Hopes and Firs: Brooke Adams Stars in Atlantic's Cherry Orchard May 25-July 3
By Kenneth Jones
25 May 2005
Atlantic Theater Company's world premiere Tom Donaghy adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, the 1903 Russian classic by Anton Chekhov, begins Off-Broadway May 25 with Brooke Adams, Larry Bryggman, Scott Foley, Alvin Epstein, Mary McCann, Todd Weeks and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Scott Zigler directs the production, which opens June 15 and plays a limited engagement to July 3.
Adams plays the famed lady of the Russian estate who returns home from Paris to sell off her past. She appeared in Broadway's The Heidi Chronicles, and the films "Key Exchange" and "Days of Heaven." Foley is a veteran of TV's "Felicity" and Broadway's The Violet Hour. Bryggman jumps from Atlantic's Romance to its Orchard. Whitlock is known from HBO's "The Wire" and Atlantic's Edmond.
The company also includes Laura Breckenridge, Pepper Binkley, Erin Gann, Peter Maloney, Diana Ruppe and Dan Dominguez.
"From the playwright of Minutes From the Blue Route, Boys and Girls and Northeast Local , The Cherry Orchard marks Tom Donaghy's return to Atlantic with his new version of a classic that preserves the economy and humor of Chekhov's original while highlighting the lyricism and stylistic ambition of the master playwright's final work," according to Atlantic production notes.
Donaghy created the adaptation with Ronald Myer, director of the M.A. program in Russian Literary Translation at Columbia University, and Anatole Smeliansky, associate artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre.
The Russian classic "is richly bittersweet comedy about a world in transition, where a group of uprooted characters attempt to figure out their fate when history renders their way of life obsolete," according to Atlantic. "Lyubov Ranevskaya (Brooke Adams) is called home from Paris to Russia to deal with the imminent sale of her estate, including her family’s beloved cherry orchard. Yermaolai Lopakhin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), a former serf from the estate and newly successful businessman offers the solution to all their problems."
Former Atlantic artistic director and founding member Scott Zigler directed the world premiere of David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood on Broadway. He returns to the Atlantic stage where he has staged Mamet's The Woods, David Ives' Sure Thing and Shel Silverstein's Happy Endings , among many works.
Scenic design is by Scott Pask & Orit Jacoby Carroll, lighting design by Howard Werner, costume design by Theresa Squire and sound design and original music by Fitz Patton.
Performances play Tuesday through Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 & 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM. All tickets are $50 and are available at Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200.
Atlantic Theater Company is located at 336 West 20th St (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). For membership information, wheelchair seating, and/or group sales call (212) 691-5919, ext. 102.
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Atlantic's artistic director is Neil Pepe. Andrew D. Hamingson is managing director.
Visit www.atlantictheater.org.
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Larry Bryggman, Brooke Adams and Scott Foley
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