Review: VANYA, SONIA, MASHA AND SPIKE Visit Oyster Mill

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is easily one of the funniest plays of the past decade. Set in Bucks County, it's penned by playwright and actor Christopher Durang, who lives in Bucks County, and its main male protagonist, Vanya, presumably was written by Durang to be played by Durang. Vanya was played by David Hyde Pierce on Broadway, where it won a Tony and a Drama Desk, deservedly so as the play is a true phenomenon. It is not a parody of Chekhov's plays, from whom some of the characters' names are taken, but more of a pastiche of them, tossed in a blender with a bit of twenty-first century irony and a dollop of the absurdity of modern life (which hasn't changed much, really, from the absurdity of modern life in Chekhov's day - we just have more technology with which to be absurd).

This writer loves - well let's just call it VSMS at the moment. This author has seen Durang play Vanya at Bucks County Playhouse, the author playing himself in the very place the play is set. Other prominent performers were in the cast. Surely this should be the definitive version of the show, and surely a small community theatre will never achieve anything close to it. It's not even possible. This writer has seen other productions of the show. One can't possibly do better than Pierce, or than Durang himself.

So it was that when she went to see it at Oyster Mill Playhouse, directed by Lois Heagy, this author was prepared for One More Production Of A Show That's Been Done Better Often Before, an attitude that, let's face it, often plagues community theatre. One expects a good show at best, more likely mediocre, and hopes that if the production is a disaster, at least it may be bizarrely and inappropriately amusing.

Take that back. Take it all back. Throw it out now. Oyster Mill's production, on opening night, came out of the box fully assembled, batteries included, and in perfect operating condition. Bernard DiCasimirro, a newcomer to the Oyster Mill stage playing Vanya, is easily one of the best Vanyas performed in Pennsylvania, and that without excepting Durang. One hopes to see more of him, as well as of his comic timing. His delivery of Vanya's monologue, the crux (and what is very much the bulk) of the second act, left the opening audience dazzled, and everyone over forty in total agreement.

Beverly Spangler plays Sonia, Vanya and Masha's underappreciated workhorse of an adopted sister. Frumpy, fiftyish, and fearful, the character blossoms out of her passive-aggressive behaviors in the second act, when she discovers that she can be liked for herself. Spangler inhabits Sonia comfortably, making her seem as if Sonia's that lady you know down the street, you know... THAT one. Susan Wray Danowitz, an area favorite who was notable in Oyster Mill's BUS STOP, brings a totally different character delightfully to life here - the family success, Masha, the possibly brilliant, clearly well-paid, but most definitely man-hungry (and man-eating) Hollywood semi-star whose major regret isn't having had five ex-husbands, but not having also nearly conquered the stage. (If you happen to be a Chekhov fan, this is a modern Madame Arkadina once again clearly missing that she's embarrassing herself with a wild assortment of men.)

Spike, Masha's current toy-boy, is TC Via, who is, fortunately, far more sensible in real life than is Spike, the most amazing nearly-employed actor ever to have been discovered, or to frequently disrobe - a behavior that seems to be Spike's major talent. (It's one for which Via, we must admit, is also singularly well cast. There's no doubt as to what Masha admires about Via's Spike.) Nina, the pretty and nice girl down the lane who is interested in acting, and who admires Masha almost as much as Masha admires Spike and as Spike drools at Nina, is Kat Allison, one of the area's better younger performers. Her Nina is fresh, enthusiastic, and naïve without being silly - Nina is an alarmingly intelligent and intuitive young woman, who sees Vanya as her "uncle Vanya" and who thrives on listening to her elders speak. (In fact, in both character and plot use, Durang's Nina is Chekhov's Nina in THE SEAGULL.)

And then there's Cassandra, the part-time housekeeper. This writer was concerned about the casting; Cassandra is usually a Latina/Black character, and this Nina, Denise Carman, isn't. Would the already-over-the-top character come off as far too over the top? Not in the least. Carman's and Heagy's take on Cassandra is not the voodoo queen in disguise that we usually see in the show, but the woman you know from work who's bought one too many crystals and read one too many books on becoming psychic and "making voodoo work for you," only to discover that her efforts might really have an effect. While this Cassandra's psychic predictions come out with a bit of a Helga Ten Dorp flair, her delighted amusement at discovering that her Masha voodoo doll is working is priceless.

At Oyster Mill through the 28th, this VSMS is simply wonderful fun with some tight direction by Heagy and a cast that is more than comfortable at living in Christopher Durang's and Anton Chekhov's world. It's a pretty amazing place, and they'd love to have you stop by, sit on the porch with them, and look for the blue heron over by the pond.

Just don't say a word about the coffee. It might not end well.

At Oyster Mill Playhouse, followed next month by AN ACT OF THE IMAGINATION by Bernard Slade, who also wrote SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR, one of those murder plays which always fits well on the Oyster Mill stage - as does VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE.

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