PLAY OF THE DAY! Today's Play: THE CHERRY ORCHARD by Anton Chekhov
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Apr. 20, 2020
During this time when productions all over the world have been put on pause, we are coming together to celebrate plays that have left their mark on theater history.
This week we will be focusing on the plays of Anton Chekhov.
Today's play, The Cherry Orchard!
The Cherry Orchard is the last play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1903. It opened at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904 in a production directed by Konstantin Stanislavski.
The Cherry Orchard tells the story about Lyubov Ranevskaya and her family as they return to their orchard to prevent its closure, while the country hovers on the brink of revolution.
The Cherry Orchard is widely regarded as a classic of 20th-Century Theater.
Among the first English-language productions of the play were a 1925 production at the Oxford Playhouse, and a production in 1934 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, directed by Tyrone Guthrie.
A television adaptation of The Cherry Orchard featured Helen Hayes as Ranevskaya, and Susan Strasberg as Anya. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and broadcast in 1959.
A production opened at Lincoln Center in 1977, starring Irene Worth as Ranevskaya, Raul Julia as Lopakhin, Mary Beth Hurt as Anya and Meryl Streep as Dunyasha.
The Atlantic Theatre Company produced an adaptation by Tom Donaghy in 2005.
The most recent Broadway revival of The Cherry Orchard was a Roundabout Theatre Company production in 2016, featuring a new adaptation by Stephen Karam. It starred Diane Lane, Joel Grey and more.
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