The opening was originally to be Nov. 4, but a four-day power outage leading up to that prompted a change to Nov. 15. Now, due to the just-announced postponement of the Broadway opening night of Glengarry Glen Ross (which is opening Nov. 15), Off-Broadway's CSC snagged the Nov. 11 date. (Such changes are often about jockeying for placement of reviews in newspapers the day after opening.)
Ivanov resumed performances, after the blackout, on the evening of Nov. 3. CSC operates at 136 E. 13th Street. Like other theatres below 34th Street, it had been without power since Monday, Oct. 29.
During that dormant week, the company (directed by Austin Pendleton) met for brushup rehearsals in midtown, where there has been power following the deadly Oct. 29 landfall of Hurricane Sandy.
Ivanov (translated by Carol Rocamora) stars Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson and Juliet Rylance. The cast also features Glenn Fitzgerald, Annette Hunt, Stephanie Janssen, Roberta Maxwell, George Morfogen, James Patrick Nelson, Anthony Newfield, Austin Pendleton (who replaced Louis Zorich), Jonathan Marc Sherman and Anne Troupe.
The production plays a limited engagement through Dec. 9. Previews for the lesser-known 1887 play by Russian master Anton Chekhov (whose title character is sometimes referred to as "the Russian Hamlet") began Oct. 17.
The staging is part of CSC's popular and acclaimed Chekhov Cycle, for which Pendleton directed Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya.
The engagement was originally announced to close on Nov. 25, but two weeks were added, to Dec. 9. (The past Chekhov plays at CSC have traditionally sold out.)
Tony Award nominee and film actor Hawke (The Coast of Utopia) stars in the title role, a debt-ridden government official who is a bundle of dissatisfaction. Richardson (Side Effects) plays Anna, his ill Jewish wife, who renounced her family for Ivanov; Fitzgerald is Borkin; Maxwell is Zinaida; Morfogen is Shabelsky; Rylance is Sasha; Sherman is Lvov; and Pendleton is Lebedev.
Rylance, Maxwell, Morfogen and Zorich have each been featured in previous Chekhov Cycle offerings at CSC.
Ivanov, a play that Chekhov revised many times over the years, has scenic design by Santo Loquasto, costumes by Marco Piemontese, lighting by Keith Parham and original music and sound by Ryan Rumery. The play is translated by Carol Rocamora.
For more information, visit classicstage.org.
