Salvage, which began previews Jan. 31, follows the Coast of Utopia characters to London and Geneva over the course of 12 years. According to the play's website, "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."
The epic Coast of Utopia trilogy tells the story of a group of nineteenth-century Russian intellectuals who debate politics and philosophy and struggle to change their political system over a 30-year period.
The first part of the trilogy, Voyage, which opened Nov. 27, is set in the Russian countryside and in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Part two, Shipwreck, which opened Dec. 21, begins outside Moscow 13 years after the first part and follows the characters to Paris, Dresden and Nice.
The three plays will be performed in rotation until the trilogy closes on May 13. There will be nine Saturday marathons, in which all three parts are performed in one day: Feb. 24, March 3, March 10, March 24, March 31, April 7, April 21, April 28 and May 5.
The eight-hour trilogy, directed by Broadway veteran Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), boasts a cast of 44, including Billy Crudup, Richard Easton, Jennifer Ehle, Josh Hamilton, David Harbour, Jason Butler Harner, Ethan Hawke, Amy Irving, Brían F. O'Byrne and Martha Plimpton. The play has sets by Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Brian MacDevitt (Voyage), Kenneth Posner (Shipwreck) and Natasha Katz (Salvage) and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett.
O'Brien previously directed LCT's productions of Stoppard's plays Hapgood and The Invention of Love. LCT also produced Stoppard's Arcadia.
The Coast of Utopia premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2002 in a production directed by Trevor Nunn.
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is located in Manhattan at 150 West 65th Street in Lincoln Center. For tickets or more information visit www.coastofutopia.com.
