Utopia: An experience of life

Today's New York Times definitely advocates a visit to the LCT. Describing Utopia it says:

Unforgettable and unmissable! An experience of life as much an experience of art.

Well I think we'd agree wholeheartedly with that. (And is it me, or could that last line be straight out of the show?? Or maybe it's just Natalie's brilliant Shipwreck monologue, which includes the word 'art' five times and 'artist' twice...)

Anyway, in preparation for Sunday night, here's a little recap on part three from the Vivian Beaumont website:

Part three of the trilogy, Salvage, brings maturity and resolution. As imperial Russia is set adrift with the freeing of the serfs, Alexander Herzen and the revolutionaries in his circle look back from the vantage point of their exile in England at their dreams of overturning the tsar, at the paths taken and not, and at the Russia of their memory.

Going a little further back:

In a review of The Philadelphia Story, BBC London's Mark Shenton was largely negative, although there was a positive consolation:

What it does have, though, is the glacial beauty of Jennifer Ehle, in the role of Tracy Lord...

Meanwhile, John Simon's review for Design For Living from 2001, is also negative, but least so about Ms Ehle and Mr West:

Jennifer Ehle, despite an unflattering period hairdo, and Dominic West ... struggle valiantly but keep foundering on Alan Cumming.

Back to all things Coast-al, here is an American Theatre Wing seminar from September 2002, in which Utopia set designer Scott Pask is a panellist.

Interestingly, Scott Pask is the twin brother of Bruce Pask, who was the designer for Design For Living. The more I see of the entertainment world, the more I become convinced it is all one big family! (That last sentence reminded me of a P&P line, AGAIN!)

PS - One day to go...

Unordered list

• For Ruskophones in the audience, here's a Russian translation of English Coast of Utopia dialogue that is meant to be Russian at jakovlev's LJ, a review of the plays at good-boy's and discussion on the pronunciation of "Ehle" at an Austen LJ community. Babelfish em.
• At eBay, you can bid for a The Maitlands DVD and the Design for Living stagebill.
• Post-Tonys encounter.
• Reviewlets of Voyage and Shipwreck at OffTheStem by Barry, both given B's. Voyage is also reviewed by Jennifer who particularly dug her namesake:

  I saw The Coast of Utopia: Part 1, the Voyage this weekend at Lincoln Center. The rare cast consisting of Billy Crudup, Richard Easton, Jennifer Ehle (<-- my personal fave: Elizabeth Bennett from BBC's "Pride and Prejudice"), Ethan Hawke, Martha Plimpton , Brian F. O'Byrne (the priest in "Doubt"), and many others. The standouts in the cast were Billy Crudup (with the most ridiculous hairstyle), Jennifer Ehle, and Richard Easton. Richard Easton became infamous as he suffered a heart attack early on in the run during the play when he was offstage. Glad to see he's back in fine shape. [...]

• Voyage and Shipwreck reviews from the Epoch Times. From the latter:

  [...] After a shaky start with Voyage, Stoppard and director Jack O'Brien do a much better job here, thanks to a strong, through-narrative and wonderful performances by the two central characters; Alexander Herzen (Brian F. O'Byrne) and his wife Natalie (Jennifer Ehle). [...] In addition to the excellent Byrne and Ehle, the latter exuding sexuality, other standouts include Amy Irving, Bianca Amato and Jason Butler Harner. Another happy surprise is that the eternal believer Michael Bakunin (Ethan Hawke), one man who does accept responsibility for his deeds, is used to much better effect here than in "Voyage." [...]

  Couple of new reader reviews on Voyage at the NY Times, and another's up at Swarthmore's Phoenix student paper critiquing the play more than the staging.
  

• Possession music video of Christabel and Ash set to "I love you" by Fisher.
  
• Variety reports that while there's been a general post-holidays slump in Broadway box office sales, Utopia is an exception, still selling well.
• Wilde trivia from SX News:

  Jennifer Ehle won the part of Wilde’s wife Constance from Theresa Russell. Ehle was enjoying the recent popularity of her role as Elizabeth Bennet in TV’s Pride and Prejudice.

• From ICM the latest is that "as it stands" Ms Ehle will not be in Michael Clayton. Endeavor people explain that "the film was too long and they had to cut out her 2 scenes". So rend your garments, but praps not your Sunday best.
  

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.

Relapse and randomness

From producer Ian Judge's site:

"Ian Judge’s production has a spring in its step from the first; the actors plainly take pleasure in their parts, and the pleasure communicates itself to the audience." - The Telegraph

That second one isn't her, by the way.

As for the randomness:

An Alan Cumming fan has written in to ask if anyone has a tape of the Ex-S show "Alan Cumming, Uncovered" or Liquid News from March 16th 2001 on Design for Living's opening night. She's willing to pay for it. While we're at it...we'd welcome any photos, clippings (news, not nail), tapes, etc etc that you want to sell or share.

Here's a site with tips for Shakespeare in the Park.

Kerry's started a new Myspace group about Shakespeare in the Park - join her to chat about it. Oh yeah, come talk to us at the forum as well!

There's a piece on Edward Norton's new movie; he's interviewed on the set of Pride and Glory "where he's filming with Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich and Jennifer Ehle."

Lastly, Sands has a new blog on Pride and Prejudice.

Pride pic

Click the picture to buy it from eBay. Also from eBay:

FHM "100 sexiest women 1996" magazine

Design for Living stagebill

Vanity Fair 1996
There are heaps of River King DVDs for sale too, so get your copy and send us your thoughts! Here's a short review from a blog, Paradox Vertigo 2k5:

The River King - decent suspense thriller about a mysterious drowning death in a small town.Nothing really spectacular- but well told.With Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle C

Design for Living roundup

Following our policy of being Fair and Balanced and not self-censoring, some of these reviews are rather critical. But olds is olds, right?

Dominic West interview

He’s never before worked with Jennifer Ehle [E-lee]. “I’ve seen a lot she’s done; I’ve always admired her from afar.”

CurtainUp

Ehle, last seen as another independent and contradictory woman in The Real Thing, seems ideally cast as the woman who declares "I shouldn't feel cozy married; it doesn't fit my principles" but who nevertheless ends up marrying Ernest, a successful and quite conventional art dealer (a character who, thanks to John Cunningham's excellent performance, is extremely likeable). But while Ehle delivers her lines with fine precision and looks smashing whether wearing a slip or one of several gorgeous silk kimonos, she's more moody than madcap, one reason that the evening's two and a half hours induce as many yawns as appreciative laughs.

Village Voice

...you can admire Jennifer Ehle's intensity and beauty, while trying to guess what role she thinks she's playing (Andromache? Cordelia? Amanda?) instead of Gilda.

New York Theatre Wire

Jennifer Ehle as Gilda is just like the girl next door. She is too ordinary, even though obviously neurotic, to have such sway over these two men. She has not got the delivery, the tone, the sophistication, the mystery and the allure such a woman must have, if we are to believe the plot. She is badly costumed with awful gray clothes which emphasize her bust (too large for the stage) and underscores her colorless, almost lifeless performance. She throws away her lines most of the time, and often she is barely audible. Gilda should be more of a Garbo type, an inscrutable woman, an enigma, a compelling, but not obvious sexual creature capable of winning any man, and holding her own in a world of painters and writers. None of this is evident in Ms. Ehle's performance.

NY Metro

Jennifer Ehle, despite an unflattering period hairdo, and Dominic West, perhaps a trifle too callow, struggle valiantly but keep foundering on Alan Cumming.

Wolf Entertainment guide

Jennifer Ehle, who was so good as Annie in "The Real Thing" and on screen in the film "Sunshine," is disappointingly flat as Gilda. It is impossible to imagine her as the daring woman in the play.

Interview with directors Joe Mantello and Todd Haimes

With this play in particular, the casting of the three main characters really dictates the tone of the production. It lives and dies by how sensational they are and what their chemistry is on stage. We were really lucky to have Alan Cumming on board right from the beginning. And then it was just a question of finding the right people to go with him. When you see Jennifer Ehle, Dominic West and Alan together, there is something sort of contemporary and fresh about the play because of who they are.

Portico

I'm not sufficiently familiar with ‘Design for Living’ to know where the script stops and the interpretation begins, but I’m pretty sure that Gilda needn’t be played as gravely as Jennifer Ehle plays her. The seriousness of this performance has all the signs of a well thought-out miscalculation, an attempt to do something with the role that, while interesting so far as the role itself goes, can’t be made to fit with the rest of the play. When the curtain goes up, Gilda is seen sitting in a slip in front of a whirring fan, lost in thoughts that, even if they’re happy (we’ll find that she’s just made love) are far from light. As if oppressed by an existential burden, Ehle holds the pose for about twice as long as an actress untutored by director Joe Mantello would, pushing the audience into wondering if something’s the matter with her – Ehle, not Gilda – and perhaps even drumming its fingers with impatience, lest we be in for an evening of Tennessee Williams. Ehle has a rich low voice, which she puts at the service of interpretive complexity: her simplest ‘no’ suggests hours of knotty deliberation, but for all that it’s unlikely to be a final answer.

TimeOut's 2001 Tonys predictions.

WHO'S MISSING [from the "Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play" category] Jennifer Ehle. She charmed us—even in a misguided Design for Living.

Plurp

Contrapunctually, Jennifer Ehle as Gilda rushes her lines, and might benefit from ordering her cappuccinos decaf from now on.

Buy the poster

PS. Thanks to Chelsea for holding the fort this past week!