blog, with backstage photos! If you want to see them one by one, start here. None of notre dame I think.
  • Sunday, November 05, 2006

    Everyone has TB

    Five- and four-star verdicts from the NY Times' reader reviews.

    Equal to, if not better than, London, November 2, 2006
    Reviewer: sirodenaj
    Saw the complete Utopia marathon in London, and this is at least its equal. A wonderfully thought-out and gorgeously designed production. Bob Crowley's sets and Catherine Zuber's costumes continue to astound (William Dudley's London designs were also extraordinary). The direction and acting really cannot be bettered. It would be unfair to single anyone out, although Billy Crudup as the doomed, tubercular (a lot of these characters are, unsurprisingly, tubercular) Vissarion Belinsky gets a great set piece and does it full justice. Can't wait for Parts 2 and 3. But: Do some homework before going. Some people behind me (a) had never heard of Turgenev and (b) of course had no idea how to pronounce his name. Wonder what they made of most of it?

    A Stoppard Classic, November 2, 2006
    Reviewer: mogliettina_1
    I admit that this somewhat "talky" production of "The Coast of Utopia", with its penchant for lengthy philosophical discussions, was responsible for me nodding off occasionally. But don't go by me! I can attest to the fact that the audience met this wonderful play, the first in the trilogy, called "Voyage", with enthusiasm. The stage design was absolutely spectacular -- creative and unique in its beauty. The massive cast seemed dedicated to their roles and executed them with spirit. Special acknowledgement goes to Billy Crudup who brought the character of Belinsky to life despite the fact that he was fighting a terrible cold. His was a stand-out performance and worth the price of the ticket. Highly recommended.

    At All That Chat there's consensus that the production is stunning and well-acted, but some people find that the play is emotionally unengaging.

    Saturday, November 04, 2006

    Utopia, Meg March, fanfic and more

  • Parallels between the Russian intelligentsia and Livejournal? Tis so.

    I feel like I just started some important project last night but really I just saw a play. Tom Stoppard's "The Coat of Utopia" is a trilogy, and I just saw the first part "Voyage." It's about a circle of Russian intellectuals in the nineteenth centur: Michael Bakunin, Nicholas Stankevich, Vissarion Belinsky, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen and Nicholas Ogarev. In last night's show they were all young and stupid--especially Michael Bakunin. Ethan Hawke did a great job playing somebody who was charismastic and idealistic and thinks the universe revolves around him. Billy Crudup was also great as Belinsky.

    On the way out I pushed through what I swear I thought was a group of college students standing around near the entrance and then realized it was the cast I just saw. Billy Crudup is a tiny, tiny man.

    There were times when the play actually reminded me of lj, I guess because it's one modern place where people sometimes get very intense about ideas. There's one scene where someone is considering printing a new essay in a newspaper and he's discussing getting it past the censors. He says, "I think we can do it if we change a couple of words. Two, in fact. "Russia" and "we." He suggests changing it to "certain people," like "Certain people are neither east nor west..." "The Rennaissance passed certain people by..." It reminded me of those lj posts where people try to respond to a post without referencing the actual post because that might be wanky.

    So two more plays to go...

  • Rave for Ms Ehle by SingingButler at ATC:

    Someone get this woman another Tony! Her work in Part One is truly remarkable. It's no doubt a tough piece to play (I enjoyed it on the whole) and some of the actors (particularly the two younger sisters) have trouble not sounding strained in their effort to speak the language and to project their voices. Ehle, on the other hand, seems to have this down pat, quite naturally. It is she who speaks as if the words are hers, even when not saying anything of tremendous importance. She's also lucky to have the most emotionally fulfilling part.

    I hear she has another emotional role (even bigger) in the second part. Anyone know what she does in the third?

    She is really something special.

  • Emily finds Little Women parallels:

    The play was incredible. I'd known the vague outline of the plot, and naturally I'd expected good acting, but wow. All of you who can get over to Lincoln Center for a piece of The Coast of Utopia, DO IT. I saw Voyage, and my goodness. There was lots and lots of philosophy, huge blocks of it, but delivered in such a way that it all made wonderful sense. Particularly Billy Crudup's speech about the need for a national literature; that really validated my being an English major, which I always have qualms about. And then the way that Prumkhino, Ethan Hawke's family estate, was located as a site of stasis; the first real movement that happened there was the end of Act One, when all these autumn leaves kept falling. And really, that's static too; autumn is a time of the dying of the year, just as two of the characters died, and were talked about in that scene in the past tense. Billy Crudup was so passionate about literature, and Ethan Hawke was such an aesthete promanading as an intellectual, and Jennifer Ehle was such a Meg March, and really it was just truly stunning.

  • TheEnchantedHunter at the BWW forums isn't digging it. His verdict:

    Though beautifully-produced and nicely acted by a game cast, THE COAST OF UTOPIA: VOYAGE is a dense, heady stew with little entertainment value or dramatic interest to engage even the most erudite theatergoer. Though I personally found the philosophical arguments fascinating (I've a background in comparative religions), it doesn't compensate for the unnecessarily academic, dry presentation of a society riding the tides of historical change through the eyes of a Russian family and their extended circle. The events of the play, fragmented into different time frames and points of view, have not been dramatized in such a manner as to allow much audience identification and, as a result, the play underwhelms and it's hard to care. The introduction of characters and relationships is often confused and confusing, with the first act narration of offstage events often involving plot points and situations not clarified till Act Two. And after three hours, to have all the philosophical and historical ruminations of the play reach its conclusion in the rather cliched tradition of yet another end-of-empire story seems staggeringly anti-climactic and not particularly worth the effort. I have tickets to the next two installments but I seriously doubt that I'll force myself to endure more of this non-event.

  • Lavi Soloway gives qualified praise:

    After dinner, we walked over to Lincoln Center to immerse ourselves in Stoppard. On the one hand you could fairly say that Coast of Utopia is a lot of "blah, blah, blah" with very little plot (of course so is life, if you're not careful). There were some zingers, though. The problem were the long bits that were challenging to follow if you hadn't read up on your undergraduate philosophy, or have some passing understanding of Russian history of the period. Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup command the stage for much of the play and they both gave extremely energtic and convincing performances. (Considering that Hawke is playing an anarchist, his discipline is notable.) Amy Irving and Martha Plimpton were also stand outs in their roles as mother and sister to Hawke's spoiled aristocrat, Mikhail Bakunin. Bakunin's father, a somewhat grumpy feudal landowner who is fast losing patience with his son's disobedience, was excellent. A shame for David Manis--he gave a masterful performance--who is the understudy as he will be on stage only until the official opening on November 27, when Richard Easton returns. (Easton's illness delayed the opening after he collapsed on stage mid-show last month.) One of the more memorable lines is reserved for him, "You have turned your sisters' faces away from the light of parental love, and poisoned their minds with liberal sophistries dressed up as idealism." Sitting in the center of the fourth row, I could clearly see the actors' faces as they grimaced, cried, shrieked, and seemed to effortlessly extemporize. With Crudup and Hawke mostly downstage center all night, it was a special treat to be so close.

    The question remains: do we see Parts Two and Three? That's another five hour long history lesson about ideology and love. We'll have to think about that...

  • Some enthusiasm from Rui:

    [...] i went to the lincoln centre with A to watch tom stoppard's voyage. it was so so so good. philosophical and poignant and just brilliant. oh and ethan hawke played michael bakunin. plus, our tickets only cost twenty bucks each because of a nifty student programme thingum. woah. (: i love stoppard. (: [...]

  • And more from Patrick:

    This first play of Tom Stoppard's ambitious trilogy concerning late 19th century Russian politics and philosophy, is a stunner, a rich feast for playlovers that made me ravenous for the two to come (in December and January, respectively). As I have resisted reading the plays in advance, the superstructure of the trilogy is not yet clear to me, but I can say that this first third, as sensuously staged by Jack O'Brien, has the sweep and the detail of a leisurely-paced epic novel. Stoppard's dialogue made my ears prick up, O'Brien's direction quickened my senses. There are a couple of performances I found off-putting but, as neither is major in this first play, I'd rather just say that this is mostly a tremendous ensemble. Standing out among the pack are a surprisingly bold Ethan Hawke, who is taking big chances that pay off, and a captivating Billy Crudup, whose physical work here is remarkable: I think these are the best performances I've seen on stage from either.

  • New post at the LCT blog. Shipwreck rehearsals are starting, Richard Easton's returned to a warm reception and will be performing next week, and there's some commentary on the role of women in the plays:

    [...] The closest the play's women get to something more liberating is reading George Sand - in other words, a world that is fictional. The chief exception to Utopia's climate of feminine compliance is represented by a scene in Shipwreck between Natalie Herzen (Jennifer Ehle) and Maria Ogarev (Amy Irving). Maria has left her husband, Nicholas Ogarev, and gone to Paris to undertake a more bohemian existence. Next to her, Natalie, for all her high-flown revolutionary idealism, seems almost quaint.

    This scene, which is one of my favorites in Utopia, reminds me of something Tom Stoppard said during an early rehearsal. Namely: how it is one of the paradoxes of 19th-century radicalism that many of its leading proponents failed to shed their bourgeois conventions, and remained beholden to a way of life that, to us, can appear hidebound.

    There's mention of said ripping scene at Martha Plimpton's as well- look in the comments.
  • Wonders will never cease: Coast of Utopia fanfiction. And it's not isolated!
  • Friday, November 03, 2006

    The soul of wit

    Voyage reports from Greg, Kay, davei2000, Krebsman and swingkidpt. dramedy expects an extension of the run. Also, here are the dramaturg's notes (and part of an essay on Herzen by Brendan Lemon) from the LCT site.

    Footlights has posters for The Coast of Utopia and Design for Living you can buy.

    Thursday, November 02, 2006

    Tuesday, October 31, 2006

    Another chance to win Pride and Prejudice

    At long last an IMDB page is up for Road to the Sky. No info yet except a 2007 release date for the UK, and Sree Bhadra Pictures is listed as a production company alongside Echo Lake and Adirondack.

    AustenBlog has a competition to win copies of the Pride and Prejudice anniversary edition - the closing date is November 2nd, so make haste. They've got a review of the set as well, suggesting a commentary by the leads in the next edition (amen!).

    PS. Mags the Editrix of AustenBlog has a book coming out, The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World.

    Monday, October 30, 2006

    Voyage roundup

    First, read Martha Plimpton's update on being up to her eyeballs in Russia and enjoying it. Don't ingest liquids while reading.

    Meanwhile, Voyage isn't to everyone's taste. Primo, Gerry Devito reckons there's too much talk.

    Tom Stoppard’s THE COAST OF UTOPIA Part 1 VOYAGE
    This play is just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk and more Stoppard talk! Speeches ramble on and on and on. It is as if Stoppard took notes on the period and then put all his notes into his characters’ monologues. It just goes on and on and on, and I just lose track of the idea and what is trying to be said. This three-hour Part 1 was set in Russia in 1835 and goes forward in time. Student comes home on university holiday to his family and brings some fellow students with him. They meet his four sisters; it reminds one of Chekov’s THE THREE SISTERS. Stoppard does Chekov one better by having FOUR! Better not let him read this or he may write a play about The Four Sisters. The Russians are sad that they never had a Renaissance, a cultural revolution. They have not contributed to the culture of the world. Act 1 spans from 1833 to 1841. When we get to Act 2 we go back in time again to 1834 at the University in Moscow to see how everyone met there. This Act goes from 1834 to 1844. The time element gets confusing. Why didn’t Stoppard just write the play in a chronological time sequence? I do not think I shall bother with the three-hour Part 2 Shipwreck that will begin in December or the three-hour Part 3 Salvage that will begin in February. Then one can attend all nine hours in one day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. beginning in March. One could not ask for a better cast: Richard Easton as the head of the family with his gorgeous booming voice with a big role in Part 1 (he collapsed on the stage the next evening and has undergone a pacemaker operation; he should be back in the play in a few weeks); Amy Irving in a small role as the mother; Martha Plimton as the oldest sister; Ethan Hawke playing it rather swish as the brother who goes to University; Billy Crudup as a philosopher; Brian F. O’Bryne in a very minor role. Too bad the play was not as good as its 40 cast members!!

    Mme Bahorel, a big fan of the London production, has a long, descriptive, spoileriffic report with accounts of the script changes. It also rips the show to shreds. This is how it begins:

    Where's God when you need him?

    So, Voyage. Jack O'Brien can go boil his head. There are some wretched cast members, the production design sucks ass, and the direction goes places I don't want. [...]


    On the other hand, David digs the play despite his initial misgivings.

    Saw my first play at Lincoln Center tonight, Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia”. Tonight’s show is the first of a trilogy. I only bought tickets to the first show, because I wasn’t sure I’d like it. I mean, a show that’s set in 19th century Russia about philosophy doesn’t sound like my cup of tea.

    Tom Stoppard is best known for writing “Shakespeare in Love”. The cast includes Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup.

    Crudup, in particular, is amazing. The play itself is fantastic. It’s very funny and fast paced.

    Saturday, October 28, 2006

    "A bloody coup d'etat by the second rank"

    Brendan Lemon of the LCT blog interviews David Manis, the actor playing patriarch Alexander Bakunin in Voyage while Richard Easton is recovering.

    The Understudy
    Posted October 27, 2006

    On Wednesday, October 18, during the second preview of Voyage, Richard Easton, who plays the Russian landowner Alexander Bakunin, collapsed as he exited the stage during the evening performance. He was determined to be suffering from arrhythmia, and this past week underwent a procedure to install a pacemaker. He is expected back in the show in the next two weeks, and the opening date of Voyage has been moved from November 5 to November 27 to accommodate his return. Meanwhile, Easton is recuperating speedily at home, with an excellent prognosis.

    One sign of the upbeat nature of his mood: Easton says he relishes the irony of the line he uttered in the play before collapsing. Easton's character is speaking to his son (played by Ethan Hawke), who has been importuning him for money to go to Berlin, and Easton, denying the request, exited while saying, "That is my last word."

    To quote Billy Crudup's Belinsky in another part of the play: "Oh, my prophetic soul!"

    As Easton recuperates, his role has been played by his understudy, David Manis. I chatted with Manis this week in his dressing room, after a rehearsal. I asked him how it felt to go from playing his normal role, the senior servant Semyon, to Easton's role, the landowner Bakunin. (Since The Coast of Utopia is rather obsessed with the German thinker Hegel, I couldn't help flashing, secretly, to that philosopher and his famous - famous in academia, that is -- Master-Slave dialectic. But I digress.)

    Manis confessed jovially that the speed with which one can go from taking orders to giving orders is "distressingly human." He went on to say that he has understudied leading roles at Lincoln Center Theater three times before: for Sam Waterston in Abe Lincoln in Illinois; for Stephen Tobolowsky in Morning's at Seven; and for Kevin Kline as Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts I and II. He never had to go on for any of those men, however.

    Manis continued, "I've been in things where understudies have gone on. "That first night is a little bit like being shot out of a cannon while you try to look calm. And you usually find that for the first performance or two everything goes fine. Because there's so much adrenaline on the stage from everybody. What can be hard is when a week later there's isn't as much adrenaline from everybody."

    Manis said that there's been no drop in energy during his current interim run doing Easton's role. "We're very aware that there's still a lot left to do. It would be very different if you went on as an understudy eight months into a commercial run on Broadway when everything was settled. But here, everyone's very aware that we're still climbing the mountain. It's a very supportive cast. They've been pulling together and helping me until Richard gets back. And then we'll help him once he gets back."

    I asked Manis why the idea of an understudy having to go on is so fascinating both to theatergoers and to writers - from the young innocent having to go on in 42nd Street to Eve Harrington scheming her way into the spotlight in All About Eve.

    Manis replied, "For theatergoers it's about the non-actor's anxiety of being thrust suddenly into the spotlight. It hooks into the Jerry Seinfeld joke about people's number one fear being public speaking; death is only number three. About how at the funeral people would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy."

    Manis's mention of Seinfeld made me think of that program's storyline where Bette Midler is appearing in a musical called "Rochelle Rochelle"; after Midler is injured in a softball game, her standby ends up going on for her. Somewhere in that episode, Kramer says, "Understudies are a very shifty bunch. The substitute teachers of the theater world."

    As for the understudy's fascination for writers, Manis talked about Stoppard. "In his early play The Real Inspector Hound, there are two drama critics. The second-string critic has this long monologue where he says, if my memory serves, 'Sometimes I dream of revolution, a bloody coup d'etat by the second rank. Troupes of actors slaughtered by their understudies.' I played that part in fact."

    Manis added that he always hopes that, as an understudy, he is able to go on, though under kinder circumstances than the event that propelled him into Easton's role. "I always feel like, hey, I can play that part."

    The cosmic cat

    The LCT's latest blog post explains the ominous smoking ginger cat that appears in Voyage:

    Before seeing Voyage, here's what I knew about ginger cats: One of them appeared with Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. And Winston Churchill owned several of them throughout his lifetime, taking a feline named Jock to wartime cabinet meetings and even mentioning Jock in his will.

    A further fun fact: in Victorian pantomime entertainments for the stage (which took place roughly around the same time as some of the events in The Coast of Utopia,) the Puss 'n Boots figure was sometimes a Ginger Cat. Stoppard chose this figure, in part, to reflect the Cat's popularity at the time.

    I have dredged up this trivia because a handful of people have sent us e-mails asking for elucidation on the meaning of the Ginger Cat that appears toward the end of Voyage. The Cat makes an appearance at a fancy-dress party, where the actors appear in various colorful guises. (Turgenev, for instance, played by Jason Butler Harner, turns up in Harlequin drag.)

    Just before this soiree, Belinsky and Herzen have had an exchange. Herzen has informed Belinsky that a friend has died in Italy. Stricken by the news, Belinsky asks: "Who is this Moloch that eats his children?" Herzen corrects him, saying that the Moloch isn't at fault. Instead, "it's the Ginger Cat."

    Wanting to proceed gingerly through these Annals of Gingerdom, I asked Tom Stoppard for a brief gloss on that moment. He replied, "Essentially, the Ginger Cat is an arbitrary purposeless malign or mischievous force/fate which deflects the individual life within the overarching Hegelian Law of History ("the Moloch") to which populations are subject."

    In other words, the Ginger Cat, roughly speaking, represents the fate of the individual.

    Go Myspace-friend Martha Plimpton and read her take on this theme, from Voyage rehearsals.

    By the way, the postponed opening night for Voyage means that there's an extra public performance of the show on November 5th (previously booked out for the press). Good tix available, says the newsletter.

    Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer writes about film-theatre crossover thesps:

    I was in New York last weekend to see "Voyage," the first play in Tom Stoppard's trilogy "The Coast of Utopia." It's minor Stoppard: flabby and repetitive philosophizing without much emotional underpinning, the first inconclusive third of a nine-hour event. But this drama set in 1830s Russia was welcome in one way: Its cast held half a dozen noted movie actors.

    Ethan Hawke had the showiest role as young, pseudo-political blowhard Michael Bakunin. Amy Irving played his mother, Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton two of his sisters, Billy Crudup and Josh Hamilton his friends. All have theater experience but plenty of film credits, too. They represent a healthy cross-culture that hasn't thrived until recently. [...]

    Thursday, October 26, 2006

    First fan report

    Merci BS.
    O.K. so here is the story. I went to the play Coast of Utopia last
    Saturday night. It was a beautiful night and I was really excited to finally see the play I've been anticipating. I've never been to the Beaumont theater before but I know that Lincoln Center is an amazing place. When I got there I felt a little out of place being alone and young. The average audience member was in their 40s or 50s. I was sitting completely by myself as the seats in all the other rows started to fill up. I wanted to try and chat up some other people and see why they were there; how they heard about the show etc. But that went right out the window. The theater itself is very very small which is great. There isn't a bad seat in the place and you feel more like a part of the action on stage.

    Sooo now the play... I had read Voyage before seeing the show (I even had my copy with me because I read it on the train down there!) I thought I was going to have a really hard time following the play. Not knowing ANYTHING about philosophy or Russian history, but that wasn't the case at all. The play isn't about what these guys did a long time ago but rather a very vivid description of how the passion of a few men could change a country and the dynamics of a family. Which brings me to acting. Now personal I am not a big EH or BC fan. I've seen a lot of their movies and neither ever really struck me as specifically talented rather just pretty on screen. The opposite is true in the case of this play. Both look quite disheveled (the role calls for it I'll assume) but their presence on stage is undeniable. You can feel Michael's (EH's) enthusiasm when he walks on the stage. BC really does enthrall the audience. I read one person's review where they said he represents the audience on stage and I did end up feeling the same way. Beyond that he does an excellent job of delivering very very long speeches in such a way you hardly notice he's the only one who's been speaking for 10 minutes because you're so enthralled with what he's saying. At intermission I asked how everyone was liking it (the seats finally filled in!). The people next to me did have a hard time with some of it but they missed the first few scenes sooooo...... And on the other side of me was one of the actor's parents. They were biased from the get go. But from eavesdropping I didn't hear one
    negative remark!

    In general the play is heartfelt but still very funny - although the audience I was sitting with wasn't as ready to laugh as I was. For just a week in, the cast's timing is amazing and they work together really well. I think EH, BC, MP, JE, and RE's understudy all have at least one scene in which they truly shine. Was wondering what it would be like with RE - his role was more pivotal then I thought. MP actually caught me off guard in the second act. She just blew me away when she delivered her speech about her husband and what Michael says about him- I knew I liked her for a reason!! Up until that point I was disappointed with the fact that the men had all the great lines. Then a scene with JE that was very amusing - she has great comic
    timing. Maybe she's a cutup in real life.....?

    The set is very minimal which I think works here. You aren't distracted by anything and can just focus on the action. Not to say that it isn't amazing. The start of the second act the entire audience clapped just at the set.....(same thing happened when the play started) And I agree that the lighting and sound are going to get some type of recognition. Really beautiful but a little hard to describe. Which brings me to............

    The tickets are expensive but worth it. You wont regret seeing this play.

    (Afterwards I got the playbill signed by the main cast as a present- thanks for ruining the surprise T..... Everyone was nice and I surprisingly wasn't a puddle of goo (which I was quite proud of). There was one "Subway Debacle" so just for the record: To NYPD/FBI/CIA/Interpol/ThePope - I'm not a stalker. Just very stupid. Next time I'm walking back to Grand Central. Love, BS)

    And "boredom" at Nerd NYC recommends the show:

    Kajabor and I went to the see the first part of Tom Stoppard's new trilogy, Coast of Utopia, at Lincoln Center yesterday. It's a little expensive at $100 per seat, but if you have a budget for Broadway, I can heartily recommend spending it on this. There were still seats available for a weekday show when I checked yesterday.

    This is nerdy theater: it's full of screeds about abstract ideas, philosophical allusions abound, and it's a trilogy! The first part is set in 1830s-40s Russia, and centers on a group of intellectuals who will be very influential in the years to come. Mikhail Bakunin, played by Ethan Hawke, is one of them. Billy Crudup is incredibly funny as an impoverished literary critic struggling under tsarist censorship.

    The next episodes of the trilogy, which we will also see, follow this group through the 1848 revolutions and beyond.

    Wayne Dynes also went to see the show, and writes at length about Bakunin:

    The other night I attended one of the preview performances of Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia: Voyage” in its New York production. In fact this is the first installment of a huge three-part sequence. It is about six men who become friends in the Russia of the 1830s. Appropriately, the production at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center is lavish, with a revolving stage, backlighted curtains, and a cast of almost 100. In performance the play turns out to be a kind of duel between Ethan Hawke, who plays Michael Bakunin, and Billy Crudup, who impersonates Vissarion Belinsky. Both actors are matinee idols of a sort. Mr. Hawke is monotonously strident, so the palm goes to Mr. Crudup, who is engaging in a puppy-dog way, just this side of cuteness.

    The six men are fascinated by the latest developments in German philosophy, going from Kant to Schelling and Fichte, and ending up with G.W.F. Hegel. There are long, somewhat didactic speeches attempting to put these philosophical developments into a nutshell and to show how they interact with the temperaments and personal lives of the young men. Towards the end, Bakunin achieves his aim-—to go to Berlin to study philosophy.

    I gather that the succeeding two parts revolve mainly around Alexander Herzen, a rara avis in Russian intellectual life, as he was neither a reactionary nor a revolutionary but a democrat. Stoppard follows Isaiah Berlin’s interpretation, and for Berlin Herzen was a personal hero. Like Bakunin, Herzen lived in exile in the West, making his appearance in “tamizdat,” periodicals and broadsides that were smuggled back into Russia to evade the censorship. These exiles mounted a process of seeking political and social change from the outside. More recently their efforts have been emulated, with varying success by Cuban, Chilean, and Iranian exiles—together with many others.

    For me, however, Bakunis is the more interesting figure. Abandoning his aim of becoming a professor of philosophy he threw himself into the revolutionary struggles that convulsed Europe in the middle decades of the 19th century. [...]

    At All That Chat there's discussion of seating at the Vivian Beaumont, and this good notice by Revned:

    I saw it on Friday night from the left side of the Loge.
    The staging is brilliant in its clarity. Jack O'Brien is a master; he finds the grandeur and historical sweep in the material and brings it to visual life, and also stages subtle character and relationship moments so clearly and vividly that they play to the whole house. He uses every inch of that huge playing space and uses it well. Even scene transitions and set changes contribute to the energy of the piece and the illustration of its themes.

    The Revolutionist

    This is beaut. Keith Gessen, from the New Yorker, scribes a biographical piece on our man Herzen. There's mention of the Coast of Utopia trilogy as well.

    The Russian radical writer and philosopher Alexander Herzen loved Rome for its warmth and spontaneity, but he was a little chagrined to find himself there when the revolution of 1848 erupted in Paris, seven hundred miles away. Luckily, the Romans were equal to the event. As Herzen watched, they gathered at the embassy of the oppressive Austrians, pulled down the enormous imperial coat of arms, stomped on it, then hitched it to a donkey and dragged it through the streets. “An amazing time,” Herzen wrote to his Russian friends. “My hand shakes when I pick up a paper, every day there is something unexpected, some peal of thunder.” He raced to Paris, where the provisional government was handing out grants, like some gonzo arts foundation, to anyone willing to spread the revolution abroad. Herzen’s old friend the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin had already started east to foment revolution against the Tsar; another friend, the German Romantic poet Georg Herwegh, was raising a battalion of émigré workers and intellectuals to march on Baden-Baden. Herzen stayed in Paris to see what would happen next. [...]
    Read on, Lizzy!