The uncomfortable comedy Anton Chekhov made out of a collection of emotionally crude and careless country-folk comes from an acclaimed two-month Royal Court gig, directed by Ian Rickson, starring Kristin Scott Thomas as the queen bee of the occasion, Arkadina, a self-possessed, son-smothering actress in (relative) repose.

A couple of two-time Oscar winners have strutted Arkadina's stuff of late — Dianne Wiest in a Classic Stage Company production Off-Broadway in March, and Meryl Streep up in Central Park at the Delacorte in the summer of 2001. Now, it's the turn of the latest Olivier Award winner for Best Actress to be heard in the land, and Thomas' impressive Broadway bow is reason enough to warrant this new Seagull sighting, but the motion is seconded solidly by what The New Yorker's John Lahr calls "the finest British production of Chekhov in recent memory." Chek it out.

Save for four stateside hires (Peter Sarsgaard for Trigorin, Zoe Kazan for Masha, Julian Gamble for Shamrayev and Ann Dowd for Polina), the London cast is intact and collectively makes a compelling case for revisiting this familiar lakeside manor — especially when illuminated by a brilliant adaptation like Christopher Hampton's.

"It's actually my favorite play in all the world," confessed Hampton, whose handiwork is tantamount to a love offering. At the after-party held in a fittingly old-fashioned way at Sardi's, he couldn't really say how his version differs from others.

Three months have elapsed since Hampton was last on Broadway — via a revival of his 1987 Tony winner, Les Liaisons Dangereuses — and he expects to be back in another three months, this time with his third Yasmina Reza play translation (after Life (x) 3 and 1998's Tony winner, Art). It's called The God of Carnage. Last year Ralph Fiennes had a success with it, but he won't be repeating it here. "We're casting an American company," said Hampton, "and we've got a really good cast. It starts rehearsal here in January" — helmed by Art director Matthew Warchus.

Another who's boomeranging back to Broadway in three months is director Rickson, who will be steering Mary-Louise Parker through the rigors of Hedda Gabler.

On opening night Rickson was conspicuously M.I.A. Peter Wight, who is making his Broadway debut (like almost all of the imported cast) as Arkadina's older and ailing brother, Sorin, solved the mystery: "He had to go back at the weekend. He was here for three weeks of our previews, but his wife is a director as well and she's working on a play. They have a daughter — so he had to go back to do a little child care." Continued...